Pragmatics and Society 2/2013 [antikvár]

A linguistic/discursive space for all? Perspectives on minority languages and identity across Europe Dawn Archer*, Christopher Williams* and Paul Fryer ^University of Central Lancashire / University of Eastern Finland 1. Introduction The purpose of this special theme issue is to explore the linguistic/discursive space occupied by a selection of minority-language or ethnic groups across Europe - namely the UK, Ireland, Hungary and Russia - through the prism of linguistics, sociology, history and anthropology. Traditionally a research focus of geographers, there has been an explosion of interest in the concept of space - and related concepts such as place - in the aforementioned disciplines over the past few years. Many researchers are especially interested in the relationship between space/place and issues such as identity and/or power (for useful overviews see, e.g., Ahearn 2012 and Hubbard et al. 2004). Somé researchers - for example, the geographer Doreen Massey (2002, 2005) - alsó serve to problematize existing perceptions of space and place, making it possible to see them in a new light. Massey points out, for example, that place is a product of its relations "elsewhere", and hence that thinking spatially means looking out beyond ourselves so that we recognize others (and thus ourselves in relation to those others). She argues, in turn, that space, in particular, "is always under construction; it is never íinished; never closed" - in part because space is a "simultaneity of stories" (2005:9, 80-9). In this theme issue, we conceptualize and theorize linguistic/discursive space in a similar way, namely, as something that changes over time and, crucially, as something that constitutes an "area of entanglement" (Kappeler 2011:484). Our collective aim is to show that the concept of linguistic/discursive space is indeed complex - not least because of its close connections with issues of identity, ethnicity and power (to mention just a few of the concepts that readers will encounter in the six articles). By way of illustration, the contributions demonstrate, albeit in different ways, how linguistic/discursive space tends to be dynamic and - especially when it is shaped by both internál and external relationships (Tenbrink