As language historians we believe that the subject of our study is neither natural languages nor idiolects which speakers have always been able to develop individually (loosely what Chomsky calls L-i), but rather the social constructions of reference shared by all speakers (basically what Chomsky terms as L-e ). In this context the language historian essentially studies how a public L-e is built such that it can be understood as the language of all (i.e. hiding L-i variations) and also how L-e succeed in replacing the primary reality of idiolects, even if only in the imagination. Writing represents a crucial turning point in language construction, because it made it possible to materialize the abstraction that, until then, related speakers could only guess and besides it comes into competition with individual languages. In modern centuries, the provision of grammars, dictionaries and other such learning tools and systematizing instruments strengthens the idea that, because of their normative character, languages can be learned through study. Mythical stories encourage the achievement of prescriptive rules and lead speakers to link emotions to their language. Therefore, the topics of reflection that we want to discuss in this volume are: Norms, Myths and Emotions related to language construction.

Table of Contents:
1. Languages as a construction: An enlightening perspective (by Feliu, Francesc); 2. I. Rules to linguistic delimitation; 3. El idioma, construccion social e ideologica de la lengua / Language, social and ideological construction of the tongue (by Alvarez, Alfredo); 4. Tra imperi e leggerezza: l'italiano lingua illustre? / Among empires and lightness: Italian, illustrious language? (by Bruni, Francesco); 5. The Spanish Quarter of Naples: The dynamics of language innovation and persistence between linguistic uses and metalinguistic reflections (by Milano, Emma); 6. Le lingue, ponti o frontiere? Appunti sulla Sicilia linguistica / Languages, bridges or borders? Notes on linguistics Sicily (by D'Agostino, Mari); 7. La construccio de la norma cancelleresca catalana / The construction of standard chancellery Catalan (by Ferrando, Antoni); 8. Codification and prescription in linguistic standardisation: Myths and models (by Ayres-Bennett, Wendy); 9. The importance of prescriptivism in the development of "schemes for respelling" in 18th century pronouncing dictionaries (by Pouillon, Veronique); 10. Els discursos sobre la llengua literaria en la Renaixenca valenciana / Discourses on literary language in the Valencian Renaissance (by Roca Ricart, Rafael); 11. Analisi del discurs de la Gramatica catalana (1933), de Pompeu Fabra / Discourse analysis of Pompeu Fabra's Catalan Grammar (1933) (by Costa Carreras, Joan); 12. II. The myths and the authenticity of languages; 13. Le mythe de la langue mere / The myth of the mother tongue (by Auroux, Sylvian); 14. Language myths and the historiography of French (by Lodge, R. Anthony); 15. Modern Greek: Founding myths, reform and prescription matters in 19th century (by Diatsentos, Petros); 16. Nommer l'ennemi: la "question de la langue" en Grece et les termes designant les varietes linguistiques / Naming the enemy: the "language issue" in Greece and the terms denoting linguistic varieties (by Delveroudi, Rea); 17. The role of narrative in shaping the semantic structure of certain expressions that belong to terminology as to one of the most important lexical groups: On the etymology of the Serbo-Croatian common designations for "Artemisia's plants" (by Kalezic, Maja); 18. Mitos de decadencia linguistica en la historia del neerlandes. Una exploracion sociolinguistica de la lengua en Flandes en los siglos xviii y xix / Myths of language decadence in Dutch history. A sociolinguistic exploration of language in Flanders in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (by Vosters, Rik); 19. L'humanista Bernardi Gomez Miedes (1515-1589) i la percepcio de la llengua catalana / The humanist Bernardi Gomez Miedes (1515-1589) and the perception of Catalan language (by Escarti, Vicent Josep); 20. De llengues, mites i emocions al xix catala: el mite de la llengua del cor? / Language, myths and emotions in nineteenth-century Catalan: The myth of the language of the heart? (by Ginebra, Jordi); 21. III. Language emotions; 22. Factors emocionals en la formacio de teories linguistiques: el cas romanic / Emotional factors in the formation of linguistic theories: The Romanic case (by Mascaro, Joan); 23. "El valencia no se pedra mai": la manipulacio mediatica de les emocions col*lectives en l'anticatalanisme valencia durant la transicio (1976-1982) / "El valencia no se pedra mai": Media manipulation of collective emotions in Valencian Anti-Catalanism during the Transition (1976-1982) (by Nicolas, Miquel); 24. La representacio nord-catalana de la llengua: entre refus del patues i llengua de segona / The representation of Northern Catalan language: Between patois rejection and second-class language (by Baylac, Ala); 25. Amor, emocio i artifici de la llengua catalana a la Catalunya del Nord avui / Love, emotion and artifice of Catalan language in Northern Catalonia today (by Peytavi, Joan); 26. El parlant multilingue davant la llengua, el parlant monolingue davant les llengues: a proposit de dues autobiografies linguistiques / The multilingual speaker facing language, the monolingual speaker facing languages: Two linguistic autobiographies (by Iglesias, Narcis); 27. Index