A provocative and ground-breaking contribution to the debate on language and identity.Calling for a major reappraisal of the long-held consensus in the sociology of ethnicity and nationalism and to a lesser extent in the sociology of language that dismisses language as an important feature of individual and collective identity. Using examples of many language-based historical and contemporary ethnic and ethno-national movements and conflicts, the author pinpoints the causes of many of these conflicts within the nation-state and its preoccupation with establishing a common language and culture via mass education.Shortlisted for the 2002 BAAL Book Prize