| Unit name | Regional and Minority Languages in Europe |
|---|---|
| Unit code | MODLM2059 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Langer |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
none |
| Co-requisites |
none |
| School/department | School of Modern Languages |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
In this unit, we will be examining case studies of regional and minority languages, e.g. Frisian, Welsh, Sami, Sorbian, and Low German in order to see how language is used to promote and retain a sense of national separateness or identity even though its speakers belong to the same political nationality/citizendhip as speakers of the surrounding majority language. We will be investigating aspects of language planning, i.e. to what extent a language is promoted or suppressed, language use, i.e. to what extent the language is actually a fully-functioning means of communication, and folk linguistic, i.e. the beliefs and associations speakers and non-speakers have about the value, prestige, and future of the language.
