Abstract
European nations have a complex history of multilingualism. As is now well
established, 19th century nationalism across Europe typically promoted the notion of ‘one state one language’ (Barbour and Carmichael, 2000; Gubbins and Holt, 2002) and thus initiated moves to eradicate so called ‘regional’ or ‘minority’ languages, such as Welsh or Galician, in the name of greater national cohesion. At the same time, the major European powers were in the process of imposing European cultures, and European languages, on colonised territories in Africa, Asia, Australasia and the Americas.
established, 19th century nationalism across Europe typically promoted the notion of ‘one state one language’ (Barbour and Carmichael, 2000; Gubbins and Holt, 2002) and thus initiated moves to eradicate so called ‘regional’ or ‘minority’ languages, such as Welsh or Galician, in the name of greater national cohesion. At the same time, the major European powers were in the process of imposing European cultures, and European languages, on colonised territories in Africa, Asia, Australasia and the Americas.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 509-534 |
| Number of pages | 26 |
| Journal | Sociolinguistic Studies |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2010 |
Keywords
- community languages
- higher education
- English education
- multilingualism
- bilingualism
- linguistic diversity