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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 270

Part of Session 130: Language in Multilingual Cities (Other abstracts in this session)

Linguistic Nationalism in Multilingual Urban Spaces: Toponymy, identity and

Authors: Peled, Yael
Submitted by: Peled, Yael (University of Montreal, Canada)

Multilingual urban spaces offer a distinct and unique perspective on the perceived linguistic homogeneity of contemporary political communities. This is especially the case for political communities whose civic ethos is deeply rooted in notions of linguistic nationalism. The dynamic linguistic ecology of highly multilingual city spaces, such as London, Montreal, Berlin, Singapore and Jerusalem, challenges prevailing conceptions and policies of linguistic homogeneity, and more broadly the politics of identity prioritisation from which they emerge. Within this dynamic equilibrium between the political and the linguistic, toponymy (placenaming) plays a central role, as conflicts over the naming of space (official/minority language; ancient/modern and local/borrowed names; codeswitch and hybrids; sequencing on multilingual signage) are often closely intertwined with political identity conflicts.

Employing a broad transdisciplinary framework that draws from current research in politics, philosophy, linguistics and urban planning, the paper explores the importance of toponymic research as a key to understanding the interplay between a civic ethos of linguistic nationalism on one hand, and the pluralistic dynamics of multilingual urban spaces, with their openness towards competing spheres (local, regional, transregional, global), on the other. As a test case, the paper examines the recent controversy over Hebrew/Arabic toponymythat accompanied the construction of the new light rail in Jerusalem, in the context of the Hebrew linguistic nationalism ethos and the Israeli-Arab conflict.

References:

Berg, L. D. and J. Vuolteenaho (eds.). Critical Toponymies: The Contested Politics of Place Naming (Re-Materialising Cultural Geography). Farnham: Ashgate, 2009.

De Shalit, A. and D. Bell. The Spirit of Cities: Why the Identity of a City Matters in a Global Age. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2011.

Shohamy, E., Ben-Rafael, E. and M. Barni (eds.). Linguistic Landscape in the City. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2010.

Spolsky, B. and R. Cooper. The Languages of Jerusalem (Oxford Studies in Language Contact). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.