Words in Space and Time

Historical Atlas of Language Politics in Modern Central Europe
Words in Space and Time book cover
ISBN: 
978-963-386-417-3
cloth
$125.00 / €105.00/ £89.00
PDF version is freely available thanks to the libraries supporting CEU Press’s Opening the Future initiative.
Publication date: 
2021
Print edition: April 2022, 308 pages incl. 42 maps in color, cloth, 250 mm x 340 mm, 9.843" x 13.386”
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With forty-two extensively annotated maps, this atlas offers novel insights into the history and mechanics of how Central Europe’s languages have been made, unmade, and deployed for political action. The innovative combination of linguistics, history, and cartography makes a wealth of hard-to-reach knowledge readily available to both specialist and general readers. It combines information on languages, dialects, alphabets, religions, mass violence, or migrations over an extended period of time.

The story first focuses on Central Europe’s dialect continua, the emergence of states, and the spread of writing technology from the tenth century onward. Most maps concentrate on the last two centuries. The main storyline opens with the emergence of the Western European concept of the nation, in accord with which the ethnolinguistic nation-states of Italy and Germany were founded. In the Central European view, a “proper” nation is none other than the speech community of a single language. The Atlas aspires to help users make the intellectual leap of perceiving languages as products of human history and part of culture. Like states, nations, universities, towns, associations, art, beauty, religions, injustice, or atheism—languages are artefacts invented and shaped by individuals and their groups.

Foreword by Anngret Simms
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction

1 Dialect Continua in Central Europe, 9th century
2 Central Europe’s Writing Systems in the 9th century
3 Dialect Continua in Central Europe, c 1050
4 Central Europe’s Writing Systems, 1050
5 Dialect Continua in Central Europe, c 1570
6 Central Europe’s Writing Systems, 1570
7 Dialect Continua in Central Europe, c 1721
8 Central Europe’s Writing Systems in 1721
9 Europa Media anno 1721
10 Official Languages in Central Europe, 1721
11 Ethnic Cleansing in Central Europe Before the Balkan Wars
12 Dialect Continua in Central Europe, c 1910
13 Central Europe’s Writing Systems in 1910
14 Isomorphism of Language, Nation, and State in Central Europe, 1910
15 Central Europe in 1910 as Seen Through the Lens of Ottoman Turkish
16 tsentral-eyrope in 1910: Yiddish Geography
17 Centra Eŭropo en 1910: Geographic and Place Names in Esperanto
18 Short-lived Polities in Central Europe, 1908-1924
19 Ethnic Cleansing in Central Europe During the Balkan Wars, World War I and in Their Aftermath
20 Isomorphism of Language, Nation, and State in Central Europe, late 1918
21 Non-State Minority, Regional and Unrecognized Languages, and Written Dialects in Central Europe, 19th-21st Centuries
22 Linguistic Areas (Sprachbünde) in Central Europe, c 1930
23 Linguistic Areas (Sprachbünde) in Central Europe: An Alternative Classification, c 1930
24 Central Europe's Writing Systems in 1930
25 Isomorphism of Language, Nation, and State in Central Europe, 1931
26 Ethnic Cleansing in Central Europe During the 1930s
27 Ethnic Cleansing in Central Europe During World War Two, 1939–1940
28 Ethnic Cleansing in Central Europe During World War Two, 1941–1944
29 Ethnic Cleansing in Central Europe After World War Two, 1945–1950
30 Ethnic Cleansing in Central Europe During the Cold War, 1951–89
31 Isomorphism of Language, Nation, and State in Central Europe, 1974–1989
32 Europa centrală în anul 1980
33 Dialect Continua in Central Europe, c 2009
34 Central Europe's Writing Systems in 2009
35 Central Europe's Writing Systems in 2009 and the Past
36 Isomorphism of Language, Nation, and State in Central Europe, 2009
37 Management of Difference: Borders and Multiethnic Regions in Contemporary Central Europe
38 Management of Difference: Multiethnic Regions in Contemporary Central Europe
39 Central Europe's Universities with Other Media of Instruction than the State or National Language, 2009
40 Roma Settlements in Central Europe, 2009
41 Mitelojropa w 2009
42 Isomorphism of Language, Nation, and State in Central Europe, and in East and Southeast Asia, 2009

Glossary
Bibliography
Index

"Kamusella’s atlas can be paraphrased in the words exegi monumentum, as the amount of research, knowledge and information has resulted in a monumental work. The author’s modern, interdisciplinary research approach, combining history, sociology, linguistics, religious studies and cartography, offers new insight into the history and politics of language. The atlas is a recommendable work not only for scholars, researchers of language and the history of the region, but also for those interested in new insights into politolinguistic phenomena in the world. The book undoubtedly inspires reflection on the linguistic politics of the mechanisms of the creation, exclusion and use of Central European languages for political action."
"A very erudite, highly thought-provoking and pleasingly quirky book, which looks at the region and the history of its language politics from several angles, some of which are quite unusual. Its maps are densely detailed, and well worth spending time studying. Kamusella’s insights are invaluable for making sense of the history of Central Europe."
"Tomasz Kamusella’s Historical Atlas is a remarkable piece of work. It can be read as a critical intervention against what Kamusella sees as the continued propagation of linguistic myths in Central Europe. It can also be used as a detailed accompaniment to research, teaching, or sheer interest in the region. The atlas is the product of extensive work and it is a fantastic read. The lengthy glossary operates as a guide to the maps that are often very detailed. The Historical Atlas will influence seminar teaching. "
"In circumstances, when theory is most eager for the factual side of historical development, the appearance of such books as T. Kamusella’s seems to be of high significance. This review is very much needed, inspiring, and full of new ideas for investigation; it should be a handbook for everyone who is interested in language as a part of cultural, intellectual, national, and/or state history and also in comprehensive and not politically engaged studies."
"The author’s grasp of historical events and cultural and political processes is evident on every page, as he provides detailed insights into the political processes of the region that have linguistic relevance: the instalment and use of writing systems, social and religious movements, independence movements, nationalism, the rise of nation states, and many other events, all described in copious yet relevant detail. This is truly an important work and should be used by scholars and students from many fields and for many years to come."
"Das Werk bietet kurze, aber präzise Erklärungen zu den behandelten Themenfeldern, die auch aus der Perspektive anderer Fachdisziplinen einen guten Zugang erlauben. Die zahlreichen Karten und die kurzen Kapitel lassen selbst die Verwendung in Schulen als vorstellbar erscheinen. Hierfür sprechen auch das Glossar, die Verfügbarkeit als kostenloses E-Book sowie die präzisen Erläuterungen, die trotz des großen Untersuchungsgebietes neben dem Englischen keine weiteren Sprachkenntnisse voraussetzen. Insgesamt liegt ein lesenswertes Buch und wertvoller historischer Atlas vor, der viele Alternativen zu den bereits bekannten Karten insbesondere für das 20. Jh. bietet. Es ist sowohl für Sprachwissenschaftler und Historiker zu empfehlen als auch für Laien, die ihr Weltbild auf die Probe stellen wollen."