Linguistic Unity Research Articles

Meaning Production in the Civil Religious Mozambique

<p><em>The Tsonga tribal and Mozambican national identities are civil religious constructs. They resulted from sacrificial ritual performances, the expropriation of traditions and symbols, and the creation of sacred spaces. Formed as a linguistic, cultural, religious and tribal unity, the Tsonga provided a historical genealogy and structural template for the emergence of Moçambicanidade as a civil religion. Drawing upon postcolonial theory and discourse analysis, the essay uses the analytical category “civil religion” as a focusing lens in order to explore the dynamics of national solidarity in selected main archival sources: First, the construction of the Tsonga narratives of the tiMhamba, the Sacred Woods and the expropriation of local traditions recorded in Henri-Alexandre Junod’s, </em><em>t</em><em>he Life of a South African Tribe</em><em>; second, the pedigree of a heightened value for union, Protestant work-ethics and education, bequeathed to Eduardo Mondlane and evident in his The Struggle for Mozambique</em><em>. Since the focus of the essay is on the productions of civil religion rather than their reception, evidence is drawn from textual analysis rather than from fieldwork methods. As a consequence of the analysis, the study argues that both Tsonga and Moçambicanidade are subaltern identities to modernity, perhaps destined to fail, but existing within the frame of modernity as its alter ego.</em></p>

Genericitysans Gen

Generics are exception‐admitting generalisations, which find expression in apparently diverse linguistic forms. A standard claim is that there is a hidden linguistic unity to genericity in the form of a covert operator,Gen. This article surveys and rejects a range of considerations that purport to showGento be syntactically essential to the explanation of a range of linguistic phenomena connected to genericity. The conclusion reached is that genericity is not a specifically linguistic property insofar as it does not supervene upon any especial linguistic device; rather, genericity supervenes on broader cognitive competencies within linguistic constraints.

حدود النص في الدرس اللساني الغربي

We will study in this paper a reality lesson westerly text, because we found that modern linguistics based text which is the legitimate representative of the language, because it's fertile ground, Open Analysis allows an integrated text, consistent and coherent relationships between governs total sequences, and the interdependent mechanisms make enticing reader, And invites him to access his world harmonic beats. It has become fertile text dynamically, so contemporary language schools appeared most were school texts, which was focused on major linguistic unity as a sentence, Which was focused on linguistic unity as a sentence, overtaken by going up to a larger unit in text.

Joyce’s Dante: Exile, Memory, and Community by James Robinson

Reviewed by: Joyce’s Dante: Exile, Memory, and Community by James Robinson William Franke (bio) JOYCE’S DANTE: EXILE, MEMORY, AND COMMUNITY, by James Robinson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. xi + 233 pp. $99.99. James Robinson’s Joyce’s Dante is a model of a certain kind of scholarship for an elite university press that performs a series of protocols from exhaustively inventorying critical literature to stating explicitly what its original contribution is on every specific question raised. These protocols are necessary to differentiate such scholarship from literary journalism, with which it, in some respects, would otherwise be virtually interchangeable. The effort expended to establish who may have been Joyce’s first and then his second Italian teacher at Belvedere College is a case in point. It risks descending to the level of chitchat, even if it is about a writer as important as Joyce. Everything in any way connected with the hallowed author is treated as having a sacred aura. Yet nothing very significant is at stake in mere questions of fact about an irretrievable past. Such information can stimulate curiosity and is not uninteresting, but it has something of the flavor of gossip. Admittedly, this level of discourse is not at all incompatible with currently sanctioned academic practices of criticism, especially in such heavily trafficked fields as Joyce studies. One can emerge with very rich information about Joyce—as an excuse for a lack of intense focus on enduringly significant intellectual issues. Happily, there is a good deal more in this book than just these polished manners alone. Despite the urbane art of small talk that seems to belong to the [End Page 361] genre of literary criticism as currently pursued by some of its most celebrated practitioners, there is also quite a different kind of intellectual substance here. Robinson’s painstaking reconstructions of the author’s social and cultural milieu compellingly demonstrate how Joyce’s attraction to Dante Alighieri served to help him to “negotiate a heterodox space within a larger orthodoxy” (33). When linked to such tense and momentous issues, the minute detail of contingent facts takes on a wholly different kind of significance. It becomes a means of working in an intricate filigree on otherwise vacuously great and capacious questions. Over the full expanse of the study, this fine-point work of embroidery serves to bring into sharper focus a much larger tapestry of textual connections. Especially interesting and useful for building a wider picture and overview is the sometimes contradictory information concerning the vicissitudes of Dante’s reputation in Joyce’s times and in his specific social and educational milieus. Dante was often treated as a heretical and indexed author, the object of concerted hostility particularly from the Jesuits, by whom Joyce was educated (JJII 109, 59). The Jesuits from their foundation in the seventeenth century were redoubtable defenders of the papacy against all attacks, such as those launched trenchantly by Dante. In addition to numerous direct diatribes and frontal attacks, more subtly and most memorably, Inferno XIX.13–31 divulges the third ditch of the eighth circle of Hell, the Malebolge, as populated by a series of popes stacked one on top of the other in a hole in the ground in a parody of the apostolic succession.1 Their feet burn, smeared with unguent in a burlesque upending of the visitation by the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire on the heads of the apostles at Pentecost (Acts 2:1–31). Such material, however, made it possible to present Dante not only as a religious heretic but also as a secular hero. A certain cult of Dante grew up largely in reaction to the Jesuits’ campaign of defamation of the Italian poet. In an 1818 article in the Edinburgh Review, Ugo Foscolo influentially advocated such a celebratory rehabilitation.2 In the course of the nineteenth century, this countervailing, secular Dante grew into the Risorgimento embrace of him as a figurehead of the national and linguistic unity of Italy.3 The movement culminated in 1870 with the achievement of the political unification of the peninsula. With the end of the temporal political power of the papacy, which converted instead...

СИСТЕМА ФОНЕМ І СИСТЕМА ФОНЕМАТИЧНИХ ОПОЗИЦІЙ ГОТСЬКОЇ МОВИ

The article on the material of the text of the Gothic Bible (Codex Argenteus)treats the system of phonemes and the system of phonemic oppositions of the Gothic language on one synchronic state, in the middle of the first millennium AD. The possibilities of our study are limited since the East Germanic language evolution broke long before the time of the appearance of the first written texts in the West and North Germanic (Scandinavian) languages, which complicates reconstruction of the system of phonemes of the Gothic language in the period from the collapse of the common Germanic linguistic unity to the distinction of different developmental lines of language systems of the Old Germanic languages. Available linguistic literature shows the lack of a single integrated approach to phonetics and phonology of the Gothic language. In the article, the system of phonemes and the system of phonemic opposition are considered as the result of the interaction of functional, structural and anthropophonic factors of phonological evolution within the framework of the kinemic theory. The article examines different phonological processes and gives explanations of the sound changes in the history of the Gothic language. Phonemic oppositions are viewed as the main object of phonology in general and diachronic phonology in particular. The article corroborates the thesis about the system of phonemes and the system of phonemic oppositions of the Gothic language as the result of one dynamic process, all the stages of which are linked as causes and consequences of one another.

Sobre objeto e método: do CLG ao manuscrito Phonétique

Este artigo propõe-se a refletir sobre objeto e método nos estudos linguísticos considerando o ponto de vista saussuriano. Tomaremos como ponto de partida o aspecto fônico da língua, dada a importância que esta reflexão toma nos esboços iniciais do então jovem linguista Ferdinand de Saussure. Para isso, lançaremos mão de duas obras: o Curso de Linguística Geral, obra considerada como um marco fundador da linguística, e o manuscrito Phonétique, escrito pelo genebrino entre 1883-1884 e levado integralmente a público pela primeira vez em 1995 por Maria Pia Marchese. Assim, abordaremos questões fundamentais da construção teórica de Saussure, que passam pela problemática da unidade linguística - suas delimitações e método pelo qual estas devem ser definidas -, o que nos levará a destacar a complexidade com a qual Saussure detalhou as diferenças entre o que seria o ponto de vista fonético e fonológico para seus contemporâneos e de sua própria concepção de uma “Phonétique” partindo da concretude do discurso e ancorada na abstração do sistema linguístico. ---DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22409/gragoata.2017n44a999

Pan-African Linguistic and Cultural Unity

Abstract Contrary to the view that Africa is populated by many ethnic groups whose cultures and languages have no relation to one another, scientific research, as opposed to impressionistic arguments, points to the fact that African languages are connected, and by extension, demonstrate African cultural connectivity and unity. By making reference to both African and European scholars, this article demonstrates pan-African linguistic and cultural unity, and echoes pan-Africanist scholars’ call for African linguistic and cultural unity as a basis for pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance.

Globalization process and its impact on Kosovo’s tourism development

Unlike modernization, globalization is a process somewhat independent from the will of its adhering participants. This thesis represents Robertson sociologist giving a description based on which capital, ideas and cultural codes, with the help of new communication tools, expand worldwide. With rapid development of media and mass electronic communications is eliminated the importance of space and leads to shrinking (narrowing) of time and space which is a serious threat to national cultural identities. Fukuyama in his apology of liberal democracy warns "final political neutralization of nationalism" in terms of overall centralization and linguistic unity of the world.

The Uniparental Genetic Landscape of Modern Slavic Speaking Populations

Slavic speaking populations are the most numerous Indo-European ethnolinguistic group in Europe. They show great variety and fall into three groups: West, East and South Slavic populations. In order to contribute to the understanding of the correlation between linguistic and genetic affiliation of Slavic populations, we have analyzed for the first time their matrilineal and patrilineal relationships and we have also illustrated their position in the European uniparental genetic landscape. For the purpose, we have collected previously published data for the frequencies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome haplogroups in Slavic and other European populations and compared them by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). In the inter-Slavic population comparisons, West and East Slavs are in a closer position, whereas South Slavic populations are rather grouped on their own. In the European context, South Slavic populations are positioned more close to neighboring Balkan non-Slavic and North Italian populations, than to other Slavic populations. When considering the uniparental diversity of Slavic speaking populations, one should also take into account the prevalence of Y-chromosome haplogroup N among East Slavs (comprising almost half of the paternal gene pool in instances), which is almost absent among the other groups (not exceeding 2% - 3%). In conclusion, the data in the present study point that West-East and South Slavic speaking populations, behave as separate groups based on their uniparental genetic structure, which shows that they do not share substantial common genetic ancestry and that there is great genetic variety in the Slavic linguistic unity.

Proto-Indo-European Roots of the Vedic Aryans

Recent archaeological evidence and the comparative method of Indo-European historical linguistics now make it possible to reconstruct the Aryan migrations into India, two separate diffusions of which merge with elements of Harappan religion in Asko Parpola’s The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization (NY: Oxford University Press, 2015).This review of Parpola’s work emphasizes the acculturation of Rigvedic and Atharvavedic traditions as represented in the depiction of Vedic rites and worship of Indra and the Aśvins (Nāsatya). After identifying archaeological cultures prior to the breakup of Proto-Indo-European linguistic unity and demarcating the two branches of the Proto-Aryan community, the role of the Vrātyas leads back to mutual encounters with the Iranian Dāsas.

СИНТАКСИСТІК СИНТАГМАНЫҢ ЕРЕКШЕЛІКТЕРІ

The article defines the communicative function of speech as a linguistic unity, a comprehension of the world's world, knowledge of the world, the cognitive function of the generations to come, as well as the phrase of speech, and the main unit of the language is not a word, but a sentence. The main object of the syntax is to analyze whether the clause, the text, and the syntactic synthesis of the category, based on the communicative function of these syntactic units. The fundamental distinction of the syntagma is that the words and sentences contained in the sentence have semantic content, and the results are analyzed by way of examples and the way to analyze it linguistically. Syntagma is a unit of speech, structured, semantic, intonationally related speech, is considered as a structural and semantic fragment of speech that can be used to build the speech and reach the listener. The types of syntagmatic relationships that define the content of the information, depending on the purpose of the adressant, are also defined. Any word that is individually set up as a language unit becomes a speech unit when it is included in the synthesis, and its meaning is determined by the situation. This phenomenon is regarded as the main feature of the syntagma in the article. The syntagma components are synonymous with both syntactic and intonational, and syntagma is considered to be semantic, syntactic, and intonational. Due to the intonational peculiarity of the sentence, differentiating the types of intonation syntheses is recognized as a linguistic category, directly related to cognition, communication, and the content of information.

THE BORROWINGS AND THE PROCESS OF GLOBALIZATION (FRENCH-ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONTACT)

The desire for economic unity of the world, for the globalization, leads to the tendency of is its linguistic unity. In recent years, the experts notice that such objective factor as the prevalence of the Internet has led to the oversimplification of some world’s languages and to the baseless clogging of them with English Term. It is certain, that borrowing within reason is fully justified. However, when such borrowing leads to severe morphological, syntactic or phonetic changes and causes harm to linguistic system of the language that borrows such borrowing is baseless and harmful. The analysis of English borrowings reveals the following four types of lexical borrowing: integrated, hybrid, false loan and tracing. Integral borrowing is reduced to unchanged borrowing of the form and content of a word or phrase, without any graphic adaptation (or adaptation). A hybrid borrowed includes borrowed meaning with partial borrowing of structure of foreign words. False borrowings are reduced to formal borrowing of components that allow to create a new word when neither form nor value are not fixed in the language from which this term is borrowed. Therefore, the French often has words which combining English components do not comply with the lexical meaning of English terms. There are a lots of such terms in the French vocabulary. Tracing involves semantic, morphological and idioms tracing. In fact, morphological tracing integrates a borrowed English meaning of a word by literal translation: supermarché–supermarket. Used as synonyms such borrowings allow the user to highlight his views, approaches and enrich his own vocabulary. Phraseological tracing is often called idiomatic tracing. In this case English phraseological units meet their French equivalents. Semantic tracing consists of imposition of borrowed meaning on the words which already exist in the language that borrows. Syntactic tracing reduced to borrowing of syntactical structure of English language. Phonetic tracing reduced to preserving of English pronunciation. The internationalization of many English terms makes the communication in sphere of science, technology and production easier. That is, borrowing from other languages is absolutely justified if it doesn’t lead to clogging of a language and doesn’t disrupt the structural integrity of a language, that borrows and doesn’t do harm to its evolutionary development. Key words : globalization; borrowing; tracing; analysis.

<i>Language ideologies and the globalization of ‘standard’ Spanish</i> Darren Paffey (2012) London and New York: Bloomsbury. Pp. vii + 196. ISBN 978-1-44-11874-06

Language ideologies and the globalization of 'standard' Spanish Darren Paffey (2012) London and New York: Bloomsbury. Pp. vii + 196. ISBN 978-1-44-11874-06Reviewed by Angela BartensThe volume under review is a revised version of Darren Paffey's 2008 University of Southampton doctoral dissertation. In it, the author addresses the issue of language ideologies in the globalization of Standard Spanish. Or 'Standard' Spanish, as he terms it. He considers that nowadays, the media constitute a or even the primary vehicle for the spread of ideologies about the Spanish language. Therefore, the material analyzed was gathered from two major Spanish newspapers, El Pais and ABC, over the time span 1997-2007, a period when the Royal Spanish Academy (Real Academia Espanola, RAE) was already clearly committed to its current modernization process. Diagnostic of this commitment, the period examined starts with the First International Congress of the Spanish Language (Congreso Internacional de Lengua Espanola, CILE) and terminates with its fourth edition. In addition, the Panhispanic Dictionary of Doubts (Diccionario panhispanico de dudas, DPD) was published in 2005 in response to the tens of thousands of questions received by the distinct language academies of the Spanish-speaking world grouped together under the umbrella of the Association of Spanish Language Academies (Asociacion de Academias de la Lengua Espanola, ASALE). The choice of precisely these newspapers is justified by the fact that within Spanish mainstream journalism, El Pais mostly seconds the views of the Socialist Party, ABC those of the center-right Popular Party. As with most studies couched in the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the purpose of the book is to raise awareness instead of constituting just an 'academic exercise'. In addition, the author points out that understanding how standard language ideology works, enables us to challenge it (pp. 4-5).Chapter 1 of the volume is a general presentation of language ideologies, CDA and its aims, and media discourse. Paffey argues that '[o]ne of the many things that discourse can achieve is the legitimization and naturalization of particular understandings of society [...] through the manufacturing [of] consent' (p. 25). In this case, consent is manufactured to justify the need for standardization as a response to linguistic globalization. Major topics of the chapter - and the entire study - are the role Spanish plays in the present-day world as well as the ensuing question of its linguistic unity and the role of the RAE and other 'language guardians' in this discussion. As discourses target the macro level of society through the micro level of texts and specific linguistic structures, the study 'investigates lexical choices (classifications, collocations, ideologically significant/contested terms, connotative vs denotative meaning, metaphors, metonyms, synonyms) and grammatical choices (agency, nominalizations, active vs passive, modality, deixis)' (p. 29).Chapter 2 deals with language authorities and the standardization of Spanish and shows the interrelationships between these actors and the trafficking of influence which potentially (and actually) results from these connections. First, all Spanish language authorities - or 'guardians' - depend in one way or another on the Government of Spain which has, for obvious reasons, a keen interest in educational issues, a fact particularly emphasized in discourses targeted at national audiences. As far as The Cervantes Institute (Instituto Cervantes, IC), the institution in charge of teaching, learning and promoting the Spanish language and culture in countries the official language of which is not Spanish since its founding in 1991, is concerned, the King of Spain is its honorary president and the incumbent president of the Spanish Government is its executive president. The incumbent president of the RAE is president of Fundeu, a 2005-founded language planning institution which, for instance, offers advice on correct language use, has made agreements with the media, and awards certificates to companies using 'good language'. …

Linguistic Diversity and National Unity: Sustainable Demographic Development of Multi-Ethnic Population in Russia

The article exemplifies controversial features in the linguistic development of the multiethnic population of Russia in the Volga Federal District, predominantly in the Republic of Tatarstan1; it analyzes the roles titular and official languages of the Russian Federation play in different spheres of life.The surveys held in Tatarstan over the last decade prove that enthusiasm of the ethnic ‘Renaissance’ of late 1990s has been changed by a disappointing estimation of Tatar still playing the role of a means of communication for a limited ethnic community, not viewed by the ethic population as one of the main elements of their ethnic identity. There is evidence that failure to ensure the revival and intergenerational transmission of the Tatar language (one of the most developed in the Volga Federal Region and Russia) may accelerate negative demographic shifts and further reduction of the ethnic language functions. The authors consider the present situation in Tatarstan to be caused by the lack of language policy coordination on three levels: federal, local and individual (family). It is suggested that to ensure the ethnic and language reproduction in a federal state, language regulations initiatives are to be based on the concept of the languages being ‘inherent property’ of an ethnos, the most important qualitative characteristic of a state of the ethnos, and essential grounds for its existence and development. Sustainable ethno-linguistic reproduction and native languages preservation are viewed by the authors possible due to implementation of the idea of linguistic federalism and development of ethnic linguistic identity. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n1s1p540

The language in the Romanian political thought of 1850–1890. The grand debates and their outcomes/Limba în gândirea politicǎ româneascǎ între anii 1850–1890. Marile dezbateri şi rezultatele lor

AbstractThe article focuses on the Romanian linguistic debates of the second half of the 19th century and their influence on the processes of state- and nation-building. The essay concentrates on the attempts of using the ties of the common language as a defensive element that can not only mark the local nation-building strategies, but oppose similar competing foreign schemes. The current paper can be considered an effort to see and analyze the place of language in the Romanian political thought between 1850 and 1890 when Romanian national state emerged on the world arena and its manifestation sharpened the disputes regarding its linguistic and ethnic homogeneity. Furthermore, the article regards the language as a primary strategic instrument in the process of state-building, used by the participants of the debates, whose views and ideas were strictly tied to linguistic unity. The ideas of languages being parts of the “bodies of nations” expressed by Romanian thinkers are put into the General European context, which is briefly investigated as well.

One continent, one language? Europa Celtica and its language in Philippus Cluverius' Germania antiqua (1616) and beyond

Today's European Union is keen to point out that one of Europe's main characteristics is its linguistic diversity. Some early-modern scholars, however, emphasised the notion of European monolingualism, even though Europe's linguistic diversity was as obvious in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries as it is today. These scholars advanced the argument that, in a distant past, Europeans had spoken one single language. This article focuses on the first scholar to really substantiate this idea. In his voluminous Germania antiqua (1616), the Leiden founder of historical geography, Philippus Cluverius, set out to prove that Europe had once largely been populated by people who shared one single language and a set of distinctive customs. After analysing Cluverius' argument and his linguistic image of Europe, the article will outline the intellectual background behind his claims and map his work's impact on later representations of Europe in terms of language. Even when most early-modern scholars admittedly rejected the idea of Europe as a historical linguistic unity, the paper will show that the notion of Europe was a crucial point of reference in the linguistic scholarship of the early-modern period.

Inter Lingual Influences of Turkish, Serbian and English Dialect in Spoken Gjakovar's Language

In this paper we have tried to clarify the problems that are faced "gege dialect's'' speakers in Gjakova who have presented more or less difficulties in acquiring the standard. Standard language is part of the people language, but increased to the norm according the scientific criteria. From this observation it comes obliviously understandable that standard variation and dialectal variant are inseparable and, as such, they represent a macro linguistic unity. As part of this macro linguistic unity and by sociolinguistic terms view, members of linguistic community speakers, through changes in phonemic and sub phonemic in toggle sounds, at the same time reflect on the regional and social affiliation background of the speaker. Gjakova is the city where fossils have remained as slang interlingual influences of Turkish language, Serbian language and after the war in Kosovo is very widespread of English slang. The methods we have used in the treatment of our case have been supported on the work and the survey, observation and interpretation. We tried to bring a clearer picture of speaking variation reports, in our case of Albanian speaking language, always when we deal with the extension of standard language in Gjakova town. The method of research and interpretation is the most predominant method in this survey, while an important place in the treatment of this topic is given to methods of surveying / questionnaire about the extent of the standard language in Gjakova town. We have done a comparison of standard Albanian language examination and other languages situations as well, which have a longer tradition of standard language, furthermore countries that have similar development situations with the Albanian standard language.

Is the Tanzanian Ngoni language threatened? A survey of lexical borrowing from Swahili

Tanzania's post-independence language policy has promoted Swahili as a means of achieving national and linguistic unity. This policy has affected the Ngoni language in south-western Tanzania. Today, Swahili has permeated communication all over Tanzania, even in rural and remote areas. This paper discusses lexical borrowing and especially borrowing in the basic vocabulary, which is considered less susceptible to borrowing, to establish the vitality of Ngoni in this bilingual setting. In using a new method where locally produced photos are used for elicitation, and mirroring the data with socio-demographic metadata, the results contribute to the understanding of what borrowing implies regarding the future of the language. Age-related differences were found amongst Ngoni speakers, but the differences in language use attributed to socio-demographic factors were far fewer than expected. Borrowing is solidly established not only among the young in the Ngoni community. Both borrowing and codeswitching (CS) were also frequent in typically rural settings, among subsistence farmers, where Swahili was found to be penetrating deeply into oral communication. Not only gap-filling concepts related to modern life were borrowed from Swahili; even terms used in traditional life, like farming, were borrowed, as well as basic concepts. This indicates that the Ngoni language may be threatened.

Türk Dil Birliğinin Sonbaharı (1926- 1941 Latin Alfabesi Dönemi)

At certain times, the biggest result of the political and cultural rapprochement of the Turkic peoples were the emergence of linguistic affinity among these peoples. When the affinity of the highest level, it is possible to call the summer season of the Turkish linguistic unity, which using the example of the change of the seasons. At the beginning of the 20th century under the influence of Jadidism, Turkic peoples have been turned to national awakening and enlightenment that after such an affinity process, Turkic peoples have been a different experience that except the period of Turkic languages written with the Arabic and the Cyrillic alphabets, between 1926 and 1941, the period, which use the Latin alphabet has not been enough emphasis. However, unlike the others, Turkey have been continued that its same path, further this short period should be considered as a whole.

Limba în gîndirea politică romînească între anii 1850-1890. Marile dezbateri și rezultatele lor / The language in the Romanian political thought of 1850-1890s. The grand debates and their outcomes

The article focuses on the Romanian linguistic debates of the second half of the 19 th century and their influence on the processes of state-and nation-building. The essay concentrates on the attempts of using the ties of the common language as a defensive element that can not only mark the local nation-building strategies, but oppose similar competing foreign schemes. The current paper can be considered an effort to see and analyze the place of language in the Romanian political thought between 1850 and 1890 when Romanian national state emerged on the world arena and its manifestation sharpened the disputes regarding its linguistic and ethnic homogeneity. Furthermore, the article regards the language as a primary strategic instrument in the process of state-building, used by the participants of the debates, whose views and ideas were strictly tied to linguistic unity. The ideas of languages being parts of the “ bodies of nations” expressed by Romanian thinkers are put into the General European context, which is briefly investigated as well.