Polnat03(3)

POLITICS OF NATIONALISM

3. LANGUAGE AND
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

IN D O -E U R O P E A N
G E R M A N IC

S L A V IC

C E L T IC

... O T H E R

NORTH

W EST

V A R IO U S

B R Y T H O N IC

G O E D E L IC

V A R IO U S

S W E D IS H
e tc .

E N G L IS H
e tc .

V A R IO U S

W ELSH
e tc .

IR IS H
e tc .

V A R IO U S


“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,
19361971:
Reality or
myth?


Formally defined
“Gaeltacht” (Irishspeaking 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 lowstatus 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
FOUR TYPES OF LANGUAGE REGIME
speakers of
official
language

speakers of
unofficial
languages

type of
language
regime

none

all

few

many

2-emergent multiling.state

many

few

3-state with dominant lang

all

none

1-trad. diglossic state

4-unilingual state


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


nation
A

1. “nation”
contains several
language
communities

lang. A

lang. C

lang. B


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

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


BELGIUM: IDENTITY BY LANGUAGE, 1994
100%
90%
80%
70%

other

60%

regional

50%

Belgian

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

Dutch

French


language
A

2. Language
community
contains several
“nations”

nation A

nation C

nation B


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


2. Language community contains several “nations”:
examples?
• Arabic language community
– Egyptian
– Algerian
– Moroccan
– Sudanese
– Iraqi
– Palestinian
– Libyan
– Lebanese
– (others)

nation
A

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
100%
90%
80%

other
Jewish
Russian

70%
60%
50%

German
Latvian

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

Latvian

German

Russian

Yiddish

Other

LANGUAGE


SOVIET NATIONALITIES AND LANGUAGES, 1989
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Other language
Titular language

50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Estonian

Uzbek

Ukrainian

Belarusian

Karelian

German

NATIONALITY


nation
A

lang. A

4. “nation” is
linked to
ancestral
language
community


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

Irish
Basque
Breton?
Welsh?


IRELAND: KNOWLEDGE OF IRISH BY DECADE OF
BIRTH, 1881
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

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 …

NEXT: RELIGION AND NATIONALISM

Polnat03(3)

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to Polnat03(3)

More from 'Mariviel Leyva

Polnat03(3)