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2022, Zeitschrift für Slawistik, 67(4), 501–510
The essays in this thematic issue explore an important but often overlooked legacy of European multilingualism and the various power asymmetries and ideological values that characterize it, namely the multilingual practices of ethno-linguistic groups on Europe's southeastern periphery. Although the European Union has in the past twenty years adopted legislation that explicitly celebrates and supports multilingualism, linguistic diversity and minority language rights, its language policy has received criticism for tending to rely on and embolden national standardizing language regimes. Indeed, the European focus on the protection of language diversity and language rights appears to reaffirm a static model of language in that it relies upon "the idea of a European polity based on the cooperation of distinct nation states" and upon related codified languages which can be traced back to ideologies of Romantic authenticity and Enlightenment universality. Scholars of the EU's language and multilingualism policy found that the official discourses oscillate between highlighting traditional cultural values like diversity and the right to education in the speakers' first language on the one hand, and promoting economic values and ideologies on the other hand. Accordingly, the "ideal" European citizen is portrayed as a multilingual person whose linguistic repertoire comprises of at least one language intended "for business" (instrumental/universal value) and one language as mother tongue, used "for pleasure" (authenticity). As such, EU language policy does not facilitate newly emerging in-between or translingual modes and directions of communication. Moreover, it does not recognize multilingual individuals whose linguistic repertoire does not match the imagined polarising axis of authenticity and instrumentality. At the same time, scholars have pointed to the relevance of the Habsburg legacy for some of the issues that EU language policy is struggling with, not necessarily as a model to be emulated but in terms of past practices, experiences and legislative efforts with lessons for the present. By placing our emphasis on this imperial legacy in contemporary South-Eastern and Central Europe,1 we argue that it crucially influenced the demographic composition, language policy, ideologies and practices of the region. Moreover, at the time of the Habsburg Monarchy, the basis of a modern institutional and class order, education, public sphere, mass media networks and extensive (written) literary production in vernacular languages was established. In our opinion, the consequent state regimes – composite nation-states, communist states, other nation-states, and so on – need to be examined in terms of the continuities and discontinuities they established with the discursive order, values, and ideologies of the Habsburg imperial legacy, given that their policies were created through a continuous tacit and explicit dialogue with it. Briefly, the change of power relations in these (post-)imperial contact zones throughout history left a material, cultural and psychological legacy that must be taken into account when language use and ideology is discussed.
Zeitschrift für Slawistik
Mapping Minority Multilingualism: Perspectives from Central and South-Eastern European Borderlands – Introduction to the Thematic Issue2022 •
2012 •
This work focuses on the ideological intertwining between Czech, Magyar, Polish and Slovak, and the corresponding nationalisms steeped in these languages. The analysis is set against the earlier political and ideological history of these languages, and the panorama of the emergence and political uses of other languages of the region. Reviews: 'Kamusella has produced a magisterial study, ambitious in its aims but supported by original research as well as offering a synthesis of specialized contributions in a number of languages. The concepts it uses and the conclusions it reaches about language and politics can be expected to provoke a more general discussion. It is likely to remain the standard work in its field for a generation.' - from the Foreword by Peter Burke, Emeritus Professor of Cultural History, University of Cambridge, UK 'Truly extraordinary is the author's detalied command of history, philology, and the national languages involved in this study. For those seeking information on language modernization in Central Europe or on case studies on the politics of language, this book is an excellent choice.' - Patrick Heinrich, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 'A magnificent history of language politics...Kamusella's book is an illustration of its own core argument: scholarship on language serves social purposes. Every EU official and NGO activist who deals with East Central Europe should have this book to hand, and every graduate seminar on nationalism in the region should begin with it. It provides countless sound judgements, and dispenses with a tremendous amount of nonsense.' - Timothy Snyder, Times Literary Supplement 'Apart from being an exceptional academic achievement, the monograph is also a very powerful political statement. It is one of the most impressive, in-depth arguments for the relevance of the study of Central Europe as a historical region... The book should certainly be received favourable by Anglophone students of Central and Eastern Europe, who would find this text a must-read in decades to come. In the English-speaking academic world, it is most likely to be used as an essential reference work that provides a broad - and yet in-depth - overview of the region's cultural, linguistic and historical landscape.' - Balázs Apor, AB Imperio 'This is a fine and invaluable study. We must be grateful to Kamusella for his meticulous scholarship and to Palgrave Macmillan for publishing a book with more pages than I have been allowed words to review it.' - Bernard Spolsky, Language Policy
Languages and Nationalism Instead of Empires
Languages and Nationalism Instead of Empires. 2023. London: Routledge. Edited by Motoki Nomachi and Tomasz Kamusella. ISBN 9780367471910, 284pp.2023 •
This volume probes into the mechanisms of how languages are created, legitimized, maintained, or destroyed in the service of the extant nation-states across Central Europe. Through chapters from contributors in North America, Europe, and Asia, the book off ers an interdisciplinary introduction to the rise of the ethnolinguistic nation-state during the past century as the sole legitimate model of statehood in today's Central Europe. The collection's focus is on the last three decades, namely the postcommunist period, taking into consideration the eff ects of the recent rise of cyberspace and the resulting radical forms of populism across contemporary Central Europe. It analyzes languages and their uses not as given by history, nature, or deity but as constructs produced, changed, maintained, and abandoned by humans and their groups. In this way, the volume contributes saliently to the store of knowledge on the latest social (sociolinguistic) and political history of the region's languages, including their functioning in respective national polities and on the internet. Languages and Nationalism Instead of Empires is a compelling resource for historians, linguists, and political scientists who work on Central and Eastern Europe.
2006 •
Beginning with a critique of the concept of Europe, this book explores the political context for current language policy. Social and political status within the European Union can bring significant benefits for speakers of national or official languages. While speakers of minority and contested languages have derived considerable benefits from the trans-national context, many are less than happy with the hierarchical structure of EU language policy. This book focuses on languages spoken in Europe by Europeans and non-Europeans alike. The author explores key questions such as the impact of political boundaries on the concept of language and the significance of language for citizenship in Eastern Europe in particular. It assesses the quest for recognition and legitimacy among speakers of minority and contested languages and queries the non-recognition of migrant, non-European languages. The book adopts an interdisciplinary approach from a social science perspective and advocates an alternative approach to language policy.
Journal of Globalization Studies
LANGUAGE IN CENTRAL EUROPE'S HISTORY AND POLITICS: FROM THE RULE OF CUIUS REGIO, EIUS RELIGIO TO THE NATIONAL PRINCIPLE OF CUIUS REGIO, EIUS LINGUA (pp 41-57). 2011. Journal of Globalization Studies, Vol. 2 No. 1.2011 •
The author traces the development of Central European languages and the transition from religion-based self-determination to language-based nationalism. He explores the emergence of nation-states through linguistic component. He names ethnolinguistic groups and minorities existing in Central Europe and evaluates their influence within nation-state. LANGUAGE IN CENTRAL EUROPE'S HISTORY AND POLITICS: FROM THE RULE OF CUIUS REGIO, EIUS RELIGIO TO THE NATIONAL PRINCIPLE OF CUIUS REGIO, EIUS LINGUA? (pp 41-57). 2011. Journal of Globalization Studies, Vol. 2 No. 1. https://www.socionauki.ru/journal/files/jogs/2011_1/language_in_central_europes_history_and_politics_from_the_rule.pdf
Nations and Nationalism
The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe by Tomasz Kamusella2009 •
This article presents a brief survey and analysis of the most intimate coupling of culture and national projects that occurred in Central Europe following the success of the Italian and German nation-states established in this manner during the third quarter of the nineteenth century. Language is the very`stuff' of culture as well as the instrument of communicating and reaffirming cultural difference vis-aÁ-vis other cultures. As such, language became central to the processes of nation-and nation-state-building in Central Europe, leading to politicisation of language and also of linguistics and philology, which were expected to fortify the nations and their nation-states than rather to lend themselves to objective research. It is proposed that this specific Central European interweaving of language and national projects may be better comprehended through the application of Einar Haugen's model of language standardisation and Miroslav Hroch's model of nation-building. These two models in the Central European case seem to be closely corresponding to each other. The short catalogue of language elements used to produce national differentiation closes this contribution.
COGNITIVE STUDIES | ÉTUDES COGNITIVES
The Current Evolution of Slavic Languages in Central and Eastern Europe in the Context of the EU Multilingualism Policy2015 •
The Current Evolution of Slavic Languages in Central and Eastern Europe in the Context of the EU Multilingualism PolicyThe respect for and protection of cultural and linguistic diversity have long been guaranteed in various international and European legislative acts. More recently, the European Union has also developed laws aimed at the preservation and promotion of multilingualism. Linguistic diversity has long been seen as an obstacle to the effective functioning of EU institutions.Recently, however, it has been considered as a valuable “heritage” of the EU.In our article, we will present a brief overview of policies promoting multilingualism in Europe, and more specifically, in the EU. Subsequently, we will compare this framework to the changes occurring presently in modern Slavic languages of Central and Eastern Europe. The tendency of these languages towards increased analitism transforms these predominantly synthetic languages into more analytical ones. These conclusions have led us to the following question: What is the current state of modern Slavic languages and how far may their evolution be addressed by policies promoting multilingualism? Our analysis consists of two parts: first, we scrutinised various European legislative acts promoting multilingualism; second, we analysed modern Slavic languages by means of the parallel corpora of chosen languages from the Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure project (including UNESCO and EU legislation, etc.).
2006 •
A theoretical reflection on the nature of Central Europe's ethnolinguistic nationalism, which hinges on the equation Language = Nation = State. Biblio details: (pp 57-92). In: W Burszta, T Kamusella, & S Wojciechowski, eds. 2006. Nationalisms Across the Globe: An Overview of Nationalisms of State-Endowed and Stateless Nations (Vol 2: The World). Poznań, Poland: Wyższa Szkoła Nauk Humanistycznych i Dziennikarstwa.
Words in Space and Time: A Historical Atlas of Language Politics in Modern Central Europe
Non-State Minority, Regional and Unrecognized Languages, and Written Dialects in Central Europe, Nineteenth Through Twenty-First Centuries pp. 93-99. In: Kamusella, Tomasz. Words in Space and Time: A Historical Atlas of Language Politics in Modern Central Europe. 2021 CEU Press2021 •
2018 •
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
The politics of multilingualism: Europeanisation, globalisation and linguistic governance2019 •
German Life and Letters
The German Language and the Future of Europe: Towards a Research Agenda on the Politics of Language2008 •
2017 •
2014 •
2021 •
Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics
Global Language Politics: Eurasia versus the Rest. 2020. Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics. Vol 14, No 2. https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/jnmlp/14/2/article-p117.xml2020 •
Journal of Language and Politics
European identity, institutions and languages in the context of the enlargement2002 •
International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Europe and the Politics of Language: Citizens, Migrants and Outsiders (Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities) - By M�ir�ad Nic Craith2006 •
PARTNERSHIP FOR PROSPERITY, (red. L. F. Evmenov et al.), Minsk, "Pravo i Ekonomika"
CHANGING IDENTITIES AND MULTILINGUALISM IN AND OUTSIDE THE EU: CROSS-BORDER EXPERIENCES BETWEEN POLAND, BELARUS, LITHUANIA AND LATVIA2014 •
Balcanica
Studying the Minority Groups' Identities In the Balkans From the Perspective of Language Ideology2003 •
Journal of Dialectical Anthropology
The Role of Language in Nation-Building within the European Union2003 •
Language Policy
Peter A. Kraus and François Grin (eds): The Politics of Multilingualism: Europeanisation, globalisation and linguistic governance2021 •
2017 •
2011 •
Exploring the Dynamics of Multilingualism. The Dylan Project eds. A-C. Berthoud, F. Grin & G. Lüdi
Dynamics of Multilingualism in Post-Enlargement Europe, M. Krzyzanowski & R. Wodak2013 •
2018 •
2017 •
Capítol del llibre que publicarà l'editorial Hart en la …
The Political Discourse on Multilingualism In the European Union2002 •
Harvard Ukrainian Studies
The Rise and Dynamics of the Normative Isomorphism of Language, Nation, and State in Central Europe (pp 351-382). 2017-18. Harvard Ukrainian Studies. Vol 352018 •
International Journal of the Sociology of Language
The idea of a Kosovan language in Yugoslavia’s language politics2016 •
Language in Late Capitalism
Sociolinguistic Regimes and the Management of “Diversity”2012 •