Includes bibliographical references, glossary and index.

1. Introduction

2. Identity, the individual and the group
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Identity: personal and social
2.3 The construction and maintenance of groupness
2.4 Language and circumstance

3. Identifying ourselves
3.1 Personal names
3.2 Names for groups
3.3 The appropriation of names and narratives
3.4 Cultural voices and scholarly research
3.5 Ethnocentrism and relativism

4. Language, dialect and identity
4.1 Language
4.2 Dialect

5. Dialect and identity: beyond standard and nonstandard
5.1 The 'logic' of dialect
5.2 Ebonics
5.3 Further work on dialect evaluation

6. Language, religion and identity
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Linking language and religion
6.3 God's language - and ours
6.4 Modern times
6.5 Missionaries

7. Language, gender and identity
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Stereotyping sex and gender
7.3 Gender variations in speech
7.4 Concluding remarks

8. Ethnicity and nationalism
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Ethnic identity
8.3 Nationalism

9. Assessments of nationalism
9.1 Civic nationalism
9.2 Evaluating nationalism

10. Language and nationalism
10.1 The basic link
10.2 Language purism and prescriptivism

11. Language planning and language ecology
11.1 Language planning
11.2 The ecology of language
11.3 The consequences of Babel
11.4 Bilingualism and identity

Glossary

Notes

References

Index

"The language we use forms an important part of our sense of who we are - of our identity. This book outlines the relationship between our identity as members of groups - ethnic, national, religious and gender and the language varieties important to each group. What is a language? What is a dialect? Are there such things as language 'rights'? Must every national group have its own unique language? How have languages, large and small, been used to spread religious ideas? Why have particular religious and linguistic 'markers' been so central, singly or in combination, to the ways in which we think about ourselves and others? Using a rich variety of examples, the book highlights the linkages among languages, dialects and identities, with special attention given to religious, ethnic and national allegiances." (Book Cover)