Language as a political category: The viewpoint of political science
2007; John Benjamins Publishing Company; Volume: 6; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1075/156921507781509626
ISSN1569-9862
Autores Tópico(s)Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics
ResumoThe article is based on an understanding that everything in society — including language — is political, at least potentially. For that reason, language must be seen (and analyzed) as a political phenomenon. Language is one of the decisive ‘nation building’ factors among others — sometimes cross-cutting other potentially defining factors. In its identity-building capacity, language is inclusive and exclusive at the very same time. Language has to be seen as one of the most important social (and: therefore political) cleavages. As more and more societies are confronted with ‘multiculturalism’ expressed in a multi-linguistic reality, politics have to come to terms with diversity in different ways.
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