Minority Language Promotion, Protection and Regulation The Mask of Piety

Minority Language Promotion, Protection and Regulation blends a discussion of the role of official language strategies with an analysis as to how both strategies and legislation are implemented in a variety of contexts ranging from Catalonia, The Basque Country, Finland, Ireland and Wales to Canada at both federal and provincial level. It is an authoritative guide and reference volume which tracks recent influences on official language strategy from a legislative, political, social and economic perspective. As both activist and critic, Colin Williams provides a fresh and challenging interpretation of the manner in which formally discriminated language minorities are now grappling with the exercise of power and responsibility for language –related developments within education, the media, local government and the community. The author poses difficult questions for the wielders of power and decision-makers whose official pronouncements invariably support linguistic diversity but whose policy priorities and fiscal approach tends to undercut the capacity of vibrant communities and civil servants to deliver ambitious programmes of reform in support of minority languages.

Colin H. Williams is Research Professor and Director of the Language, Policy and Planning Research Unit in the School of Welsh, Cardiff University, UK. He also holds Visiting Professorships at Aberdeen and UHI universities in the UK and the University of Primorska, Slovenia, and Western Ontario, Canada. He is a former member of the Welsh Language Board and serves as an advisor to government agencies in Europe and North America. His previous publications include Called Unto Liberty, Linguistic Minorities in Democratic Context and, as editor, Language Revitalization, Language and Governance, and with H.S. Thomas (joint editor) Parents, Personality and Power.

1. The Mask of Piety
2. Managing Official Language Legislative Regimes
3. European Legislative Frameworks and Comparative Language Acts.
4. The Embedded Nature of Language Legislation.
5. From Act to Action: Policy Implications and Recommendations
6. Official Language Strategies in Comparative Perspective
7. The Logic of Best Practice Language Strategy
8. Official Language Commissioners
9. The Mask of Piety and the Faltering Polity