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Language and culture in Transnational society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2009

Abram De Swaan
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Extract

The modern world system also comprises a global constellation of languages, arranged in hierarchies and linked by multilingual individuals. The communication value of a language depends on the proportion of the people who speak it, multiplied by the proportion of multilingual speakers. The special characteristics of languages make them into hypercollective goods. In the West language is identified with state. A language of supercentral communication will permit the nations of the European Union to communicate and will exist in a dynamic, precarious balance with the indigenous languages.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Review , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , October 1999 , pp. 507 - 518
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 1999

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