Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity

In this handbook, the link between ethnic identity and language is explored from the perspectives of different social science disciplines and diverse geographical regions. This volume will serve as a complete resource on the subject and, because of its accessibility, will appeal not only to a scholarly audience, but also to a college and lay audience.

This volume presents a comprehensive introduction to the connection between language and ethnicity. The Ebonics and bilingual education controversies in the US have both provided new evidence for a connection between language and ethnicity and raised questions about the nature of this connection. Since the "ethnic revival" of the last twenty years, there has been a substantial and interdisciplinary change in our understanding of the connection between these fundamental aspects of our identity. The distinguished sociolinguist Joshua Fishman has commissioned over 25 previously unpublished papers on every facet of the subject. The volume is divided into two sections, the first examining disciplinary perspectives (for example history, psychology, religion, sociolinguistics, etc) on the subject; the second uses the prism of geography, looking at the subject in the context of Africa, Scandinavia, Germany and the rest of Western Europe, North America and elsewhere. The volume is truly interdisciplinary and the contributors are all distinguished figures in their fields.No previous knowledge of the subject is assumed and thus the volume will be suitable as a scholarly reference, as a resource for the lay reader, and can also be used as a text in ethnicity courses.