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This paper discusses contemporary societal roles of German in the Baltic states (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania). Speaker and learner statistics and a summary of sociolinguistic research (Linguistic Landscapes, language learning motivation, language policies, international roles of languages) suggest that German has by far fewer speakers and functions than the national languages, English, and Russian, and it is not a dominant language in the contemporary Baltics anymore. However, German is ahead of ‘any other language’ in terms of users and societal roles as a frequent language in education, of economic relations, as a historical lingua franca, and a language of traditional and new minorities. Highly diverse groups of users and language policy actors form a ‘coalition of interested parties’ which creates niches which guarantee German a frequent use. In the light of the abundance of its functions, the paper suggests the concept ‘additional language of society’ for a variety such as German in the Baltics – since there seems to be no adequate alternative labelling which would do justice to all societal roles. The paper argues that this concept may also be used for languages in similar societal situations and, not least, be useful in language marketing and the promotion of multilingualism.
Aims and objectives:
Language debates in Latvia often focus on the role of Latvian as official and main societal language. Yet, Latvian society is highly multilingual, and families with home languages other than Latvian have to choose between different educational trajectories for their children. In this context, this paper discusses the results of two studies which addressed the question of why families with Russian as a home language choose (pre)schools with languages other than Russian as medium of instruction (MOI). The first study analyses family narratives which provide insight into attitudes and practices which lead to the decision to send children to Latvian-MOI institutions. The second study investigates language attitudes and practices by families in the international community of Riga German School.
Methodology:
The paper discusses data gathered during two studies: for the first, semi-structed interviews were conducted with Russian-speaking families who choose Latvian-medium schools for their children. For the second study, a survey was carried out in the community of an international school in Riga, sided by ethnographic observations and interviews with teachers and the school leadership.
Data and analysis:
Interviews and ethnographic observations were subjected to a discourse analysis with a focus on critical events and structures of life trajectory narratives. Survey data were processed following simple statistical analysis and qualitative content analysis.
Findings/conclusions:
Our data reveal that families highly embrace multilingualism and see the development of individual plurilingualism as important for integration into Latvian society as well as for educational and professional opportunities in the multilingual societies of Latvia and Europe. At the same time, multilingualism and multiculturalism, including Russian, are seen as a value in itself. In addition, our studies reflect the bidirectionality of family language policies in interplay with practices in educational institutions: family decisions influence children’s language acquisition at school, but the school also has an impact on the families’ language practices at home. In sum, we argue that educational policies should therefore pay justice to the wishes of families in Latvia to incorporate different language aspects into individual educational trajectories.
Originality:
Language policy is a frequent topic of investigation in the Baltic states. However, there has been a lack in research on family language policy and school choices. In this vein, our paper adds to the understanding of educational choices and language policy processes among Russian-speaking families and the international community in Latvia.
Dieser Beitrag möchte einen Überblick über die Rolle geben, die die Regionalsprache Lettgallisch im Bildungssektor im Baltikum spielt. Zum einen soll in groben Zügen die historische gesellschaftliche Entwicklung des Lettgallischen mit einem Schwerpunkt auf dem Bildungsbereich dargestellt werden, zum anderen werden Entwicklungen der letzten Jahre diskutiert, in denen Diskurse und Einstellungen zum Lettgallischen eine Wandlung durchlaufen. Der theoretische Rahmen dafür sind internationale Diskussionen zu Regional- und Minderheitensprachen sowie Debatten in der Bildungspolitik. Damit soll nicht zuletzt Aufmerksamkeit für das Lettgallische in der deutschsprachigen Wahrnehmung des Baltikums generiert werden, das in einem Kompendium zu Bildungsgeschichte(n) im Baltikum nicht fehlen darf. Nach einer kurzen Einführung in die Region Lettgallen (Latgale) und das Lettgallische folgen aktuelle Beispiele für den sich ändernden Gebrauch des Lettgallischen und seine Einordung in Diskurse zu Minderheitensprachen. Schließlich wird auf jüngste politische Entwicklungen eingegangen, etwa im Kontext der Ausarbeitung neuer Lehrstandards für die staatlichen Schulen in Lettland.
Every Regional Dossier begins with an introduction about the region in question, followed by six chapters that each deal with a specific level of the education system (e.g. primary education). Chapters 8 and 9 cover the main lines of research into education of the minority language under discussion, and the prospects for the minority language in general and in education in particular, respectively. Chapter 10 provides a summary of statistics. Lists of (legal) references and useful addresses regarding the minority language are given at the end of the dossier.
Zum Geleit
(2021)
Neben den wissenschaftlichen Aufsätzen, die nach den Qualitätskriterien
der heute üblichen doppelt anonymen Begutachtung ausgewählt wurden, enthält das Heft drei Berichte – zu einer Tagung zur Mehrsprachigkeit in Tartu, zu einem interdisziplinären DaF-Projekt in Tallinn sowie zu einer Forschungsgruppe zu Sprachkompetenzen und Deutschlernmotivationen von Student/innen in den baltischen und nordischen Ländern. Das Heft wird schließlich durch zwei Rezensionen abgerundet.
Vorwort
(2021)
This chapter discusses functions of the German language in the Linguistic Landscape (LL) of the Baltic states, with a focus on the Latvian capital Riga. For this end, it applies the "Spot German" approach (cf. Heimrath 2017) in the context of debates on the international role of German (cf. Ammon 2015). It argues that German is an "additional language of society" (cf. Marten 2017b), i.e. it is not a dominant language in the Baltics but can regularly be found in a variety of functions. These relate both to the historical role of German in the region (including its contemporary commodification) and to current relations between the Baltics and the German-speaking countries. These include tourism, business, or educational and political institutions, but also point to, e.g., discourses on the quality assigned to products from the German-speaking region. In this sense, the Baltic states are part of what may, in accordance with Kachru's (1985) 3-circle-model for English, be labelled as "extended circle" of German. At the same time, the chapter discusses how conclusions from Linguistic Landscape research can be used for understanding marketing both in and for the German language: On the one hand, German carries the potential of persuading customers to opt for a certain product. On the other hand, the abundance of situations where German can be "spotted" suggests that the LL may successfully be used for language-marketing purposes, as exemplified by a brochure and a poster created by the DAAD Information Centre for the Baltic states in Riga.
This chapter starts out by giving a brief overview of the main priorities of international and German studies in the area of linguistic landscape research. The contributions to this volume are then embedded in current debates and developments in the field. Finally, we outline important desiderata of linguistic landscape research that focus on German and address challenges of knowledge transfer and application as well as possible contributions to international lines of research.
Ist die Germanistik – oder besser: befinden sich die Deutschstudien insgesamt in den nordischen und baltischen Ländern ‚auf dem absteigenden Ast‘? Was die an vielen Orten der Region seit längerem rückläufige Zahl der Studierenden und die Anzahl der Deutschinstitute und -abteilungen an den Hochschulenbetrifft, kann dem in weiten Teilen kaum widersprochen werden. Aber gilt dies auch für die Qualität der Ausbildung und das sprachliche Niveau der Studienanfänger/innen? Und sägen die Deutschstudien in der Region durch zu wenig ansprechende Studienangebote nicht vielleicht selbst an dem Ast, auf dem sie sitzen? Mit diesen Fragen beschäftigt sich das Projekt UniStart Deutsch@NBL, das in diesem Beitrag vorgestellt wird.