Linda Fisher

Wendy Ayres-Bennett

This book offers cutting-edge research on multilingual identity by scholars from different disciplines on a range of languages and contexts.

Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Multilingualism and Identity

Vaugelas and the Development of the French Language

John Bellamy

Language standardization is the process by which conventional forms of a language are established and maintained. Bringing together internationally renowned experts, this Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of standardization, norms and standard languages. Chapters are grouped into five thematic areas: models and theories of standardization, questions of authority and legitimacy, literacy and education, borders and boundaries, and standardization in Late Modernity. Each chapter addresses a specific issue in detail, illustrating it with linguistic case studies and taking into account the particular political, social and cultural context. Showcasing cutting-edge research, it offers fresh perspectives that go beyond traditional accounts of the standardization of national European languages, and affords new insights into minoritized, indigenous and stateless languages. Surveying a wide range of languages and approaches, this Handbook is an essential resource for all those interested in language standards and standard languages.

The Cambridge Handbook of Language Standardization

This book provides a systematic study of sociolinguistic variation in seventeenth-century France. Drawing on a range of case studies, Wendy Ayres-Bennett makes available data about linguistic variation in this period, showing the wealth and variety of language usage at a time that is considered to be the most 'standardising' in the history of French. Variation is analysed in terms of the speaker's 'pre-verbal constitution' - such as gender, age and socio-economic status - or by the medium, register or genre used. As well as examining linguistic variation itself, the book also considers the fundamental methodological issues that are central to all socio-historical linguistic accounts and, more importantly, addresses the question of what the appropriate sources are for linguists taking a socio-historical approach. In each chapter, the case studies present a range of phonological, morphological, syntactic and lexical issues, which pose different methodological questions for sociolinguists and historical linguists alike.

Methodology and Case Studies

Sociolinguistic Variation in Seventeenth-Century France

Mari C. Jones

Our choice of linguistic code is one of the most fundamental ways open to us of establishing our membership of some groups and our distance from others. This symbolic value of language may often leave it open to exploitation, especially by the state. The present volume demonstrates how the multi-faceted nature of the concept of identity makes its relationship with language both complex and unpredictable. Because of its particular historical and social characteristics, the French language provides especially fertile territory for the exploration of this theme. Four main axes stand out in the French context: 'institutionalised' identity, regional identity, social identity and competing identities. These themes are explored from different perspectives by leading experts from Britain, Europe and North America: Roger Baines, Kate Beeching, Danielle Bouverot, David Cowling, Edith Esch, François Gadet, Penelope Gardner-Chloros, David Hornsby, John E. Joseph, Dominique Lagorgette, Jacques Landrecies, Dawn Marley, Nicolas Pepin, Tim Pooley, Gilles Siouffi, Albert Valdman, Barbara von Gemmingen and Chantal Wionet.

The French Language and Questions of Identity

Quintus Curtius Rufus

Académie française

Historiae Alexandri Magni

Helena Sanson

Professor of French Philology and Linguistics Wendy Ayres-Bennett

Professor of Italian History of Linguistics and Women's Studies Helena Sanson

This volume offers a ground-breaking investigation into women's contribution to the description, analysis, and codification of languages across a wide range of linguistic and cultural traditions. The chapters explore a variety of spheres of activity, from the production of dictionaries and grammars to language teaching methods and language policy.

Women in the History of Linguistics

Janice Carruthers

The Romance languages offer a particularly fertile ground for the exploration of the relationship between language and society in different social contexts and communities. Focusing on a wide range of Romance languages – from national languages to minoritised varieties – this volume explores questions concerning linguistic diversity and multilingualism, language contact, medium and genre, variation and change. It will interest researchers and policy-makers alike.

Wendy Ayres-Bennett

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