What is it about?
Contrary to the expectations of governments that employ restrictive, assimilationist language policies, I find that more severe restrictions on minority languages tend to increase minority demands for self-determination rather than cultivate national unity.
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Why is it important?
The results demonstrate that severe language restrictions can result in less rather than more national unity in the form of stronger minority demands for self-determination.
Perspectives
These results cast doubt on the effectiveness of assimilationist language policies as they have been employed since the early 19th century onwards. My dissertation, "Popular Backlash to Language Assimilation Regimes", covers this idea in greater detail over several in-depth historical case studies.
John Derks
University of Maryland at College Park
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This page is a summary of: Language and the demand for self-determination, Language Problems & Language Planning, December 2024, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/lplp.24003.der.
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