Language, History, Ideology

The Use and Misuse of Historical-Comparative Linguistics

Edited by Camiel Hamans and Hans Henrich Hock

• Addresses the ideological implications of historical and comparative linguistics
• Demonstrates the effect of power and oppression on language change
• Presents twelve in-depth case studies that illustrate the misuse of linguistic data for political ends
• This volume presents twelve in-depth case studies that critically examine the ways in which historical linguistics and language change interact with ideology. These varying interactions have been present since the birth of historical-comparative linguistics as a field of study. Work in historical linguistics may be appropriated or rejected for ideological reasons, most notably in the debates surrounding the Indo-European homeland; it can also by influenced by ideological biases, as in the ‘alternative’ histories that have been proposed for Moldovan and Maltese. The development of linguistically-defined nation states may itself fuel linguistic change, for instance through the suppression of minority languages or the division of existing languages to mirror political divisions, as occurred in the Balkans; or it may lead to the formulation of pseudo-histories designed to give a nation a more prestigious past. The book will be of interest not only to historical linguists but also to anthropologists, historians, and all those interested in language policy.

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