The politics of language

the long version

In its short history, the United States has been the home of more bilingual people than any other country int he world. However, the history of language in the United States remains clouded with misconceptions. The idea of "one nation, one language" is part of the idealized history of this country. Here, author Carol L. Schmid shows how language is more than a means of communication--it represents experiences and attitudes in a society. Further, language is a potent symbolic issue because it links power and political claims of ownership with psychological demands for group worth. This book examines the ways in which people belonging to different language and cultural communities live together in the same political community, and how political and structural tensions arise to divide them along language lines. Schmid analyzes the historical background and recent controversy over language in the United States, then compares the United States to two official multilingual countries--Canada and Switzerland.