Negotiating Linguistic Identity ― Language and Belonging in Europe

This volume addresses the themes of language, identity and linguistic politics in Europe. The twelve essays draw on approaches and methodologies from a range of disciplines, from sociolinguistics and contact linguistics to cultural history, psychology and policy studies. Together, they offer a collection of views on how language, society and identity are perceived to be connected. These issues are of particular importance in Europe, where the nation-building project is often paired with a linguistically based notion of social identity.
However, historical forces including shifting borders, economically and politically motivated mobility and changing political regimes have led to more complex national identities and more nuanced approaches to the role of language. Both historical developments and contemporary sociolinguistic contexts are investigated in the book, including the presence of multilingual communities and minority language communities. The volume makes a significant and timely contribution to our understanding of the linguistic landscape of today’s Europe.

Virve-Anneli Vihman has a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Edinburgh. She is a senior research fellow in the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics and the Strategic Adviser on Internationalisation at the University of Tartu, Estonia. She has been involved in drafting the University of Tartu’s Language Policy and the Internationalisation Strategy of Estonian Higher Education.
Kristiina Praakli holds a PhD from the University of Tartu and researches the Estonian language in the diaspora at the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics at the University of Tartu, Estonia. She is currently also a visiting lecturer in Estonian language at the University of Helsinki. She is the editor of the handbook Eestlased ja eesti keel valismaal [Estonians and the Estonian language abroad] (2010).