Polnat03(3)

POLITICS OF NATIONALISM3. LANGUAGE AND NATIONALISM

POLITICS OF NATIONALISM

3. LANGUAGE AND NATIONALISM


OUTLINE

Look at relationship between language and nationalism:

•Language as a source of division

•Language and politics•Language and national

identity


NATURE OF LANGUAGE

What is the difference between a language and a dialect?

• the criteria are partly linguistic

(distinctiveness of grammar, vocabulary);

but also:

• social (perception by speakers)

• political (definition by state)


NATURE OF LANGUAGE

For example, is the following a language?

Scots is descendit fae the leid o the Angles an Saxons that invadit the isle o Bretane fae the kintras roun Denmark atween the 4t an 5t centuries AD. … Fae the 1370s tae Scotlan an Inglan wes yokit thegither in 1707 Scots wes the leid o state. … Afore 1900 Scots wes, athoot onie doot, the maist spoken leid in Scotlan(Scots Language Society, 2003)


NATURE OF LANGUAGE

… and is the following a language?

‘Twasn’t but a whileen ago that they come leppin’ out o’ the wood to me, and didn’t I think ‘twas the Divil and all his young ones, an’ I thrun meself down in the thrinch the way they wouldn’t see me, the Lord save us! … They went wesht the road, your Honour, an’ they screeching always; they crossed out the field below over-right the white pony, and faith ye couldn’t hardly see Michael Leary for the shweat! (Somerville and Ross)


NATURE OF LANGUAGE

or this?


NATURE OF LANGUAGE

Languages are conventionally classified into separate families, based on linguistic criteria.Some statistics:

• c. 4,000 languages in 2000

• 417 classified as “nearly extinct”

• c. 100 language families (unconnected)

• 2 biggest language families account for 70% of world population

• 7 biggest language families account for 92% of world population


CLASSIFICATION OF LANGUAGE

Some examples:• Indo-European family (443 languages)

– Hindi (366 m.)– Spanish (Castilian) (358 m.)– English (341 m.)– Portuguese (176 m.)– Russian (167 m.)

• Sino-Tibetan family (365 languages)

– Chinese (Mandarin) (874 m.)



Some examples:• Altaic family (65 languages)

– Turkish (61 m.)• Uralic family (65 languages)

– Hungarian (15 m.)– Finnish (6 m.)– Estonian (1 m.)

• Other categories– minor language families– language isolates– pidgins



“Genealogical tree” approach

SW EDISHetc.

N O R T H

ENGLISHetc.

W E S T

GERMANIC

VARIOUS

V A R IO U S

SLAVIC

W ELSHetc.

B R Y T H O N IC

IRISHetc.

G O E D E L IC

CELTIC

VARIOUS

V A R IO U S

... OTHER

IN DO -EU RO PEAN



“Genealogical trees” of languages may be useful in pointing to relationships

• Some languages are almost identical twins:– Dutch-Afrikaans– Danish-Norwegian Bokmål (especially in the

past)– Hindi-Urdu– Czech-Slovak

• Others are more remote from each other:– French-Romanian– Irish-Welsh



But the “genealogical” approach may be misleading

• languages are not self-contained, autonomous, objective entities

• they vary greatly in levels of (linguistic) development




LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Languages tend to pass, historically, through distinctive stages (Haugen)

• selection of norm (choice of standard or model dialect)

• codification of form (standardisation of spelling, grammar, vocabulary)

• elaboration of function (extension and modernisation of vocabulary)

• acceptance by community



Ocht sgéalta ó Choillte Mághach

(1936)



Reversal of decline of Irish language, 1936-1971:

Reality or myth?



Formally defined “Gaeltacht” (Irish-speaking district), 1956-present



Examples of languages at different stages of development

• highly developed(modern written languages of wide use, e.g. English, Chinese, Finnish)

• moderately developed(languages struggling for position in higher domains, e.g. Irish, Breton)

• undeveloped(“languages” with very restricted domains, e.g. Flemish, Ulster Scots)


LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY

Note terminology to describe types of linguistic co-existence

• Personal bilingualism(individuals speak two languages)

• Societal bilingualism(society is divided between two language groups)

• Diglossia(different languages used in high- and low-status domains)Note possibility of multilingualism, polyglossia


LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY

Huge social significance of language

• Powerful, enduring link between accent /speech form and social background (class, region, gender, age)

• In many societies, similar link between language and social status(“French in the parlour, Flemish in the kitchen”)

• Social status of language reinforced by political status


LANGUAGE AND POLITICS

In multilingual societies, state must adopt policy on language.It may:

• promote policy of bi- or multilingualism (unlikely; “threatens” state)

• use neutral, external language(unlikely; imposes burden on all)

• adopt dominant language as official one(most common approach)


LANGUAGE AND POLITICS

speakers ofunofficiallanguages

speakers ofofficial

language

type of language

regime

all none 1-trad. diglossic state

many few 2-emergent multiling.state

few many 3-state with dominant lang

none all 4-unilingual state

FOUR TYPES OF LANGUAGE REGIME


LANGUAGE AND NATIONALISM

1. “nation” contains several language communities

2. Language community contains several “nations”

3. “nation” and language community coincide

4. “nation” is linked to ancestral language community

TYPES OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND “NATION” (NOT STATE)


nationA

lang. A

lang. B

lang. C


1. “nation” contains several

language communities



1. “nation” contains several language communities: examples?

• Switzerland?• Belgium?• Canada?• Nigeria, India?• Other ex-colonies?



BELGIUM: IDENTITY BY LANGUAGE, 1994

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Dutch French

other

regional

Belgian


languageA

nation A

nation B

nation C


2. Language community

contains several “nations”



2. Language community contains several “nations”: examples?

• English language community– American– British-English– Scottish– Irish– Welsh– Canadian– Australian– New Zealand




• Spanish language community– Mexican– Colombian– Argentinian– Spanish– Venezualan– Peruvian– (others)




• Portuguese language community– Brazilian– Portuguese




• French language community– French– Fr. Canadian– Belgian-Walloon– Fr. Swiss


LANGUAGE AND NATIONALISM 2. Language community contains several “nations”: examples?

• Arabic language community– Egyptian– Algerian– Moroccan– Sudanese– Iraqi– Palestinian– Libyan– Lebanese– (others)


nationA

lang. A


3. “nation” and language

community coincide



3. “nation” and language community coincide: examples?

• Many historical examples from central and eastern Europe

• Former Soviet Union• Many contemporary examples (Polish, Czech,

Estonian, Hungarian etc.)• Some less perfect examples (Ukrainian,

Belarusian)



LATVIA: ETHNIC NATIONALITY BY LANGUAGE, 1935

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Latvian German Russian Yiddish Other

LANGUAGE

other

Jewish

Russian

German

Latvian



SOVIET NATIONALITIES AND LANGUAGES, 1989

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Estonian Uzbek Ukrainian Belarusian Karelian German

NATIONALITY

Other language

Titular language


nationA


4. “nation” is linked to ancestral language

communitylang. A



4. “nation” is linked to ancestral language community: examples?

• Irish• Basque• Breton?• Welsh?


LANGUAGE AND NATIONALISMIRELAND: KNOWLEDGE OF IRISH BY DECADE OF

BIRTH, 1881

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1781-90 1791-00 1801-10 1811-20 1821-30 1831-40 1841-50 1851-60 1861-70 1871-80

Irish only bilingual English only


THE END …

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