Multilingual Matters Regional Nationalism in Spain: Language Use and Ethnic Identity in Galicia: 5 (Linguistic Diversity and Language Rights)

This book is about linguistic diversity and language revitalisation in Galicia, one of the autochthonous regions of Spain. By means of historical, linguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives, it examines societal language use and institutional support in order to determine the role of the Galician language and loyalty and prestige factors, in expressions of Galician ethnic identity. Review This book's originality lies in the analytical framework within which it addresses the question of Galician linguistic, ethnic and cultural revival: a combination of diachronic and synchronic linguistic analysis of the similarities and differences between the three languages in question (Castilian Spanish, Galician and Portuguese); a sociolinguistic analysis of their differentiated and overlapping uses in different social domains and of attitudes and loyalties; and an examination of how these complexities relate to the expression of a Galician ethnic identity. As someone who works on language revitalisation issues in comparable circumstances, I personally find this particular combination of linguistic, historical and sociolinguistic analyses innovative and illuminating.--Jane Freeland, Honorary Research Fellow in the Centre for Transnational Studies, Modern Languages, University of Southampton. Beswick deals with the main and most controversial topics of the linguistic situation in Galicia. She explores the relation between language and ethnic identity with a clear and courageous voice, and advances some prospects in the future of Galician. This book will interest scholars in the field of minority languages research, language ideologies and identity, and is destined to become an important work in Galician linguistics and social sciences.-- "X. L. Regueira, Instituto da Lingua Galega, Univ. de Santiago de Compostela." About the Author Jaine Beswick is Lecturer in Linguistics, with a speciality in Spanish and Portuguese, at the University of Southampton, UK. She is an experienced teacher of sociolinguistics, phonetics and phonology and dialectology at both undergraduate and graduate level, and she is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, Galician and French. She has published various papers on Galician and Portuguese sociolinguistics, and is currently heading two projects on Galician and Portuguese migrations to the UK.