This book shows the effects of globalization on language in social context, identifying the city as the key site for the realization of these effects. It challenges assumptions that hold sustainable linguistic diversity to be inherently non-urban while regarding the city as an unproblematic site for understanding the social function of language.

Diarmait Mac Giolla Chríost is Professor at the School of Welsh, Cardiff University, UK. He is an authority on linguistic minorities and language planning. His previous books include Language, Identity and Conflict: A Comparative Study of Language in Ethnic Conflict in Europe and Eurasia, The Irish Language in Ireland from Goídel to Globalisation, Language and the City, and Jailtacht: The Irish Language, Symbolic Power and Political Violence in Northern Ireland.

List of Photographs List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements Introduction PART 1: THE INTELLECTUAL INHERITANCE The City Sociolinguistics Language Planning PART 2: TOWARDS A NEW CONCEPTUAL TERRAIN Place Identity Power Conclusions Bibliography Index