Writing systems and language contact in the Euro- and Sinocentric worlds
-
Florian Coulmas
Florian Coulmas is Director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo (www.dijtokyo.org/?lang=en). He has written several books on writing systems and Sociolinguistics. His latest book is entitled, ``Writing and Society'', CUP 2013.
Abstract
On the social level languages contact usually implies hierarchies, reflecting historical processes of adaptation and power relations between groups of speakers. This paper considers language contact in the written mode from the point of view of choice, that is, choice of language and choice of writing system. A wider range of factors that have a bearing on choice in contact situations of languages and their writing systems must be taken into consideration: political, social, linguistic and ideological. Examples of each kind from the Eurocentric and Sinocentric worlds are discussed and compared with each other. Particular attention is paid to the relationship bilingual writers create between the units of two languages and two writing systems which, from a sociolinguistic point of view, is seen as indicative of the status and function of the languages involved.
About the author
Florian Coulmas is Director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo (www.dijtokyo.org/?lang=en). He has written several books on writing systems and Sociolinguistics. His latest book is entitled, ``Writing and Society'', CUP 2013.
©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Writing systems and language contact in the Euro- and Sinocentric worlds
- Globalization in the margins: toward a re-evalution of language and mobility
- Co-construction of ``doctorable'' conditions in multilingual medical encounters: Cases from urban Japan
- EFL motivation development in an increasingly globalized local context: A longitudinal study of Chinese undergraduates
- Mentor invitations for reflection in post-observation conferences: Some preliminary considerations
- Special Thematic Section
- The effectiveness of Lingua Receptiva (LaRa) in multilingual communication – Editorial
- How to check understanding across languages. An introduction into the Pragmatic Index of Language Distance (PILaD) usable to measure mutual understanding in receptive multilingualism, illustrated by conversations in Russian, Ukrainian and Polish
- English as a lingua franca versus lingua receptiva in problem-solving conversations between Dutch and German students
- Receptive multilingualism in Turkish-Turkmen academic counseling sessions
- Facilitating mutual understanding in everyday interaction between Finns and Estonians
- The role of dialect exposure in receptive multilingualism
- A matter of reception: ELF and LaRa compared
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Writing systems and language contact in the Euro- and Sinocentric worlds
- Globalization in the margins: toward a re-evalution of language and mobility
- Co-construction of ``doctorable'' conditions in multilingual medical encounters: Cases from urban Japan
- EFL motivation development in an increasingly globalized local context: A longitudinal study of Chinese undergraduates
- Mentor invitations for reflection in post-observation conferences: Some preliminary considerations
- Special Thematic Section
- The effectiveness of Lingua Receptiva (LaRa) in multilingual communication – Editorial
- How to check understanding across languages. An introduction into the Pragmatic Index of Language Distance (PILaD) usable to measure mutual understanding in receptive multilingualism, illustrated by conversations in Russian, Ukrainian and Polish
- English as a lingua franca versus lingua receptiva in problem-solving conversations between Dutch and German students
- Receptive multilingualism in Turkish-Turkmen academic counseling sessions
- Facilitating mutual understanding in everyday interaction between Finns and Estonians
- The role of dialect exposure in receptive multilingualism
- A matter of reception: ELF and LaRa compared
