Sue Wright is Research Professor at the University of Portsmouth, UK. She is co-editor of Sociolinguistica and the Language and Globalization book series. She is the author of numerous publications on the linguistic dimension of nation building, globalisation, democracy and migration and on the linguistic effects of technological developments in communication.

"Sue Wright's intellectually provocative book holds real implications for EU policies, for educational policies, and for governments that still act as they did in the nineteenth century." - Christina Paulston, University of Pittsburgh, USA "One of the best attempts to treat the subject of language in modern Europe I've ever read. Sue Wright not only masters the relevant details of European history but also the historical interpretations of those details." - John E. Joseph, Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of Edinburgh, UK

• 1. Introduction PART I: COMMUNITY AND THE ROLE OF NATIONAL LANGUAGE 2. From Language Continuum to Linguistic Mosaic: European Language Communities from the Feudal Period to the Age of Nationalism3. Language Planning in State Nations and Nation States 4. Nation Building in the Wake of Colonialism: Old Concepts in New Settings PART II: TRANSCENDENCE AND LANGUAGE LEARNING 5. Transcending the Group: Languages of Contact and Lingua Francas 6. French: The Rise and Fall of a Prestige Lingua Franca 7. English: From Language of Empire to Language of Globalisation 8. Lingua Francas for the New Millennium9. Globalisation and Rethinking the Concept of Language PART III: RENAISSANCE AND REVITALISATION IN SMALL LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES 10. New Discourse, New Legal Instruments and a New Political Context for Minorities and their Languages11 . New Polities and New Nation Building12 . Endangered Languages 13. Conclusion: Community and Transcendence