Pluricentriclanguages in Europe in contact and conflict: an overview

Rudolf MUHR

Austrian German Research Centre (Graz)

(rudolf.muhr@uni-graz.at)

 

Keywords: Pluricentric languages, Europe, contact conflict

 

In this paper I am going to give an overview about (a) which languagesin Europe are to be considered pluricentric, and (b) where there are conflicts about both the status of the pluricentricity and its relevance for society, culture and identity of speakers and nations.

I will also go into the possible reasons for conflicts about pluricentricity. And as the data show the „one nation one language ideology“ is the most important factor which is used to fight against the diversity and linguistic self-determination that is inherent in pluricentricity.

And it is obvious that the dominant varieties of many pluricentric languages are not keen on allowing the development of other nation-bound linguistic standards. I will also try to show which strategies are being used at present by the dominant varieties all over Europe to subdue or diminish the codification, standardisation and development of the norms of the non-dominant varieties.

There are both language-ideological and linguistic „arguments“ which are being used in this fight. In French it is the talk about „bon usage“, in German it is the desperate and permanent attempt to separate so-called „Dialect“ from „Standard language“ and using exonormative codification rules instead of applying a language model that is based on the concept of the diglossia. The demise of former Yugoslavia has left behind the development of four/five different languages that arose from „Serbo-Croatian“. And they are still discussions going on whether these languages are rather considered to be varieties of a single pluricentric language or languages in the own right. A similar discussion which is worth going to be investigated is the one that was going on in Moldavia. And there is the unsolved situation of a considerable amount of Russian native speakers in the Baltic States, which in the case of Latvia has caused a severe diplomatic conflict with Russia. The many other examples especially if we go into the effects of contact between dominant and non-dominant varieties which usually puts enormous pressure on the non-dominant ones etc. etc.