A History of Language-learning among the Muslims of South Asia
This is the first book-length study of the history of language teaching and learning among South Asia Muslims. It traces the history of language¬ teaching among the Muslims of north India and present-day Pakistan, and then relates language-learning (the demand) and teaching (the supply) to ideology (or world view) and power. It makes the point that the Muslims in this part of the world, like other people elsewhere, learned languages to empower themselves by acquiring marketable linguistic skills at all periods of history. It also argues that those who determine what languages and what textbooks are to be taught, would like and are in a position to promote the ideology which, in their opinion, promotes or consolidates their own power, or maintains the status quo. In short, the teaching and learning of languages is linked to the distribution of power which, in turn, is connected to employment, promotion of certain ideologies, shaping of identities, and national interest.
Pluricentric Languages and Non-Dominant Varieties Worldwide: New pluricentric languages-old problems
This volume comprises 30 selected papers that were presented at the “5th World Conference of Pluricentric Languages and their non-dominant Varieties (WCPCL) held at the University of Mainz (Germany) in 2017. The authors come from 15 countries and deal with 14 pluricentric languages and 31 (non-dominant) varieties around the world. The number of known PLCLs has again been extended. There are now 43 PLCLs in all. Apart from a large number of papers on Spanish, French and Portuguese, “new” and little researched PLCLs are also presented in the volume: Albanian, Hungarian, Malay, Persian, Somali and Romanian.