Minority Languages and Cultural Diversity in Europe

Konstanze Glaser is an Associate Lecturer for the Open University and also works as a freelance translator. Her research interests range from contact linguistics, intercultural communication and the (re)production of ethnolinguistic identities to multiculturalism, identity politics and new social movements more generally.

• 1 Introduction 2 Ethnocultural Minorities in Europe: The Political Context 3 Multilingualism as Premise of Cultural Diversity: Theories on Language, Thought and Culture from the Enlightenment to the Present 4 Gaelic in Scotland 5 Sorbian in Lusatia 6 Language Metaphysics on the Ground: Gaelic and Sorbian in Relation to Thought, Culture and Self 7 Narratives of Continuity: Language as a Unifier 8 The (Re)Production of Difference: Language as Source of Social Boundaries 9 Conclusion Bibliography Appendix

The English-speaking world has needed a book along these lines for a long time and this is a very ambitious one. The Sorbs and the Gaels allow us to reflect on minority issues from an Eastern and a Western angle. What are the differences? I hope this text will help readers of all backgrounds understand the desire of minorities to maintain their cultures and identities, and how important a contribution marginalised groups can make to Europe's vision of unity in diversity.