Recent developments in the European integration process have raised, amongst many other things, the issue of linguistic diversity, for some a stumbling block to the creation of a European democratic polity and its legal and social institutions. The solution to the 'question of language', involves an understanding of the role played by natural languages and the consequent design of policies and institutional mechanisms to facilitate inter-linguistic and intercultural communication. This is not an exclusively European problem, and nor is it entirely new, for it is also the problem of linguistic majorities and minorities within unitary nation-states. However, the effects of globalization and the diffusion of multiculturalism within nation-states have given renewed emphasis to the question of language in diverse societies. Facing the question anew involves reconsidering traditional ideas about social communication and the public sphere, about opinion-formation and diffusion, about the protection of cultural and linguistic minorities, and about the role that language plays in the process of formation of political and legal cultures. This volume is intended as a multidisciplinary contribution towards studying and assessing the range of problems that form the 'language question' in Europe and diverse societies.

The book quickly makes it clear that there is no such thing as European politeness.
In fact, although the book is organized by regions (Western Europe, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe), the editors themselves point out that this grouping was chosen more for convenience than for identification, and that a number of other classifications might have been possible. Indeed, it is impossible to generalize about Scandinavian politeness or Western
European politeness or Southern European politeness. A Dane, it turns out, will prefer to get to the point, whereas a Finn will favor evasion at all costs. As far as politeness is concerned, an Estonian has more in common with a Finn than with a Pole, despite having a closer physical proximity.

 

Despite the spread of multilingualism, the number of research studies in multilingual contexts is scarce. This book deals with this question by examining would-be teachers' language use and attitudes, as their influence on future generations can be enormous. The use of the same questionnaire and the same methodology allows the reader to compare the results obtained in different European bilingual contexts, where the presence of diverse foreign languages leads to a situation in which several languages are in contact.

 

This book illustrates an approach to prosodic typology through the intonational phonology of thirteen typologically different languages and the transcription system of prosody known as Tones and Break Indices (ToBI). This is the first book introducing the history and principles of this system, and it covers European languages, Asian languages, an Australian aboriginal language, and an American Indian language.