ABSTRACT
It has been the contention throughout this book that language use and language practices are inextricably bound up with politics. As we enter the twenty-first century, then, our expectations and predictions about language politics, and in particular, about the Spanish language, should reflect current political and ideological trends in general. Commentators describe us as living in a postmodern world which is above all characterised by globalisation and internationalisation.1 For many this is seen as the ultimate threat to the past two centuries’ stable order of the nation-state. It is argued that with the enormous technological advances in such things as transportation and modes of communication frontiers are now easily crossed and re-crossed. Territorial uniqueness and discreteness are no longer guaranteed. Television networks, satellite telephone connections, the world wide web, all such phenomena remove the distinctiveness of the relatively small areas occupied by nationstates and challenge separate national identity and culture.
