Language, Identity and Conflict - A Comparative Study of Language in Ethnic Conflict in Europe and Eurasia (Electronic book text)

In this innovative study of language and identity in recent and contemporary cases of ethnic conflict in Europe and Eurasia, Diarmait Mac Giolla Chriost sets out a response to the limitations in the fields of linguistics and political science with regard to language policy and planning in conflict situations. The key concerns of the book relate to the functions of language as a marker of identity in ethnic conflict, the extent to which theoretical conceptualisations of language in ethnic conflict studies adequately reflect the full range of these functions and the extent to which language may be a causal factor in ethnic conflict. The author also illustrates the possibilities for language policy and planning as tools in the resolution of conflict and examines the theoretical innovations necessary in fields of the sociology of language and political science in order to develop a more adequate framework for understanding the role of language in ethnic conflict and its resolution.; Key themes include: *states, nations and their borders * the physical and cultural environment *mythology, ideology and technology *politics, the state and conflict *conflict resolution Material from across a number of disciplines is drawn together in order to investigate the possibility of transcending the limitations of the social constructivist and primordial positions on ethnicity. Notions of language in competition and of language in socio- political conflicts are embedded in an ecological view of language in ethnicity, and finally, the prospects for reconceiving the issue of language as a means of conflict management and resolution are situated within cultural analyses of conflict. This book will be essential reading for students, academics and researchers in the fields of sociology, geography and politics of language and also for practitioners of language policy, language planning and conflict resolution.