000			02857nam a22003977a 4500
005			20231120100046.0
008			161118s2017 enka b 001 0 eng c
010			_a 2016960177
020			_a9780198724995
020			_a0198724993
035			_a(OCoLC)ocn966398472
040			_aYDX _beng _cYDX _erda _dNLE _dOCLCO _dOCLCF _dINU _dYDX _dCHVBK _dOCLCO _dL2U _dBD-DhBPA
050	0	0	_aP115 _b.M35 2017
082			_a306.446 _bMAM 2017
100	1		_aMaher, John C., _d1951- _eauthor.
245	1	0	_aMultilingualism : _ba very short introduction / _cJohn C. Maher.
250			_aFirst edition.
260			_aOxford : _bOxford University Press, _c2017.
300			_axix, 148 pages : _billustrations ; _c18 cm.
490	1		_aVery short introductions
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 133-141) and index.
520	8		_aThe languages of the world can be seen and heard in cities and towns, forests and isolated settlements, as well as on the internet and in international organizations like the UN or the EU. How did the world acquire so many languages? Why can't we all speak one language, like English or Esperanto? And what makes a person bilingual? Multilingualism, language diversity in society, is a perfect expression of human plurality. About 6,500-7,000 languages are spoken, written and signed, throughout the linguistic landscape of the world, by people who communicate in more than one language (at work, or in the family or community). Many origin myths, like Babel, called it a 'punishment' but multilingualism makes us who we are and plays a large part of our sense of belonging. Languages are instruments for interacting with the cultural environment and their ecology is complex. They can die (Tasmanian), or decline then revive (Manx and Hawaiian), reconstitute from older forms (modern Hebrew), gain new status (Catalan and Maori) or become autonomous national languages (Croatian). Languages can even play a supportive and symbolic role as some territories pursue autonomy or nationhood, such as in the cases of Catalonia and Scotland. In this Very Short Introduction John C. Maher shows how multilingualism offers cultural diversity, complex identities, and alternative ways of doing and knowing to hybrid identities.
590			_aRasal
650		0	_aMultilingualism. _99971
650		0	_aBilingualism. _940132
650		0	_aSociolinguistics. _9141835
650		0	_aLanguage and languages _xPolitical aspects. _9141836
650		7	_aBilingualism. _2fast _940132
650		7	_aLanguage and languages _xPolitical aspects. _2fast _9141836
650		7	_aMultilingualism. _2fast _99971
650		7	_aSociolinguistics. _2fast _9141835
650		7	_aMehrsprachigkeit _2gnd _9141837
650		7	_a17.23 multilingual sociolinguistics. _2nbc _9141838
830		0	_aVery short introductions ; _v525.
942			_2ddc _cBK
999			_c50452 _d50452