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Political Science General

Minority Languages, National Languages, and Official Language Policies

edited by Gillian Lane-Mercier, Denise Merkle & Jane Koustas

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
Dec 2018
Category
General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780773554948
    Publish Date
    Dec 2018
    List Price
    $43.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780773554931
    Publish Date
    Dec 2018
    List Price
    $120.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780773555884
    Publish Date
    Dec 2018
    List Price
    $37.95

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Description

In a context where linguistic and cultural diversity is characterized by ever-increasing complexity, adopting official multilingual policies to correct a country's ethno-linguistic, socio-economic, and symbolic imbalances presents many obstacles, but the greatest challenge is implementing them effectively. To what degree and in what ways have official multilingualism and multiculturalism policies actually succeeded in attaining their goals?

Questioning and challenging foundational concepts, Minority Languages, National Languages, and Official Language Policies highlights the extent to which governments and international bodies are unable to manage complex linguistic and cultural diversity on an effective and sustained basis. This volume examines the principles, theory, intentions, and outcomes of official policies of multilingualism at the city, regional, and national levels through a series of international case studies. The eleven chapters – most focusing on lesser-known geopolitical contexts and languages – bring to the fore the many paradoxes that underlie the concept of diversity, lived experiences of and attitudes toward linguistic and cultural diversity, and the official multilingual policies designed to legally enhance, protect, or constrain otherness.

An authoritative source of new and updated information, offering fresh interpretations and analyses of evolving sociolinguistic and political phenomena in today's global world, Minority Languages, National Languages, and Official Language Policies demonstrates how language policies often fail to deal appropriately or adequately with the issues they are designed to solve.

About the authors

Gillian Lane-Mercier is professor of French literature at McGill University.

Gillian Lane-Mercier's profile page

Denise Merkle is professor of translation at the Université de Moncton.

Denise Merkle's profile page

Jane Koustas, professor of French at Brock University, was the Craig Dobbin Professor of Canadian Studies at University College Dublin. She is the co-editor, with Christl Verduyn, of Canadian Studies: Past, Present, Praxis and, with Joe Donohoe, of Robert Lepage: Théàtre sans frontières: Essays on the Dramatic Universe of Robert Lepage. She is the author of Les belles étrangères : Canadians in Paris.

Jane Koustas' profile page

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