In this book Michael P. Hornsby-Smith reflects on nearly eight decades as a Roman Catholic. This has been a period of great turmoil from the depression years in pre-war England, through childhood years and the Second World War in Scotland, post-war social and religious changes, to the fears of global climate change and financial meltdown at the end of the first decade in the twenty-first century. The author traces his Catholicism from his Irish ancestors and reflects on his wartime years during the blitz in Glasgow and subsequently without both parents away in the services. He describes his Catholic education at five schools in Scotland and London and his seven years at Sheffield University where his membership of the Catholic Padley Society and of the Union of Catholic Students were crucial for his formation as a committed Catholic layman. Five chapters review different aspects of the life of the layman juggling the often conflicting demands of marriage and family life, earning a living, participation in politics and civil society organisations, seeking justice and peace and participation in parish life. A final chapter reflects on the purpose of our lives, from birth 'there' to death eternity, affirms the lay vocation and concludes with a plea to those of his grandchildren's generation to celebrate the Good News of our salvation and commit themselves to follow Jesus to seek to bring closer the Kingdom of God 'on earth as in heaven'. Michael P. Hornsby-Smith is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Surrey. He is the author, co-author or editor of nine books mainly dealing with the social and religious transformations of English Catholicism since the Second World War and the Second Vatican Council. He has held senior positions in the International Society for the Sociology of Religion and has been active in numerous Catholic organisations. This book is addressed in particular to those of his six grandchildren's generation. It also celebrates his golden wedding anniversary with his wife, Lennie.

New speakers are an increasingly important aspect of the revitalization of minority languages since, in some cases, they can make up the majority of the language community in question. This volume examines this phenomenon from the viewpoint of three minority languages: Breton, Yiddish and Lemko.

This volume provides a unique interface between the material and linguistic aspects of communication, education and language use, and cuts across traditional disciplinary boundaries, drawing on fields as varied as applied linguistics, ethnology, sociology, history and philosophy. Taking texts, images and objects as their starting points, the authors discuss how cultural context is envisioned in particular materialities and in a variety of contexts and localities. The volume, divided into three sections, aims to deal with material culture not only in the daily language practices of the past and the present, but also language teaching in a number of settings. The main thrust of the volume, then, is the exposure of natural ties between language, cognition, identity and the material world. Aimed at undergraduates, postgraduates and scholars in fields as varied as education, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, semiotics and other related disciplines, this volume documents and analyses a wide range of case studies. It provides a unique take on multilingualism and expands our understanding of how materialities permit us new and unexpected insights into multilingual practices.

This book represents the first collection specifically devoted to New Speaker Studies, focusing on language ideologies and practices of speakers in a variety of minority language communities. Over thirteen chapters, it uses the new speaker lens to investigate not only linguistic issues, such as language variation and change, phonetics, morphosyntax, language acquisition, code-switching, but also sociolinguistic issues, such as legitimacy, integration, and motivation in language learning and use. Besides covering a range of languages - Basque, Breton, Galician, Giernesiei, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh - and their different sociolinguistic situations, the chapters also encompass a series of interactional settings: institutional settings, media and the home domain, as well as different contexts for becoming a new speaker of a minority language, such as by migration or through education. This collection represents an output by a lively network of researchers: it will appeal to postgraduate students, researchers and academics working in the field of sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, language policy and those working within minority language communities.

This book gives fresh insight into the diverse ways in which the transmission of minority and heritage languages is carried out in a range of sociolinguistic contexts. When traditional modes of intergenerational transmission begin to break down, minority language and diaspora communities resort to other modes of transmission, out of necessity, to complement traditional mechanisms and secure language maintenance. This volume brings together a broad range of studies of these alternative modes of transmission, examining the complex and diverse practical, ideological and personal challenges that arise in different settings. Beyond addressing the dynamics of language use within the home and family, the book also emphasises the importance of the participation of the minority community itself in language and cultural transmission. These mechanisms and initiatives, sometimes overlooked or dismissed in the academic literature, will prove to be essential in maintaining and ensuring the survival of minority and heritage languages into the 21st century and beyond. The twelve chapters in the book are divided into four sections (intergenerational transmission; transmission in post-traditional families; alternatives to 'traditional' transmission; and transmission in diasporic contexts), and the language contexts, both minoritised and diasporic, which are discussed include Basque, Breton, Galician, Guernesais, Irish, Maori, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Sorbian and Spanish. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociolinguistics, language acquisition, heritage language maintenance and revitalization, and language policy and planning.

This volume provides a unique interface between the material and linguistic aspects of communication, education and language use, and cuts across traditional disciplinary boundaries, drawing on fields as varied as applied linguistics, ethnology, sociology, history and philosophy. Taking texts, images and objects as their starting points, the authors discuss how cultural context is envisioned in particular materialities and in a variety of contexts and localities. The volume, divided into three sections, aims to deal with material culture not only in the daily language practices of the past and the present, but also language teaching in a number of settings. The main thrust of the volume, then, is the exposure of natural ties between language, cognition, identity and the material world. Aimed at undergraduates, postgraduates and scholars in fields as varied as education, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, semiotics and other related disciplines, this volume documents and analyses a wide range of case studies. It provides a unique take on multilingualism and expands our understanding of how materialities permit us new and unexpected insights into multilingual practices.

In the year 2000, Catholics in England will celebrate not only the second millennial anniversary of Christ's birth, but also the 150th anniversary of the restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy of England and Wales following the post-Reformation penal times. The centenary in 1950 was celebrated with much reflection, but what has happened in the momentous half-century since, which has seen the development of a post-war world and the transformation of the Second Vatican Council? This book offers a comprehensive collection of research based evidence, about the huge social and religious transformations which Catholics have experienced during this period. It includes: historical perspectives of the period; testimonies by key participants in post-war instutitional Catholicism, including Papal Commission on Birth Control, World Congresses of the Laity in Rome and a variety of experiences in Catholic organizations and public life; empirical studies of English Catholicism from sociological perspectives; concluding reflections and prospects for the new millennium. Together, these contributions form a comprehensive base from which to interpret the past and to consider the future of Catholics in England.