Language Standardisation Language Varihb

This volume presents fourteen case studies of standardization processes in eleven different Germanic languages. Together, the contributions confront problematic issues in standardization which will be of interest to sociolinguists, as well as to historical linguists from all language disciplines. The papers cover a historical range from the Middle Ages to the present and a geographical range from South Africa to Iceland, but all fall into one of the following categories: 1) shaping and diffusing a standard language; 2) the relationship between standard and identity; 3) non-standardization, de-standardization and re-standardization.

Beiträge in Deutsch, Englisch und Französisch

Surveying a wide range of languages and approaches, this Handbook is an essential resource for all those interested in language standards and standard languages. It not only explores the standardization of national European languages, it also offers fresh insights on the standardization of minoritized, indigenous and stateless languages.

Here, an examination of so-called uneducated and otherwise non-standard usage in the Sri Lankan context, including popular cultural and protest writing and speech, shows that Sri Lankans communicate powerfully and creatively in this medium. The legitimization of this practice on the margins leads to a de-hegemonizing of language standards. What can be seen in the Sri Lankan context is not specific to it, but shown to be typical of all languages in use, and, in an analogous argument, the claim is extended from the narrowly linguistic sphere to the much broader field of discursive practice in general.