Language and Globalization v2: Critical Concepts in Linguistics

by Ingrid Piller (Editor)

Sociolinguistic questions related to globalization are widely considered highly innovative and the field sustains a vigorous and vibrant research and publication program. A relatively new yet burgeoning field such as this can be confusing and difficult to navigate for students and scholars; a guided reading program such as is offered by the collections in the Critical Concepts in Linguistics series would thus constitute a most welcome addition to the field. Selection and organizationThe meaning of "globalization" is highly contested and part of the difficulty of gaining an overview of the field of "language and globalization" is related to the fact that the term "globalization" is used in many different ways. The proposed collection will therefore take a phenomenological approach centered on different aspects of political, commercial, cultural and communicative globalization can be identified as distinct strands with clear linguistic implications; these constitute a readily apparent organization principle for the four volumes.There are a number of disciplines that produce work of relevance to the sociolinguistics of globalization. To begin with linguistics, it is particularly anthropological linguistics and sociolinguistics that have concerned themselves with language and globalization. Additionally, relevant contributions come from applied linguistics, contact linguistics, bi- and multilingualism studies, educational linguistics, historical linguistics, language policy and planning, and second language acquisition. Outside linguistics, globalization studies constitute a discipline in its own right and research relevant to language-related issues has also disciplinary bases in anthropology, business studies, cultural studies, history, intercultural communication, and sociology. Bringing these multidisciplinary bases of language and globalization into conversation with each other will be one of the main selection challenges.As with my previous edition in the series, Language and Migration, in addition to topical selection of the most important research, I will aim to showcase research from a wide range of geographical, regional and historical contexts. Throughout, an attempt will be made to strike a balance between general overview articles and contextually-situated case-studies.In keeping with the Critical Concepts in Linguistics series, each volume will contain around twenty articles, and about two-thirds will be sourced from journals and the remainder from book chapters. Up to half of all the articles in each volume will have been published in the past five years; the remainder will be made up by older work in order to feature foundational research and to trace analytic developments. Up to three quarters of the contributions will come from various subfields of linguistics. The remainder will feature relevant work from outside the discipline.The editor will author an original overview chapter to serve as an introduction to the collection. Volume 1: Language in political globalizationVolume 1 will feature research that examines the linguistic consequences of political globalization in the form of (neo)colonial and (neo)imperial expansion. A significant focus will be on the spread of English as a global language in the contexts of British and US colonial and imperial expansion. Critical debates of the idea of "linguistic imperialism" will be setting the stage for an examination of the linguistic consequences of neoliberalism as the most recent phase of political globalization (e.g., .In addition to the inevitable focus on the spread of English as a global language, an effort will also be made to take a broader perspective and to also showcase research related to the development of other imperial languages throughout history, including Latin, French, Russian and Spanish. Volume 2: Language in commercial globalizationVolume 2 will bring together research examining internal and external language choice, language management and language policy in multinational corporations and similar agents of commercial globalization. In addition to applied sociolinguistics, research in the fields of international management and corporate communication will feature strongly in this volume. Empirical studies inspired by the work of Rebecca Piekkari and her associates (e.g., will make up a substantial part of the volume. Volume 3: Language in cultural globalizationCultural globalization is expressed in phenomena such as cosmopolitanism, hybridization and homogenization, and, broadly speaking, linked to questions of identities and ideologies. The tensions between globalization and localization, often framed as resistance to globalization, are particularly apparent in the cultural domain and tensions between global and local languages will therefore constitute a prominent focus of Volume 3. Authors to be featured in Volume 3 include, for instance, Suresh Canagarajah, Alastair Pennycook and B. Kumara...

358 pages, Hardcover

Published October 3, 2018