Language and nationalism 3320-LAN-OG

In many traditions, Polish included, the concept of national language is perceived as an important element of the national identity and it is customary to perceive the two as naturally interconnected. This view, although widespread, has become growingly problematic for several decades. Sociolinguistic analyses have largely deconstructed the idea of language as an essentially national phenomenon, while modernist approaches to nationalism call into question the very idea of nation as a perennial form of community, continuous with pre-political ethnic and linguistic bonds. Both approaches tend to present the current notions of language and national identity as relatively recent, bound with the social processes of modernization and, to a large extent, ideologically constructed. The aim of the course is to discuss the key issues related to language and national identity. What social and cultural processes have made language an important factor in delineating political affiliations and loyalties? What are the roles language can play in the making of a nation? How is nationalism relevant in distinguishing a “language” from a “dialect”? How does nationalism affect our notions of language and identity – in popular images as well as in the science of language? The main theoretical points of reference include modernist theories of nationalism and sociolinguistics of language policy and planning. The choice of case studies to be discussed is likely to favor northern and eastern Europe, especially Finland, the Baltic States (this is where I have most competence), as well as Germany (because of its crucial role in the formation of modern ideologies of language and nation), but will also include other regions, not necessarily European (e.g. Turkey, Indonesia) – participants are welcome to contribute their own suggestions.

Key topics:
1. The (contested) modernity of nationalism and nations. What
makes language important to nationalism?
2. The Herderian tradition and its developments
3. Language ideologies and their impact on social perceptions
of language.
4. Do languages have identities and borders? „Dialect” vs.
„language”; the concepts of dialect continuum,
Abstandsprache and Ausbausprache vs. nationalist concepts
of language.
5. Language as an object of policy and planned development.
6. Notions of language correctness; nationality and social status
1. Language minorities and the concept of language rights.

Rodzaj przedmiotu

ogólnouniwersyteckie

Koordynatorzy przedmiotu

Łukasz Sommer

Tryb prowadzenia

w sali

Efekty kształcenia

After the course, participants will be familiar with the modernist theory of nationalism and with sociolinguistic concepts relevant to the issues of identity (language ideology, language planning, Abstand- and Ausbausprache). They will have a better understanding of the historical background and ideological coordinates of the modern concept of language as a determinant of national identity. This should enable them to subject popular notions of language and national identity to critical analysis.

Kryteria oceniania

attendance and participation in discussions; written assignments

Literatura

 Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism // Polish edition: Narody i

nacjonalizm, przeł. Teresa Hołówka, Warszawa 1991.
 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the
Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London 1983 // Polish edition:
Wspólnoty wyobrażone. Rozważania o źródłach i
rozprzestrzenianiu się nacjonalizmu, przeł. Stefan Amsterdamski,
Kraków 1997.
 Peter Trudgill, Sociolinguistics. An Introduction to Language and
Society, Penguin Books, Hammondsworth, England 1995
 John Edwards, Language and Identity, Cambridge 2009
 Einar Haugen, “Dialect, language, nation” in The Ecology of
Language: Essays by Einar Haugen, ed. by Anwar Dil, Stanford
1972 // Polish edition: “Dialekt, język, naród” w: Michał Głowiński
(red.), Język i społeczeństwo, Warszawa 1980.
 Joshua Fishman, Language and Nationalism. Two Integrative
Essays, fragments in Stuart Woolf (ed.), Nationalism in Europe
1815 to the Present: A Reader, Routledge 2003
 Thomas Paul Bonfiglio, Mother Tongues and Nations: The
Invention of the Native Speaker 2010
 Einar Haugen, The Scandinavian Languages. An Introduction to
their History, Faber and Faber Limited, London 1976.
 JG Herder, “Treatise on the Origins of Language” [1772], transl.
by Michael N. Forster, in: idem, Philosophical Writings,
Cambridge 2004. // Polish edition: “Rozprawa o pochodzeniu
języka”, przeł B. Płaczkowska, w: tegoż, Wybór pism, Wrocław
1987.
 JG Fichte, Addresses to the German Nation [1808], transl. by
Gregory Moore, Cambridge 2009 (selected fragments).
 Pasi Saukkonen, The Finnish Paradox: Language and Politics in
Finland, Helsinki 2012, online http://www.recode.info/wp-
content/uploads/2013/02/Saukkonen-Pasi- 2012-RECODE.pdf
 Johanna Laakso, “”Being Finno-Ugrian, Being in the Minority –
Reflections on Linguistic and Other Criteria” in Riho Grünthal,
Magdolna Kovács, Ethnic and Linguistic Context of Identity:
Finno-Ugric Minorities, Helsinki 2011
 Language in society across the Baltic Republics: A comparative
overview, Journal of Baltic Studies 3/2005
 Benedict Anderson, The Languages of Indonesian Politics in
Language and Power: Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia,
Jakarta 2006
 Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic
Success, Oxford 1999.
 Jan Blommaert, State Ideology and Language in Tanzania.
Second and revised edition, Edinburgh 2014.
(The list may be modified later on during the semester)

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