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C. Paulin (ed.), Multiculturalisme, multilinguisme et milieu urbain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2008

Sylvie Roy
Sylvie Roy
Affiliation:
Education, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, syroy@ucalgary.ca
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Extract

C. Paulin (ed.), Multiculturalisme, multilinguisme et milieu urbain. Besançon: Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comté, Université de Franche-Comté, 2005. Pp. 3, 286. Hb €32.

This edited book, written in French, brings together the contributions of 15 researchers from a number of research centers in France. Their studies are situated in various regions of France and around the world. The book provides an understanding of languages and cultures in contact in urban settings and includes work on language variation, language policies, the construction of identity, and linguistic minorities. Most of the chapters focus on a linguistic analysis of languages and cultures in contact, and some address the sociological and political aspects of these languages. Some of the data come from quantitative analysis of languages in different settings, including variation and ethnicity in England (S. Dalban), the preposition qu in Chiac, Canada (P. D. Giancarli), and Anglo-American lexis (A. Paulin).

Type
BOOK NOTES
Information
Language in Society , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , February 2008 , pp. 152 - 153
Copyright
© 2008 Cambridge University Press

This edited book, written in French, brings together the contributions of 15 researchers from a number of research centers in France. Their studies are situated in various regions of France and around the world. The book provides an understanding of languages and cultures in contact in urban settings and includes work on language variation, language policies, the construction of identity, and linguistic minorities. Most of the chapters focus on a linguistic analysis of languages and cultures in contact, and some address the sociological and political aspects of these languages. Some of the data come from quantitative analysis of languages in different settings, including variation and ethnicity in England (S. Dalban), the preposition qu in Chiac, Canada (P. D. Giancarli), and Anglo-American lexis (A. Paulin).

Readers can also find analyses and reflections on variation and diglossia in Guadeloupe (F. Delumeau), on the ethnolinguistic vitality of minority groups such as Italians, Portuguese, and Polish in Nancy, France (M. Deneire) and of Hmong in Laos (C. Ly), on languages in contact and the apparent extinction of a regional dialect from Comté de Nice called le Vésubien (Y. Gilli), on the German variety called Kanak resulting from Turkish immigration to Germany (A. Herdam), on pluralism in Conakry, République de Guinée (G. Holtzer), on linguistic policies and language management in the former Yugoslavia (V. Janjic), on identity and linguistic variation among Pakistanis in Manchester, UK (C. Paulin), on bilingualism in Paraguay and the urban consequences on its two official languages, Spanish and Guaraní (C. Pic-Gillard), on linguistic rivalries in Northern Ireland (M. Savaric), and, finally, on bilingualism and language policies in the Iles Baléares (S. Sintas).

All the chapters are well written and contribute to a better understanding of specific sociolinguistic matters from different regions or groups. Several of these issues are similar in certain ways but differ depending on historical, political, and social contexts in which they are raised and lived. Some chapters offer very specific linguistic analysis; others offer a more macro view of a particular group. On the whole, this edited volume provides interesting contributions toward a better understanding of languages in contact in multilingual urban settings.