Handbook of language & ethnic identity

1. Handbook of language & ethnic identity Chapter 6: Nationalism by William Safran

2. The Role of Language • Elements of National sentiment include: cultural heritage, history/memory, kinship (or its myth) – What role does language play? • These elements are all expressed and distributed through a language • What comes first – collective identity or language? • Sometimes a language has led to collective identity, and sometimes collective identity has led to the rediscovery/elaboration of a language

3. Language – Nationalism – Statehood • Nationalism: “a principle which holds that the political and national unit should be congruent” • The national unit is usually defined via language • But language is neither sufficient nor absolutely necessary for state building

4. Languages and Nonpolitical Collective Identity • Post-colonial states – what is the status of language for them? • They have many languages and often use the colonial language for national purposes • How many states would we need for each language to have its own state? • If language were the sole motive for nationhood, there would be several thousand states, not 200

5. Do states beget language? • Perhaps it is the growth of nationalist sentiments that give language political importance • What are some examples? • Jewish nationalism revived Hebrew • Institutionalization of French after Revolution • Collective religious consciousness developed into national consciousness, which used vernaculars developed as literary languages through Bible translations

6. Where not to find nationalism • There is no national consciousness that is inherited along bloodlines • Language is not essential to the adoption of political ideologies of independent statehood

7. Language protects collective identity and communal cohesion Language may mark distinctions that are not ethnic: social class in Greece & Norway, religion among speakers of Yiddish Not all language groups aspire to nationhood (size, lack of power, economic constraints, etc.) Sharing a language does not imply sharing a state (English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese all prove this) What language does and does not do

8. What Role Does the Elite Play in Language and Nationalism? • “intellectuals play a dominant role in the development of nationalism by manipulating language as an instrument for the expression of collective consciousness” • Ethnic elite can restructure a dialect to serve national purposes • But the elite is not always fluent in the “local” language • And sometimes elite will use a language that distinguishes it from the masses

9. Language as an Artifact of the Political System • Nationalism depends on place, kinship, race, memory, values, economic conditions – all these may cut across language barriers • “national languages are almost always artificial constructs built by the same state and the same elite that constructed nationalism ideology” • National languages are standardized and spread by education and mass media, thus by public policy

10. Two-way street • Civic and ethnic forces support each other • A language facilitates the creation of a state • A state develops a language and culture laden with state-specific ingredients • What does this mean for other languages in a given state? • Other languages/dialects are disadvantaged

11. Language and Nationalism as Independent Variables • A nation results from the collective will to live together, which does not require common language. What are some examples? • Switzerland, Belgium • “As modern nations are built, ethnic languages are replaced by national languages, which are superior because they are idioms of “high culture”, intercommunal transactional utility, global functional significance, and/or the best expressions of a political ideology or a ‘social compact’ on which the nation is based.” • Do you agree?

12. Linguistic-Cultural Values and Political Values • Some argue for a “connection between the values that define a nation and the language in which the definition is articulated” – but this seems overstated, although a common language certainly helps in creating such a definition • Technically any nationality can be expressed in any language…

13. Conclusions • Language remains an important factor of collective consciousness • In multicultural settings, other factors of nationalism must be stressed, yet culture without language is weak

14. Open Questions • Officialization of an ethnic language can • lend support to political aspirations • or • satisfy the demands of a minority and dampen political aspirations • undermine the position of an elite • or • shore up the position of an elite

15. Why today’s emphasis on national languages? • To preserve & assert uniqueness in the face of: • cultural globalization • economic interdependence • weakening of traditional sovereignties • domination of large ethnic groups