Conference Agenda

Norway has a long tradition of language planning, mainly in relation to the standardisation of the two written languages Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk. However, in the 2000s, Norwegian language policy developed into a more multifaceted and complex language policy. The 2008 language policy white paper has three main aims: Firstly, protecting Norwegian as a complete language from increased pressure from English. Secondly, strengthening the use and status of Nynorsk versus Bokmål, and thirdly protecting national minority languages. The 2008 language policy hence places Norway as a multilingual nation in a globalized world. In 2022 the enforcement of The Act Relating to Language regulated this language policy in law.

There is a lack of research on the official Norwegian language policy and planning in the 2000s and forward. However, there are anechdotal evidence that the language policy has been difficult to implement. By drawing on theory and frameworks from public policy studies, this paper presetation aims at investigating the programme theory of the Norwegian Language policy to see if it presents a feasible plan for bringing about the intended changes of the policy. By describing the goals of the language policy and it's plan of action for reaching these goals, the aim of the paper presentation is to point to possible features within the programme theory of the official Norwegian language policy that may have caused the difficulties in achieving it's goals.

Meänkieli is a minoritised Finno-Ugric language traditionally spoken in Northern Sweden by 20,000-40,000 people. Meänkieli has been a national minority language in Sweden since 2000.

The purpose of our paper is to explore the current discourses around the revitalisation of Meänkieli among the speakers and how they relate to language policy. It aims to tackle the mismatch between policy and practice. More specifically, our research question is: What ideologies and themes can be identified in Meänkieli public discourses with regard to language policy and revitalisation/reclamation?

Our study is important because Meänkieli speakers are unknown and invisible, and they face challenges in developing and maintaining their language (Lipott 2015). Despite positive developments, such as a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and a state-funded language revitalisation centre, Sweden has received repeated criticism for its support of national minority languages (SOU 2022).

Using decolonial theory, previous revitalisation/reclamation research, and qualitative content analysis we examine Meänkieli public discourse, namely podcasts and radio programmes, online articles published by community organisations, as well as the interviews conducted by the Commission and a report on cultural heritage work in the area.

Our results show that the current policies and their implementation do not necessarily address the needs of the community. The policies assume a knowledge of the theory and practice of language revitalisation in the speech community. We have identified, for example, the following recurring themes: superdiversity/translanguaging in relation to fluency and purism, shame and other negative emotions, restricted domains, externalised responsibility.

References
Lipott, S. 2015. The Tornedalian Minority in Sweden. From Assimilation to Recognition: A ‘Forgotten’ Ethnic and Linguistic Minority 1870-2000. Immigrants & Minorities 33(1): 1-22.

SOU. 2022. Ko ihmisarvoa mitathiin - Tornionlaaksolaisitten, kväänitten ja lantalaisitten eksklyteerinki ja assimileerinki. Stockholm: Statens offentliga utredningar. www.komisuuni.se

This paper reports on a study that examines the policy discourse regarding the development of the ‘Japan Foundation Standard for Japanese-Language Education’ (JF standard). The study is a discourse analysis of a seminal document which reports on a series of discussion on the foundational principles of the JF standard at the initial phase of its development since 2005. In this presentation, results of the discourse analysis will be addressed first. The analysis indicates that the space mediated by Japanese as an international language, beyond the territorial boundaries of the Japanese state, is framed as an apolitical cosmopolitan space where ‘Japanese language people’ communicate to obtain ‘mutual understanding’ regardless of their nationality, ethnicity or linguistic proficiency. At the same time, the ‘global diversity’ that surrounds the Japanese language space is portrayed as a more politicized space, where distinct communities of language and culture coexist in tension and to which the promotion of Japanese could contribute. Such representation of international Japanese language and its speakers, and the dual framing of linguistic space, together constitute a rationale for the international promotion of Japanese language in the document. The second intended contribution of this paper is a methodological one. A processual and heuristic approach (Hult & Hornberger 2016, Park 2021) to textual analysis was explored in this study. In this study, language, population and space, which emerged from the body of literature in the sociolinguistics of nationalism and globalization, were applied heuristically (Park 2021) in the initial analysis; and a debate over linguistic cosmopolitanism and multiculturalism was employed as a set of analytical heuristics (Hult & Hornberger 2016) for a further examination of the spatial framing. By detailing the process, the paper foregrounds the processual nature of qualitative and interpretive textual analysis, and considers the role of analytical heuristics in such processes.