The Power of Voice in Transforming Multilingual Societies

Elizabeth J Erling editor Julia Gspandl editor Christina Korb editor Angelika Heiling editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Multilingual Matters

Published:7th Jul '23

Should be back in stock very soon

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The Power of Voice in Transforming Multilingual Societies cover

Timely response to the marked and growing interest in the notion of linguistic citizenship

Drawing upon the framework of linguistic citizenship, the chapters in this book link questions of language to sociopolitical discourses of justice, rights and equity, as well as to issues of power and access. They present powerful evidence of how marginalized speakers reclaim their voices and challenge power relations.

This volume aims to capture evidence of marginalized voices in various contexts globally and show how speakers seek to reclaim their voices and challenge power relations. The chapters reveal how speakers actively confront inequities in society such as the unequal distribution of resources. Through bottom-up initiatives and conscious involvement in language use, documentation and the development of language domains, speakers can address issues of language-based marginalization, (re)establish linguistic human rights and reclaim their linguistic and cultural identity. Chapters in the volume explore commitments to democratic participation, to voice, to the heterogeneity of linguistic resources and to the political value of sociolinguistic understanding. Drawing upon the framework of linguistic citizenship, they link questions of language to sociopolitical discourses of justice, rights and equity, as well as to issues of power and access within a political and democratic framework.

The Power of Voice in Transforming Multilingual Societies is an urgent call to analysts, theorists, researchers, think-tankers, policymakers, and governments to take seriously the voice and (socio)linguistic citizenship of marginalized citizens. Each chapter makes an important intervention on how to uplift every multilingual voice and advances the utility of (socio)linguistic citizenship, first developed in the global South. * Quentin Williams, University of the Western Cape, South Africa *
With its focus on minoritized and marginalized groups of speakers and signers, this book brings together case studies from often overlooked contexts, and in particular from the Global South. It makes a committed plea for the recognition of linguistic difference, for equal access to resources and rights despite difference and for multilingual interaction across difference. * Brigitta Busch, University of Vienna, Austria *
An impressive range of case studies on communities that have been largely neglected in the literature. The authors analyze multilingualism under duress and offer insights on how a world of minoritized yet resilient language communities are reclaiming territory in contested spaces such as urban centers, social media forums, and the multilingual classroom. In the grand tradition of Multilingual Matters, each contribution is replete with ideas for praxis. * Daniel Kaufman, City University of New York and the Endangered Language Alliance, USA *

ISBN: 9781800412026

Dimensions: 234mm x 156mm x 13mm

Weight: 380g

264 pages