by Nancy Jones
Abstract:
This project, overseen by Dr. Stanley Dubinsky and Dr. Michael Gavin, seeks to raise awareness of linguistic conflict as a class of global conflict by creating the world’s first online encyclopedia of language conflict cases. Included in each encyclopedia entry are sections such as a general overview, a historical and linguistic background of the conflict, a timeline of events, and “stories”, which provide a more in-depth look into select people and moments important to the conflict.
Given that a main purpose of the encyclopedia is to make high-level linguistic research accessible to the general public worldwide, the website itself has been carefully developed to be both interactive and engaging, and the entries on the individual linguistic conflict cases are written to balance utmost accuracy with ease of understanding. Although there are only seven completed entries on the site thus far, the ultimate goal is that it contains a record of every case of linguistic conflict worldwide, and continues to exist and be updated as new developments occur.
