Robert Phillipson, (ed.) Rights to language: Equity, power and education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000. Pp. 310. Hb $69.95, pb $29.95. And Miklós Kontra, Robert Phillipson, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, & Tibor Várady (eds.), Language, a right and a resource: Approaching linguistic human rights. Budapest: Central European University Press. Pp. xii, 346. Hb $49.95, pb $23.95.

Abstract

These two books are indeed similar in that they cover related topics, have overlapping contributors, and bear the unmistakable stamp of the linguistic rights duo, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas and Robert Phillipson. Rights to language is a Festschrift to mark Skutnabb-Kangas's sixtieth birthday. It parades a star-studded list of contributors, particularly in the field of sociolinguistics; however, as with most books of this genre, the contributions are uneven in quality and scope. The 47 chapters in the book are contributed by 51 authors, and, according to the editor, 20 other invited scholars were unable to contribute. This ambitious goal – to include as many of the honoree's friends as possible – has had the unfortunate effect of making several authors produce brief, less than adequate expositions of their topics.