Sprache, Mehrsprachigkeit und sozialer Wandel / Language, Multilingualism and Social Change / Langue, multilinguisme et changement social – serie

A political science approach integrates multidisciplinary case studies about culture and language from multiple perspectives. Culture and language are viewed broadly with topics ranging widely across the conflict/cooperation continuum of human activities. Case studies involve four perspectives on culture and language – linguistic perspectives, cultural perspectives, identity perspectives, and visual perspectives. Each chapter is self-standing with conclusions about the case study at hand. The final chapter integrates all the case studies with separate conclusions about each of the four perspectives.

The study of linguistic landscapes, the analysis and interpretation of the relationships between languages and spaces, is a blooming field in current sociolinguistics. In all their diversity, linguistic landscapes can be seen as the linguistic mirror of the dynamics of our globalised society. This book offers a selection of the best presentations given at the 3rd International Linguistic Landscape Workshop, which took place at the University of Strasbourg in May 2010. The various contributions offer new perspectives on the mapping of multilingualism in different social contexts, and analyse how the linguistic landscape reflects social change. The book includes chapters in French and in English and provides a wide array of case studies dealing with language policy, political activism, art, advertising, religion, literacy, education and migration.

Loin d’être une utopie, le plurilinguisme en entreprise est une réalité complexe, qui fournit des ressources mesurables. Les études réunies dans ce volume montrent que les locuteurs cherchent spontanément plusieurs solutions, différentes du tout anglais, afin de communiquer de manière efficace. Comme les besoins linguistiques changent selon la typologie de l’entreprise, les auteurs proposent diverses solutions pour mieux investir dans les langues. Un dernier volet présente des témoignages d’entreprises ayant misé sur le plurilinguisme comme ressource stratégique.Far from being a utopia, plurilingualism in business companies is a complex reality and provides measurable resources. The contributions in this volume show that language users spontaneously look for solutions other than English only to communicate effectively in the workplace. Since different types of company have different language needs, the authors suggest diverse language strategies and implementations. One section is devoted to best practices: companies present their experience in addressing language issues in the workplace.

This book provides innovative research on the meaning and dynamics of multilingualism in the specific contexts of "micro-territories". Through the case studies of 10 micro-territories, the book offers a sociolinguistic analysis of two main types of smallness: islands such as Malta, Grenada, Sardinia, the Balearic islands and Taiwan, on the one hand, and small landlocked territories or countries such as Andorra, Aosta, Aran and Luxembourg, as well as the fragmented territory of Catalan-speaking Aragon, on the other hand. Taking into account the notion of micro-territory as a variable, language policies, language use and practices are analysed so as to offer new insights into the way multilingualism is conditioned by demographic and geographical factors. The book contains 5 chapters written in French, 5 in English, and an introduction in French.

L’objectif principal de ce volume est de rassembler les expériences d’un grand nombre de projets de doctorat et de post-doctorat en cours ou récemment achevés dans des contextes de plurilinguisme et d’hétérogénéité, en mettant l’accent en particulier sur la dimension méthodologique de ces recherches.The volume is composed of 12 studies focusing on the key questions related to the methods in research on pluri- and multilingualism. The studies combine research on pluri- and multilingualism experiencing linguistic heterogeneity. This is the normal case today both in migration societies and in societies that have been shaped by colonial experiences till date.