scholarly journals Review of Svetlana Moskvitcheva & Alain Viaut (eds.). 2019. Minority Languages from Western Europe and Russia. Comparative Approaches and Categorical Configurations. Switzerland, Springer. ISBN 978-3-030-24339-5

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 1143-1149
Author(s):  
Oksana I. Aleksandrova
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Minority Languages

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Dealing with new multilingualism in Europe

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 18.1-18.38
Author(s):  
Guus Extra
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
The Public ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
Major Subject ◽  
At Home ◽  
Language Transmission

The focus of this paper is on immigrant minority languages in urban Western Europe. Both multidisciplinary and cross-national perspectives will be offered on two major domains in which language transmission occurs, i.e., the domestic domain and the public domain. Prototypical of these two domains are the home and the school, respectively. At home, language transmission occurs between parents and children; at school this occurs between teachers and pupils. Viewed from the perspectives of majority language speakersversusminority language speakers, language transmission becomes a very different issue. In the case of majority language speakers, language transmission at home and at school is commonly taken for granted: at home, parents speak this language usually with their children; at school this language is usually the only or major subject and medium of instruction. In the case of minority language speakers, there is usually a mismatch between the language of the home and the language of the school. Whether parents in such a context continue to transmit their language to their children is strongly dependent on the degree to which these parents conceive of this language as a core value of cultural identity.After a short introduction, we offerphenomenologicalperspectives on the semantics of our field of study and some central European notions in this field. Next we discuss major agencies and documents onlanguage rightsat the global and European level. We also discuss the utilisation and effects of differentdemographiccriteria for the definition and identification of (school) population groups in a multicultural society. Next we offersociolinguisticperspectives on the distribution and vitality of immigrant minority languages across Europe. In this context the rationale and major outcomes of theMultilingual Cities Project, realised in six major multicultural cities in different European Union nation-states, are presented. Finally we offer comparative perspectives oneducationalpolicies and practices in the domain of immigrant minority languages in the six European Union countries under discussion. We conclude with an overview on how multilingualism can be promoted for all children in an increasingly multicultural Europe.Immigrants have made this country more American, not less American. (George W. Bush, presidential election campaign 2004)

Bilingualism in the Business World in West European Minority Language Regions: Profit or Loss?

1996 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-159
Author(s):  
Ab van Langevelde
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Ethnic Conflicts ◽  
Business World ◽  
East Bloc ◽  
West European

Europe during the last decade has witnessed a growing interest in the position of minorities in general and of minority languages in particular. This interest undoubtedly bears some connection with the influx of aliens into western Europe, and with the at times exceptionally violent outbreak of ethnic conflicts in some former East Bloc countries. Language plays a vital role in matters of ethnicity and identity. The growing interest of which we speak has found expression in the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, which establishes a number of rights related to minority languages.

Dealing with new multilingualism in Europe

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 18.1-18.38
Author(s):  
Guus Extra
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
The Public ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
Major Subject ◽  
At Home ◽  
Language Transmission

The focus of this paper is on immigrant minority languages in urban Western Europe. Both multidisciplinary and cross-national perspectives will be offered on two major domains in which language transmission occurs, i.e., the domestic domain and the public domain. Prototypical of these two domains are the home and the school, respectively. At home, language transmission occurs between parents and children; at school this occurs between teachers and pupils. Viewed from the perspectives of majority language speakers versus minority language speakers, language transmission becomes a very different issue. In the case of majority language speakers, language transmission at home and at school is commonly taken for granted: at home, parents speak this language usually with their children; at school this language is usually the only or major subject and medium of instruction. In the case of minority language speakers, there is usually a mismatch between the language of the home and the language of the school. Whether parents in such a context continue to transmit their language to their children is strongly dependent on the degree to which these parents conceive of this language as a core value of cultural identity. After a short introduction, we offer phenomenological perspectives on the semantics of our field of study and some central European notions in this field. Next we discuss major agencies and documents on language rights at the global and European level. We also discuss the utilisation and effects of different demographic criteria for the definition and identification of (school) population groups in a multicultural society. Next we offer sociolinguistic perspectives on the distribution and vitality of immigrant minority languages across Europe. In this context the rationale and major outcomes of the Multilingual Cities Project, realised in six major multicultural cities in different European Union nation-states, are presented. Finally we offer comparative perspectives on educational policies and practices in the domain of immigrant minority languages in the six European Union countries under discussion. We conclude with an overview on how multilingualism can be promoted for all children in an increasingly multicultural Europe. Immigrants have made this country more American, not less American. (George W. Bush, presidential election campaign 2004)

Camille C. O'Reilly (ed.), Language, ethnicity and the state. Vol. 1, Minority languages in the European Union. Hampshire: Palgrave, 2001. Pp. v–x, 183; and Camille C. O'Reilly (ed.), Language, ethnicity and the state. Vol. 2, Minority languages in Eastern Europe post-1989. Hampshire: Palgrave, 2001. Pp. v–xii, 228.

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-118
Author(s):  
Lukas D. Tsitsipis
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Positive Element ◽  
The State ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Collective Work

This is an exceptionally interesting collective work put together by Camille C. O'Reilly in two volumes, the first focusing on minority languages and problems of nation and ethnicity in western Europe, and particularly in the European Union (EU), and the second taking as its main focus languages and nationalizing discourses in eastern Europe. A large part of the discussion in vol. 2 concentrates on issues related to the fate and ongoing processes of nation formation, citizenship, linguistic ideologies, and minority languages in the successor states of the former Soviet Union. In both volumes, some chapters focus more narrowly on language, whereas others give emphasis to macro processes of a political nature. And, of course, no article in the collection is indifferent to the politics of minoritization, ethnic-national boundaries, and the restructuring of the European national map as a whole. Thus, variation in theme and method of analysis should be considered as a positive element of this endeavor, even though the overall treatment is neither exhaustive nor radically critical, as I will argue below.

scholarly journals Migration and Multilingualism in Western Europe: A Case Study of the Netherlands

1997 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 151-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guus Extra ◽  
Ton Vallen
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
European Union Country ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Research And Policy

In this survey, the demographic and linguistic consequences of recent processes of migration and minorization in Western Europe are reviewed, and a case study of the Netherlands is presented to illustrate and detail the effects of these processes on an individual European Union country. After a discussion of demographic data and criteria in a European context, linguistic issues are addressed in terms of L1 and L2 studies on immigrant and ethnic minority groups. Major demographic trends in Dutch society and education derived from these cross-national perspectives is then outlined. Specific attention is given to research and policy in the domains of Dutch as a second language and ethnic minority languages within the context of primary education.

scholarly journals The Charter: a plea for tolerance

2019 ◽  
pp. 165-189
Author(s):  
Camiel Hamans
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Diversity ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The 19Th Century

This paper describes the background of the Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (1992). To explain why linguistic diversity became an issue in the last decades of the 20th century, the paper goes back to the end of the 18th and the 19th century, a period in which nation building and homogenization were the main political issues in Western Europe. Since language was seen as nation binder language diversity was anathema. This led to language conflicts, which were sought to be solved by means of the Charter that promoted the acceptance of language diversity.

scholarly journals ‘Lesser-used’ languages in historic Europe: models of change from the 16th to the 19th centuries

2003 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. HOUSTON
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Relative Level ◽  
Level Of Economic Development ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Relationship

This article charts and tries to explain the changing use of ‘minority’ languages in Europe between the end of the Middle Ages and the 19th century. This period saw the beginnings of a decline in the use of certain dialects and separate languages, notably Irish and Scottish Gaelic, although some tongues such as Catalan and Welsh remained widely used. The article develops some models of the relationship between language and its social, economic and political context. That relationship was mediated through the availability of printed literature; the political (including military) relations between areas where different languages or dialects were spoken; the nature and relative level of economic development (including urbanization); the policy of the providers of formal education and that of the church on religious instruction and worship; and, finally, local social structures and power relationships. The focus is principally on western Europe, but material is also drawn from Scandinavia and from eastern and central Europe.

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