The Language of Othering in a Diverse Europe
Published on 21. August 2025
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-90-04-73911-6 (ISBN)
Description
This book explores how language is used to create division and discrimination in diverse European societies by emphasizing differences in ethnicity, race, national identity, beliefs, or appearance. The authors analyze how public discourse-particularly in political and media narratives-shapes and reinforces an "us vs. them" mindset. They examine words and expressions that denigrate or marginalize specific groups in Polish, German, Czech, Slovak, and Croatian, and observe how certain communities are also reclaiming terms that were once hurtful. The analyses of linguistic strategies employed in the process of othering demonstrate that the concept of othering can be effectively applied to linguistic data.
Contributors are: Dagmara Banasiak, Marta Chojnacka-Kuras, Marta Falkowska, Jadranka Gvozdanovic, Milena Hebal-Jezierska, Agnieszka Karlinska, Anna Kolos, Marie Koprivova, Marek Lazinski, Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewicz, Agnieszka Mikolajczuk, Iva Petrak, Jiri Rejzek, Lucie Saicova Rimalova, Lukasz Wnuk, and Magdalena Zawislawska.
Contributors are: Dagmara Banasiak, Marta Chojnacka-Kuras, Marta Falkowska, Jadranka Gvozdanovic, Milena Hebal-Jezierska, Agnieszka Karlinska, Anna Kolos, Marie Koprivova, Marek Lazinski, Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewicz, Agnieszka Mikolajczuk, Iva Petrak, Jiri Rejzek, Lucie Saicova Rimalova, Lukasz Wnuk, and Magdalena Zawislawska.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
658 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-73911-6 (9789004739116)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Marta Falkowska is an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Warsaw. Her research focuses mainly on lexical semantics and cognitive grammar. She coordinated the SEED4EU+ project "Naming for Othering in a Diversified Europe". Her forthcoming monograph deals with the concept of EMPATHY in Polish.
Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewiczis a professor of linguistics at the University of Warsaw. Lately, her research has focused largely on hate speech phenomena and non-discriminatory (inclusive) language, as well as sign language lexicology and lexicography.
Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewiczis a professor of linguistics at the University of Warsaw. Lately, her research has focused largely on hate speech phenomena and non-discriminatory (inclusive) language, as well as sign language lexicology and lexicography.
Content
List of Figures and Tables
Notes on Contributors
Othering and Language: An Introduction
?Marta Falkowska and Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewicz
Part 1 Naming for Othering in a Diachronic Perspective
1 Othering Construed and Maintained in Discourse
?Jadranka Gvozdanovic
2 We are my 'us' and They are migranti 'migrants', emigranti 'emigrants', pristehovalci 'immigrants', uprchlici 'refugees', and Others
Othering in the Context of Migration in Czech
?Lucie Saicova Rimalova, Marie Koprivova, and Jiri Rejzek
Part 2 Naming for Othering in an Identity Debate
3 Naming the Other in Croatian Purist Discourse: A Study of Croatian Online Forum Debates
?Iva Petrak
4 Polish Neologisms cebulak 'onioner' and fajnopolak 'cool-o-Pole' as Signs of Othering within the Polish National Community
?Dagmara Banasiak and Lukasz Wnuk
Part 3 Naming for Othering as a Strategy of Stigmatization
5 Ethnic Names in Translation as a Measure of Their Stigmatizing Potential in the Target Language
A Parallel Corpus Study
?Marek Lazinski
6 Teachers (on Strike) as "the Others" in Polish Media Discourse
Contempt Speech against Teachers in Media Articles and Accompanying Comments (Results of a Pilot Study)
?Agnieszka Mikolajczuk
7 Linguistic Strategies of Ethnic Othering and Exclusion on the Polish Social Networking Service Wykop.pl
?Anna Kolos and Agnieszka Karlinska
8 Troubled Neighborhood: Ethnophaulisms Referring to Ukrainian People in Contemporary Polish
?Marta Falkowska
Part 4 Naming for In-group Purposes
9 Marking a Difference vs. Naming for Othering: Marginalized Groups' Terms for Dominant Majorities
The Case of Polish Deaf Writing about the Hearing
?Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewicz
10 I'm not Obese, I'm Fat! Reclamation of Words as a Strategy for Building Group Identity in the Polish Fat People Discourse
?Magdalena Zawislawska and Marta Chojnacka-Kuras
11 Naming the Sides of the Israel-Hamas Conflict in Czech, Slovak, and Polish Texts
?Milena Hebal-Jezierska
Afterword
?Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewicz and Marta Falkowska
Index
Notes on Contributors
Othering and Language: An Introduction
?Marta Falkowska and Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewicz
Part 1 Naming for Othering in a Diachronic Perspective
1 Othering Construed and Maintained in Discourse
?Jadranka Gvozdanovic
2 We are my 'us' and They are migranti 'migrants', emigranti 'emigrants', pristehovalci 'immigrants', uprchlici 'refugees', and Others
Othering in the Context of Migration in Czech
?Lucie Saicova Rimalova, Marie Koprivova, and Jiri Rejzek
Part 2 Naming for Othering in an Identity Debate
3 Naming the Other in Croatian Purist Discourse: A Study of Croatian Online Forum Debates
?Iva Petrak
4 Polish Neologisms cebulak 'onioner' and fajnopolak 'cool-o-Pole' as Signs of Othering within the Polish National Community
?Dagmara Banasiak and Lukasz Wnuk
Part 3 Naming for Othering as a Strategy of Stigmatization
5 Ethnic Names in Translation as a Measure of Their Stigmatizing Potential in the Target Language
A Parallel Corpus Study
?Marek Lazinski
6 Teachers (on Strike) as "the Others" in Polish Media Discourse
Contempt Speech against Teachers in Media Articles and Accompanying Comments (Results of a Pilot Study)
?Agnieszka Mikolajczuk
7 Linguistic Strategies of Ethnic Othering and Exclusion on the Polish Social Networking Service Wykop.pl
?Anna Kolos and Agnieszka Karlinska
8 Troubled Neighborhood: Ethnophaulisms Referring to Ukrainian People in Contemporary Polish
?Marta Falkowska
Part 4 Naming for In-group Purposes
9 Marking a Difference vs. Naming for Othering: Marginalized Groups' Terms for Dominant Majorities
The Case of Polish Deaf Writing about the Hearing
?Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewicz
10 I'm not Obese, I'm Fat! Reclamation of Words as a Strategy for Building Group Identity in the Polish Fat People Discourse
?Magdalena Zawislawska and Marta Chojnacka-Kuras
11 Naming the Sides of the Israel-Hamas Conflict in Czech, Slovak, and Polish Texts
?Milena Hebal-Jezierska
Afterword
?Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewicz and Marta Falkowska
Index