Abstract
Language and politics have each made a profound impact on Caribbean public and private life, yet the interaction between linguistic and political factors in the region has not been the object of sustained attention. There are a few scattered, mostly country-based or issue-specific studies of Caribbean language politics—the interaction of language and politics. These studies suggest the importance of Caribbean language politics, yet are incomplete inasmuch as regional language politics encompasses a variety of issues on multiple levels involving numerous countries. Governments, too, whether in the United States or the Caribbean, have only rarely addressed political issues posed by language in a sustained, systematic way. This is not necessarily to argue for centralized language policies, which in some cases very well might result in more problems than they would be worth. Rather, there is a need to examine Caribbean political problems involving language more systematically and encourage more informed, mutually acceptable responses.
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Notes
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© 2016 Michael A. Morris
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Morris, M.A. (2016). Caribbean Language Politics. In: Language Politics of Regional Integration. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-56147-3_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-56147-3_5
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