Three Aberystwyth University academics have written chapters in a new book that celebrates Professor Colin Williams’ contribution to the field of language policy and planning.
Language, Policy and Territory contains 18 chapters by Williams’ former students, colleagues and collaborators. These include Professor Rhys Jones, Dr Huw Lewis and Dr Elin Royles, who are based at the Centre for Welsh Politics and Society (CWPS). The CWPS also functions as the Aberystwyth arm of the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD).
The volume addresses a range of topics comprising different aspects of language legislation and language rights, governance, economics, territoriality, land use planning, and onomastics.
The first chapter in the book, Examining the Political Origins of Language Policies, is written by Lewis and Royles and analyses the origins of specific language policies and traces their development over time.
They argue that existing literature on language policy fails to identify how and why particular choices emerge and how these are related to political factors.
In chapter 7, Networked Territories of Language and Nation, Jones analyses networked territories of language and nation, noting the shift from academic focus on the histories and times of nations to a geographical attention on landscapes, the importance of specific sites and places, and the significance of territory.
Jones uses this networked interpretation of national territories to examine the territorial extent of a sense of Welshness that is defined according to Welsh language ability.
The book is edited by Wilson McLeod, Rob Dunbar, Kathryn Jones, John Walsh and also contains chapters on theorising language policy and regulation and investigates language policy challenges in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Canada and Catalonia.
The Irish and Welsh Language Commissioners, Rónán Ó Domhnaill and Gwenith Price, are formally launching the book on Thursday, 29th September 2022 at 5pm in an event organized by IAITH: Welsh centre for language planning. Further details on how to register can be found here.