Book contents
- Multilingualism and History
- Multilingualism and History
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Multilingualism and Historical Amnesia: An Introduction
- 2 Greek Meets Egyptian at the Temple Gate: Bilingual Papyri from Hellenistic and Roman Egypt (Third Century BCE–Fourth Century CE)
- 3 Language Shift, Attitudes and Management in the Roman West
- 4 Languages at War: Military Interpreters in Antiquity and the Modern World
- 5 How Multilingualism Came to Be Ignored in the History of Standard English
- 6 Multilingualism and the Attitude toward French in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
- 7 Why Colonial Dutch Failed to Become a Global Lingua Franca
- 8 How Unique Was Russia’s Multilingual Elite?
- 9 Language Ideology and Observation: Nineteenth-Century Scholars in Northwestern Siberia
- 10 Studying Historical Multilingualism in Everyday Life: The Case of the Habsburg Monarchy in the Nineteenth Century
- 11 Multilingualism and the End of the Ottoman Empire: Language, Script, and the Quest for the ‘Modern’
- 12 “Multilingualism Is Now a Must”: Discourses on Languages and International Cooperation at the Council of Europe
- 13 The Role of the Past in Language Revitalization
- 14 Historic Reenactments in Contemporary Spain: Fiestas de moros y cristianos
- 15 Multilingual Ghost Signs: Dissonant Languages in the Landscape of Memory
- Index
- References
13 - The Role of the Past in Language Revitalization
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 April 2023
- Multilingualism and History
- Multilingualism and History
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Multilingualism and Historical Amnesia: An Introduction
- 2 Greek Meets Egyptian at the Temple Gate: Bilingual Papyri from Hellenistic and Roman Egypt (Third Century BCE–Fourth Century CE)
- 3 Language Shift, Attitudes and Management in the Roman West
- 4 Languages at War: Military Interpreters in Antiquity and the Modern World
- 5 How Multilingualism Came to Be Ignored in the History of Standard English
- 6 Multilingualism and the Attitude toward French in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
- 7 Why Colonial Dutch Failed to Become a Global Lingua Franca
- 8 How Unique Was Russia’s Multilingual Elite?
- 9 Language Ideology and Observation: Nineteenth-Century Scholars in Northwestern Siberia
- 10 Studying Historical Multilingualism in Everyday Life: The Case of the Habsburg Monarchy in the Nineteenth Century
- 11 Multilingualism and the End of the Ottoman Empire: Language, Script, and the Quest for the ‘Modern’
- 12 “Multilingualism Is Now a Must”: Discourses on Languages and International Cooperation at the Council of Europe
- 13 The Role of the Past in Language Revitalization
- 14 Historic Reenactments in Contemporary Spain: Fiestas de moros y cristianos
- 15 Multilingual Ghost Signs: Dissonant Languages in the Landscape of Memory
- Index
- References
Summary
The term revitalization presupposes that something is in danger or threatened – as a consequence, language revitalization is often seen as a response to language endangerment and as a way of undoing past injustices. While revitalization processes take place in the present, such processes follow long timescales and are deeply embedded in local historical contexts. Language revitalization may be experienced as positive and emancipatory, but the process can also be difficult because those attempting to reclaim their language may have to face hurts of the past, which have been passed down through generations and have consequences today. An analysis of current efforts to revitalize Kven and Sámi languages in Northern Norway sheds light on such inherent tensions in revitalization processes, concluding that it is essential to recognize tensions and contradictory forces exerted on the individuals who attempt to reclaim their language and to support them on their language journey.
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- Multilingualism and History , pp. 239 - 254Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023