Current Issues In Language and Society
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Volume: 4 Number: 3 Page: 215–237
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Language as a Contributing Factor in Conflicts Between States and Within States
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Sue Wright
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Language is an important factor in the construction of groups.The study of etymologies in various European languages allows us to appreciate the role of the idea of mutual comprehension in deciding whether
an individual is friend or stranger/foe. The philosophies and policies of nationalism strengthened this correlation: I understand all those from my nation; those I cannot understand cannot be in my nation.
Where reality deviated from this,the politicalelites implemented strategies which would bring about the desired congruence of cultural nation and political state. The linguistic intrastate similarity so
constructed was a factor in the mobilisation of populations in the total wars of the first half of the twentieth century. In recent years the European nation state has found itself under pressure to devolve
power to regions. This has happened both peacefully and violently. Language continues to play a role, and in the smaller political entities resulting from devolution or secession there is a replication
of the desire for political and cultural symmetry. However, there is a difference in that this new movementtowards congruence is occurring within a globalising world structure.Those sub-national groups
or newly independent nation states who decide to use their ancestral language as the official language of their public life will also retain the language(s) which allow(s) them access to the political and
economic life of the wider world.
© Multilingual Matters 1997
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