The Italian neuroscientist Andrea Moro says, ‘I speak, therefore I am’, and very recently the young American Venezuelan public speaker and filmmaker Jason Silva has used many times this maxim, ‘I language, therefore I become’. In this perspective, one should emphasize that it has long been argued in the humanities that the language we use forms an important part of our sense of who we are and to where we belong, that is, our identity and culture. In fact, there has been an emerging consensus among social constructivists that suggests the centrality of language to discussions of the construction of identity (see for instance John Shotter & Kenneth J. Gergen, Text of identity, 1989). In this sense, languages not only express identities but also construct them. Aiming at exploring the interrelationship between language, identity, and symbolic culture, which are so closely interwoven, Language, identity and symbolic culture analyzes the power of language, its use, and the ideologies that lie within discourse. The latter is viewed as a ‘symbolic capital’.

The book comprises four parts. The theoretical part examines the dual function of language as constructing reality and/or describing it through the contributions of David Evans. Part 2 presents a number of research works on urban discourses. Christopher Anderson's and Patricia Giardiello's articles examine power, marginalization, and resistance in language and discourse. Part 3 offers a variety of works that explore themes of language, cultural marginalization, and resistance in a number of diverse countries. Cameroon, UK, India, and China are case studies investigated by Henry Kum, Joseph Mundananikkal Thomas, and Mamtimyn Sunnuodula. In the four chapters of this part, the notion of language and discourse as constituting a symbolic culture is emphasized. The concluding part of this book inspects from a pedagogical perspective how languages are taught based on sociocultural, and therefore economic power. The works of this part explore the various possibilities for the valorization of marginalized language-culture as in David Evans’ and Karin Zotzmann's articles.

Given the fact that language is much more than just a means of communication as it is an inseparable part of our culture and our sociocultural and sociopolitical identities, this volume is essential for graduates and postgraduates who seek to venture into analyzing how languages are interwoven with identities and cultures. By offering a distinct view of language identity conflicts around the world and a deep understanding of the opportunities of political and cultural emancipation created through language and its use, this edited book is of high importance and interest for researchers in various fields, such as linguistics, discourse analysis, media studies, cultural studies, and education, among others.