Chapter published in:
The Politics of Multilingualism: Europeanisation, globalisation and linguistic governance
Edited by Peter A. Kraus and François Grin
[Studies in World Language Problems 6] 2018
► pp. 89–110

Chapter 5
From glossophagic hegemony to multilingual pluralism?

Re-assessing the politics of linguistic identity in Europe

| University of Augsburg

The chapter assesses the politics of multilingualism in contemporary Europe by focusing on the role of options and ligatures in the framing of linguistic identities. Whereas nation-state construction mostly entailed the establishment of monolingual spaces that should make for a convergence of linguistic ligatures and linguistic options, the emergence of new transnational settings at different levels is contributing to an increasing disconnection between language-as-an-option and language-as-a-ligature that affects not only minority, but also majority, members. This dynamic may have important implications for how demands for linguistic recognition are articulated by different groups.

Keywords: Allardt, cities, complex diversity, Dahrendorf, diglossia, English, Fishman, glossophagia, Humboldt, identity, immigration, ligatures, linguistic identity, linguistic nationalism, migration, nation, nationalism, options, recognition, self-categorisation, Taylor
Article outline
  • 1.“Glossophagia” and the modern European polity
  • 2.Options and ligatures in the making of linguistic identity
  • 3.The issue of recognition and the limits of glossophagia
  • 4.The politics of multilingualism in a context of complex diversity
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 September 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/wlp.6.05kra
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