A European Perspective on Language as Liminality

Abstract

The quotations above illustrate the argument of the first part of my chapter. The chapter as a whole is going to take a now widely accepted position, to modify it by referring to the diversity within languages as well as across languages, and, in the second part, to consider its implica­tions for language policies in Europe. However, we should not progress without noting the extensions of the concept ‘liminal’ implied by the Latin definitions. Not only may we be crossing the threshold to someone’s dwelling and home, but we may also be making a new beginning. Crossing thresholds can take us into private and protected space, and it can involve us in repudiation as well as entry, starting again as well as continuing. It is small wonder that the ‘year abroad’ for language undergraduates is seen both as a threatening and a liberating experience (Coleman, 1996; Johnston et al. 2004).

Limen, liminis, the threshold. I. A. Lit. intrare limen, Cic. B. Meton. 1=house, dwelling; 2. entrance; 3, a. the starting point of a chariot-race in the circus; b. border, boundary; a beginning. II. Fig. a beginning.

Cassell’s Latin Dictionary (literary citations omitted)