Topographische vs. virtuelle Räume des Okzitanischen: « Faut-il abolir les frontières ? »

The present study aims to investigate the area of conflict between the decline and the expansion of communication options in regional and minority languages, which has increasingly been brought into the focus of attention by the new digital media. This topic will be discussed based on the example of Occitan in the southern third of contemporary France where the langue d’oc continuously forfeits its territory.Besides the real topographic decline, the internet offers the Occitan a new virtual sphere of communication. By contrasting the concrete decline of space with the virtual expansion of space, the following article aims to illustrate the importance of the border, more precisely the border demarcation, with regard to the possibilities of communication of the Occitan language

Die Tamilenproblematik in Südasien II : Wahlen in Indien, Bürgerkrieg in Sri Lanka : Politik im Kräftedreieck Delhi – Chennai – Colombo

Tamilen stellen die viertgrößte Sprachgruppe in Indien, der Bundesstaat Tamil Nadu gehört zu den wichtigen Eckpfeilern der Indischen Union. Tamil Nadu entsendet 39 (oder 7,2%) von 543 gewählten Abgeordneten ins indische Unterhaus (zusammen mit der Enklave Puducherry – Pondicherry –, einem Union Territory, sind es sogar 40 Abgeordnete) und ist damit ein wichtiges "Battlefield" in allen nationalen Wahlen – so auch gegenwärtig. Wichtiges Wahlkampfthema ist traditionellerweise die indische Haltung zum Bürgerkrieg in Sri Lanka. Jede indische Regierung, unabhängig von ihrer Couleur, steht bei der Gestaltung ihrer Beziehungen zu Sri Lanka und insbesondere ihrer Positionen zum srilankischen Bürgerkrieg nicht lediglich vor einer außenpolitischen Herausforderung, sondern ist eingebunden in ein kompliziertes innenpolitisches Geflecht historisch-kultureller Rahmenbedingungen und divergierender aktueller Interessen. Indische Tamilen sehen sich traditionellerweise als Sachwalter der Interessen ihrer ethnischen Verwandten in Sri Lanka. Strategien und Handlungsoptionen einer jeden indischen Zentralregierung ergeben sich somit als Folge von Positionsbestimmungen in einem dynamischen Kräftedreieck, das durch die Pole Delhi, Chennai und Colombo markiert wird

„Ich werde eingetaucht / in vás“? Peter Waterhouses 'Prosperos Land' als Dynamisierung von T.S. Eliots 'The Waste Land'

’Ich werde eingetaucht/in vás’? Peter Waterhouse’s Prosperos Land as Dynamisation of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. The assumption of the existence of well discernible national languages is at odds with the dynamic nature of language. It is part of the so-called “monolingual paradigm” and therefore implies inextricably linking people to their mother tongue, which is in turn tied to one respective ethnicity, culture and nation. However, languages are not always clearly discernible from one another and do not always appear in fixed, static forms. Instead, language is subject to dynamic changes, which are at the same time subject to political interests and language policies. The poems presented in this article exemplify how modern and contemporary poetry can use the conjuncture of multilingualism and ambiguity to create a sense of language dynamics themselves. Their poetics simultaneously question and make use of the assumption of static multilingualism. They unfold political problems from it and awaken in their readers a desire for proactive reading and (language) change. T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land already problematizes the coexistence of the European languages as a challenge for understanding, suggesting that languages as well as their speakers might be untranslatably shut-off from each other. However, the poem also creates surprising synergistic effects from its multilingualism and ambiguity. This way, it invites its readers to connect and cross over (language) borders in an adaptive and poetic manner, stressing the importance and capability of poetry and learning for intercultural understanding. Prosperos Land by Peter Waterhouse perpetuates and even surpasses this movement. As the ambivalent bilingual, intertextual and ambiguous title suggests, the poem challenges the possibility of linguistic as well as national demarcation from the start. Moving away from strict language borders and rules, the poem highlights the transformative magic of an almost childish exploration of language itself.     &nbsp