Tradition and modernity

This entry will examine some of the key understandings of the relationship between tradition and modernity in the context of linguistic anthropological enquiries. Focus is placed on the conditions and tensions produced by tradition and modernity, and how these concepts as discursive constructs classify and stratify society, institutions, linguistic practices and speakers. Exemplifications from minority language contexts are imbedded, and the implications of using the traditional/modern dichotomy for the policy and practice surrounding minority languages and speakers will be discussed. Finally, the current shift to the project of late modernity as a response to rising forces of globalization and neoliberalism are addressed. Its implications for the shifting traditional and modern value allocations to language are detailed and its consequences for new avenues of research discussed.