Ethnicity and multilingualism: The case of ethnic Tai in the Vietnamese state
Dominant scholarship has assumed that the homogenization of language is a necessary aspect of nation-state formation. However, a growing body of cross-cultural ethnographic and historical studies of "language ideologies" provide illustrations of a multiplicity of linguistic ideas and practices involved in nation-state formation, noting complex processes of iconization, recursiveness, and erasure. State policies on language vary from monolingual to multilingual. Civil societies also play roles ranging from being marginalized to being active in policy-making and preserving multiple literacies. Based upon ethnographic and historical research conducted in Vietnam from 2002-2005, this dissertation focuses on the case of the Tai Dam in northwestern Vietnam to illustrate how an analysis of competing ethnic language ideologies provides new insights into the role of multi-ethnic nationalism in the rise of the modern Vietnamese nation-state. I argue that linguistic contestations among states, ethnic minorities, and ethnic subgroups have played important roles in shaping contemporary Vietnam
Downloadable Article, English, 2007