Nations and language‐building: Old theories, contemporary cases

Abstract

Recent scholarship has revealed many different understandings of nations, nationalism and national minorities. Language as a marker of national identity is usually acknowledged, but only occasionally has it been the subject of empirical analysis. This article makes the case for grounding analysis of nations and nationalism in the language spoken by a group. After reviewing posited linkages between nations and language, it examines contrasting cases of language‐building, that is, raising the status of a language ‐ frequently an underdog language ‐ in a state. Cases include language politics in Canada and the United States, and those in the newly independent states emerging from the Soviet Union. Mixed civic‐ethnic approaches to language use and citizenship offer the most realistic and equitable resolutions of conflicts in a state between majority and minority groups.

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