European Multilingualism

Current Perspectives and Challenges

By (author) Dr. Rosita Rindler Schjerve, Eva Vetter

Publication date:

15 May 2012

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

210x148mm
6x8"

ISBN-13: 9781847697356

This book provides a broad sociolinguistic perspective on major questions of political and cultural Europeanization. It is concerned with European multilingualism as it actually results from the intersecting endeavour of policy making and scientific research. This volume argues that the EU must overcome the major discrepancies of its linguistic diversity politics by developing into a multiple inclusive society beyond the nation-state in order to seriously unfold European multilingualism as a political goal. Expanding on the theoretical and methodological approaches developed within the EU project LINEE (Languages in a Network of European Excellence), this book further focuses on the LINEE key variables of European multilingualism i.e. 'culture', 'discourse', 'identity', 'ideology', 'knowledge', 'LPP', 'multi-competence', and 'power & conflict'. Against this background, this study argues for reconceptualising European multilingualism on the basis of an integrative and multi-focal approach.

Introduction

1. European Multilingualism – Political Scope

1.1. Multilingualism and the Diversity Debate

1.2. European Multilingualism – Towards a Cross-Cutting Policy Framework

2. European Multilingualism as a Scientific Field of Research

2.1. Multilingualism – A Multi-Disciplinary Field of Research

3. The LINEE Project

3.1. Theoretical Dimension

3.2. LINEE Keyconcepts

3.3. Methodological Issues

3.4. Lines of Tension Emerging from LINEE

4. European Multilingualism Beyond LINEE

4.1. Re-Conceptualizing European Multilingualism

4.2. Towards an Integrative View of European Multilingualism

5. Conclusion

This book is much more than a synthesis of the research findings of a network of scholars. In unprecedented clarity and detail, it lays bare the ideas, debates and contradictions underpinning multilingualism as a strategic aim of the European project and as a scientific enterprise. It offers a meticulously argued critique of language policy regimes in Europe and advocates an ambitious and rigorously conceptualized framework for integrating a wide range of disciplinary perspectives in the advancement of a comprehensive research agenda. European Multilingualism is therefore both a brilliant analysis of current challenges and a challenge to future research.