Transcript Ethnic Minority Television in Europe: commonalities and

Transnationalism and Minority
Languages in Globalized
Communication
Josu Amezaga-Albizu ([email protected])
Edorta Arana-Arrieta ([email protected])
NOR Research Group (nortaldea.com)
EMAN Research Unity
University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU
Aim and methodology
Aim
To present some of the ideas we are working with
in MULTILINGUAL TV project -specially those
related to the changes in the relationship between
communication and territory.
Methodology
 To bring some of the outcome from IML research
into the approach towards RML.
 Case study: Basque newspaper Berria.
Communication and territory
The nation state has been a major agent of
minoritization.

The nation state has been based on the control
over the territory.

The nation can be considered a space of
communication (Deutsch, Anderson, Habermas).

National spaces have been privileged places for
rising and declining of languages -thus for language
conflict.

Changes in the national spaces
of communication
Geolinguistic regions (J. Sinclair,
1996).
 Transnational Communities (S.
Vertovec, 1997).
 Public sphericules (Giltin, 1998).
 Global private spaces (Slade, 2006).
 Transculturalism (K. Robins, 2007).

New spaces of communication beyond
the nation state
What is being highlighted about
these new spaces:
New spaces are based on media rather than
on territory -thus not so dependent on nation
state: media-centric spaces.

They do not replace the national space; they
add a new reality to the previous one -the
metaphor of layers.


They are inclusive rather than exclusive.

They are affecting growing populations.
They question the paradigm of the national
space of communication.

Some questions for the rethinking of RML
To what extent have discourses about RML
been based in the exclusive national paradigm?

What do we nowadays mean by linguistic
'normalization'?

How can linguistic policy be implemented when
communication is not so dependent on statecontrolled policy?

Can communication spaces be built apart from
the state?

A micro-example of media-centric
space: Basque newspaper Berria
Scattering of speakers as a major challenge for
minority languages.

Basque speakers scattered among Spanish and
French speakers.

60 % living in minority contexts.

Basque newspaper as a basis for a
communication space not based on territory.

Basque speakers (percentage)
Basque speakers (absloute)
Circulation rate of Berria
Some conclusions
Research on IML can help us to better
understand RML.

Changes on communication are changing
the conditions in which RML have been
minoritized.

We need to re-think some key concepts
about reality and politics of RML.

Importance of the media as the basis for
new spaces of communication.
