Nad knihou o jazykovém managementu v kontaktových situacích

This article analyzes and evaluates the book Language Management in Contact Situations: Perspectives from Three Continents (Nekvapil - Sherman, 2009a). The first section summarizes the basic features of Language Management Theory (LMT) itself. The second section reviews a selection of the individual chapters, devoted to, for example, internet discussions between native English speakers concerning the problems of acquiring and using Czech or meetings between Japanese students and various non-native speakers of Japanese. In the discussion section, the author observes that there are differences between the authors working with LMT, above all regarding whether they define the norms guiding speakers in individual interactions, as well as the degree to which they analyze the (linguistic) behavior of speakers as bound to specific interactions. The book is evaluated as thought-provoking given its emphasis of on the inseparability of linguistic behavior and behavior-toward-language and on the processual character of language management, and can thus serve as inspiration for research on the Czech language situation as a multilingual one.