Languages historically define physical, historical and relational spaces. In the modern age they have been an instrument for the affirmation of states to the point of providing the basis on which to build national identities. In many cases, thanks to the imperial projection, European languages have "colonized" extra-European spaces, leaving important - and controversial - legacies. Political-cultural hegemonies have often corresponded to linguistic hegemonies, such as French in the nineteenth century and English in the twentieth, in connection with the affirmation of an American way of life that still makes its effects felt despite the presence - at the beginning of the 21st century - of a stronger anti-Americanism in many non-Western contexts. In the world scenario increasingly marked by globalization, relations between states are also very much at the level of languages, an important instrument of communication and penetration of soft power for old and new international players. Global multipolarity is a Babel in which it is important to spread or defend one's own language. The geopolitics of languages is thus measured in terms of the impact of a language outside its own areas of rooting, constituting in many cases an important access key available to states to foster new relationships, economic and cultural exchanges, political influence. At the same time, however, languages also impose themselves as strong factors of resistance to globalization, vectors for identity and localist statements that are strengthened in reaction to the homogenized tendencies of many global dynamics. The geopolitics of languages, in short, represents an original point of view to reflect on the contemporary world and on its rapid and contradictory transformations.
Del Zanna, G. A., Lingua e geopolitica della Turchia, in Del Zanna Giorgi, D. Z. G. (ed.), Geopolitica delle lingue, Maggioli Editore, Santarcangelo di Romagna 2018: 157- 173 [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/133250]
Lingua e geopolitica della Turchia
Del Zanna, Giorgio Aldo
2018
Abstract
Languages historically define physical, historical and relational spaces. In the modern age they have been an instrument for the affirmation of states to the point of providing the basis on which to build national identities. In many cases, thanks to the imperial projection, European languages have "colonized" extra-European spaces, leaving important - and controversial - legacies. Political-cultural hegemonies have often corresponded to linguistic hegemonies, such as French in the nineteenth century and English in the twentieth, in connection with the affirmation of an American way of life that still makes its effects felt despite the presence - at the beginning of the 21st century - of a stronger anti-Americanism in many non-Western contexts. In the world scenario increasingly marked by globalization, relations between states are also very much at the level of languages, an important instrument of communication and penetration of soft power for old and new international players. Global multipolarity is a Babel in which it is important to spread or defend one's own language. The geopolitics of languages is thus measured in terms of the impact of a language outside its own areas of rooting, constituting in many cases an important access key available to states to foster new relationships, economic and cultural exchanges, political influence. At the same time, however, languages also impose themselves as strong factors of resistance to globalization, vectors for identity and localist statements that are strengthened in reaction to the homogenized tendencies of many global dynamics. The geopolitics of languages, in short, represents an original point of view to reflect on the contemporary world and on its rapid and contradictory transformations.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.