Languages, Nations and Politics 4208-Jnp-OG

The aim of the lecture is to give students basic knowledge of language politics and policy as well as to present the main characteristics of the language situation and its evolution world-wide. The lecture will focus on the political nature of language: on interrelations between shape of languages and process of creation of standard national languages on the one hand, and politics, economy, demography, etc, on the other. It will demonstrate the double relation between language and politics: language as a result of political (as well as economic, demographic, psychological, sociological) evolution of respective countries and societies, and language as a determinant of political developments (e.g. language conflicts in Ukraine, Canada, Belgium, former Yugoslavia, disputes over the status of Silesian, the language arrangement of the European Union, etc.). It will also give some basic knowledge about grammar or other intralinguistic phenomena, especially those which play a political role in distinguishing speech communities or otherwise generate political problems; it is not about language of politicians, unless their speeches relate to the issue of language politics.

Course coordinators

Roman Szul

Type of course

general courses

Mode

Remote learning

Assessment criteria

Written examination

The final mark is the result obtained at the examination corrected by possible point(s) resulting from the attendance.

Bibliography

1. R. Szul, Język, Naród, Państwo. Język jako zjawisko polityczne, PWN Warszawa 2009.
2. R. Szul, Kwestia językowa w dziejach. Zarys problematyki. (w) Granice, mniejszości narodowe i religijne, dziedzictwo, pod red. Andrzeja Rykały, “Studia z Geografii Politycznej i Historycznej”, tom 1 (2012), Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2012, ss. 69-94.
3. R. Szul, Minorities, Regions, Migrants and Changes in Language Policies in Europe (in) The New European Frontiers, edited by Milan Bufon, Julian Minghi and Anssi Paasi, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2014, pp. 304-325.
4. R. Szul, Kwestia językowa we współczesnym świecie, „Studia Regionalne i Lokalne” (Warszawa), Nr. 2 (12), 2003, pp.29-54.
5. R. Szul, Sytuacja językowa w Europie. Między regionalizmem a integracją europejską, „Studia Regionalne i Lokalne” (Warszawa), Nr. 3 (13), 2003), pp.29-60.
6. R. Szul, Język i naród. Tożsamość i identyfikacja w Unii Europejskiej (w) Europejskie wyzwania dla Polski i jej regionów , pod red. A. Tucholskiej, Ministerstwo Rozwoju Regionalnego, Warszawa 2010 ss. 55-76.
7. R. Szul, Tożsamość europejska a kwestia językowa w Unii Europejskiej, „Studia Regionalne i Lokalne”, Nr 4 (30) 2007 ss. 66-76.
8. Peter Burke: Języki i społeczności w Europie wczesnonowożytnnej, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków, 2009.
9. Nicholas Ostler., 2006, Empires of the Word. A Language History of the World. Harper Perennial, London, New York, Toronto and Sydney.
10. Robert McColl Millar, Language, Nation and Power. An Introduction, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2005.
11. John E. Joseph, Language and Identity. National, Ethnic, Religious, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2004.

Additional information

Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 4208-Jnp-OG in USOSweb