The German Language in a Changing Europe

Recent sociopolitical events have profoundly changed the status and functions of German and influenced its usage. In this textbook Michael Clyne revises and expands his original analysis of the German language in Language and Society in the German-Speaking Countries (CUP, 1984) in the light of such changes as the end of the Cold War, German unification, increasing European integration, and the changing self-images of Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg. His wide-ranging exploration shows that the German-speaking countries all have problems or dilemmas concerning nationhood or ethnicity that are language-related and/or language-marked.