A compilation of papers taken from the Fourth International Conference on Minority Languages. While the first volume focused on the more theoretically orientated papers, this volume emphasizes the inventorial or descriptive approach.

This book focuses on the international and educational context of ethnic communities and their language varieties in the Netherlands. It presents major trends in Dutch research on community languages and cross-cultural evidence on reported vs observed use of community languages at Dutch schools.

Mixing Two Languages: French-Dutch Contact in a Comparative Perspective (Topics in Sociolinguistics, 9).

Publisher description

Rapidly increasing migration flows contribute to the development of multiple forms of social and cultural differentiation in urban areas – or to ‘super-diversity’. Language diversity is an important part of the resulting new social and cultural constellations. Although linguistic diversity is not a new phenomenon per se, the response of individuals or education systems to it is still largely based on a monolingual habitus, associating one nation (or a region within a nation) to one language. Building on the top-quality expertise of researchers from different academic fields, the volume offers insights into the study of linguistic diversity from linguistic and education science perspectives. The studies derive from different countries, different disciplines, different research traditions and methodological approaches, all aiming towards a better understanding of actual linguistic reality and its consequences for individual language development and for education.The book addresses an academic readership and experts who are interested in learning more about linguistic diversity as an inevitable effect of globalisation, and on ways to deal with this reality in research as well as practise in urban areas.

Developing a solid basis for future research and training, this illuminating volume facilitates peace and mutual understanding between people by addressing a root cause of social conflicts: identity constructions. The volume encompasses eight revealing empirical case studies from regions throughout the world, conducted by experts from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. Each case study examines how identities are being constructed and used in the region, how these identities are related to borders and in what ways identity constructions foment peace or conflict. The volume summarizes insights gleaned from these studies and formulates an analytical framework for understanding the role of identity constructions in conflict or peace.

This collection of the proceedings of the 3rd conference on bi- and multilingual universities, held at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano from 20 to 22 September 2007, tries to give a state-of-the-art insight into theoretical and practical approaches towards implementing bi- and multilingual models and policies in higher education institutions in various parts of the world.