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Mehrsprachigkeit gehört zu den Themen, zu denen wohl viele Menschen eine Meinung haben. Der Wert traditioneller schulischer Fremdsprachen wird dabei häufig hervorgehoben, während Wert und Erhalt von Herkunftssprachen Zugewanderter hinterfragt werden. Einstellungen gegenüber Sprachen sind demnach abhängig vom Prestige der jeweiligen Sprachen und ihrer Sprecher:innen. Dies geschieht vor dem Hintergrund, dass Deutschland überwiegend als ein einsprachiges Land mit einer einsprachigen Gesellschaft angesehen wird. Ähnliches gilt im Übrigen auch für Österreich. So schreibt beispielsweise der Sprachwissenschaftler Heiko Marten, „dass in der Wahrnehmung großer Teile der österreichischen Gesellschaft Monolingualismus nach wie vor die Norm ist“ (Marten 2016, S. 165). Diese Annahme gilt auch für den schulischen Kontext, wie die Erziehungswissenschaftlerin Ingrid Gogolin mit dem Begriff des „monolingualen Habitus“ herausgearbeitet hat (vgl. Gogolin 2008). Gründe für einen monolingualen Habitus könnten darin liegen, dass „von Teilen der Allgemeinheit oft übersehen [wird], dass in Deutschland auch zahlreiche weitere Sprachen gesprochen werden“ (Marten 2016, S. 148). Doch was passiert nun, wenn eine Sprache einen Statuswechsel von Landessprache zu Herkunftssprache durchläuft? Was lässt sich beobachten, wenn beispielsweise das Deutsche zu einer Minderheitensprache wird?
Latvia
(2019)
This chapter deals with current issues in bilingual education in the framework of language and educational policies in Latvia, and also outlines similarities or common tendencies in the two other Baltic states, Estonia and Lithuania. As commonly understood in the 21st century, the term ‘bilingual education’ includes ‘multilingual education, as the umbrella term to cover a wide spectrum of practice and policy’ (García, 2009: 9).
Our paper discusses family language policies among multilingual families in Latvia with Russian as home language. The presentation is based on three case studies, i.e. interviews conducted with Russophones who have chosen to send their children to Latvian-medium pre-schools and schools. The main aim is to understand practices and regards among such families “from below,” i.e. which family-internal and family-external factors influenced the choice of Latvian-medium education and what impact this choice has on linguistic practices.
The paper shows that there have been critical events which both encouraged and discouraged the choice of Latvian-medium education. The wish to integrate into mainstream society has been met by obstacles both from ethnic Russians and Latvians. Yet, the three families consider their choices to be the right ones for the future development of their children in a multiethnic Latvia in which Latvian serves as the unifying language of society.
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.
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.
In the context of a Nordic Conference on Bilingualism, it can be a rewarding task to look at issues such as language planning, policy and legislation from a perspective of the southern neighbours of the Nordic world. This paper therefore intends to point attention towards a case of societal multilingualism at the periphery of the Nordic world by dealing with recent developments in language policy and legislation with regard to the North Frisian speech community in the German Land of Schleswig-Holstein. As I will show, it is striking to what degree there are considerable differences in the discourse on minority protection and language legislation between the Nordic countries and a cultural area which may arguably be considered to be part of the Nordic fringe - and which itself occasionally takes Scandinavia as a reference point, e.g. in the recent adoption of a pan-Frisian flag modelled on the Nordic cross (Falkena 2006).
The main focus of the paper will be on the Frisian Act which was passed in the Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein in late 2004. It provides a certain legal basis for some political activities with regard to Frisian, but falls short of creating a true spirit of minority language protection and/or revitalisation. In contrast to the traditions of the German and Danish minorities along the German-Danish border and to minority protection in Northern Scandinavia (in particular to Sámi language rights), the approach chosen in the Frisian Act is extremely weak and has no connotation of long-term oriented language-planning, let alone a rights-based perspective.
The paper will then look at policy developments in the time since the Act was passed, e.g. in the Schleswig-Holstein election campaign in 2005, and on latest perceptions of the Frisian language situation in the discourse on North Frisian Policy in Schleswig-Holstein majority society. In the final part of the paper, I will discuss reasons for the differences in minority language policy discourse between Germany and the Nordic countries, and try to provide an outlook on how Frisian could benefit from its geographic proximity to the Nordic world.
This chapter will present results of a linguistic landscape (LL) project in the regional centre of Rēzekne in the region of Latgale in Eastern Latvia. Latvia was de facto a part of the Soviet Union until 1991, and this has given it a highly multilingual society. In the essentially post-colonial situation since 1991, strict language policies have been in place, which aim to reverse the language shift from Russian, the dominant language of Soviet times, back to Latvian. Thus, the main interests of the research were how the complex pattern of multilingualism in Latvia is reflected in the LL; how people relate to current language legislation; and what motivations, attitudes and emotions inform their behaviour.
The establishment of Scottish Parliament: What difference does it make for the Gaelic language?
(2004)
After the Labour government takeover in Westminster in 1997, followed by the referendum on establishing a Scottish Parliament, hopes for more support for the Gaelic language in Scotland were nourished. In the election campaign to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, all parties which were elected to Parliament had mentioned Gaelic, and all parties except the Conservatives had promised an increase in support for Gaelic (cf. Scottish parties’ election manifestoes, obtainable from the parties or via their web sites). Now that the new Scottish Executive, formed by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, has been in power for some time, it is interesting to see if these hopes have been fulfilled.
The two core questions of this paper will thus be:
1. What is the status of Scottish Gaelic after the devolution process?
2. What difference does the existence of the Scottish Parliament make for the status of Gaelic?
It is important to note that this paper refers to language status and Gaelic’s position from a mere language policy perspective. The results are mostly based on an analysis of Parliament documents, the method of investigation being strictly philological. Empirical research has not yet been undertaken. The reference time of my paper will be the first year of Scottish Parliament and the new executive. Even though this is an arbitrary time break, the first year is a symbolic point of time. As the first legislation period as a possibly more natural reference point is not over yet, this choice seems legitimate.
Linguistic Landscapes (LL) sind in der internationalen Soziolinguistik und verwandten Disziplinen in aller Munde. Seit Mitte der 2000er Jahre sind Studien, die sich als Teil dieses Ansatzes verstehen, wie Pilze aus dem Boden geschossen. Seit 2008 hat es in fast jährlichem Rhythmus gut besuchte Tagungen gegeben, die sich ausschließlich mit Linguistic Landscapes beschäftigen - sowohl mit Fallstudien aus aller Welt als auch mit theoretischen und methodologischen Fragen. Folgerichtig sind nicht nur eine Vielzahl von Einzelaufsätzen erschienen, es hat auch mehrere Sammelveröffentlichungen gegeben, und seit 2015 erscheint ein eigenes Journal unter dem Titel „Linguistic Landscapes“ (vgl. Gorter 2013 für einen Überblick über die Entwicklung des Ansatzes).
Obwohl auch Wissenschaftler, die im deutschsprachigen Raum tätig sind, sich in den letzten Jahren den Linguistic Landscapes gewidmet haben, hat die Methode in deutschsprachigen Publikationen jedoch bisher nur einen vergleichsweise geringen Stellenwert eingenommen. Dieser Beitrag möchte somit zum einen Grundlagenarbeit leisten, indem er die Idee der Linguistic Landscapes noch einmal vorstellt und seine Entwicklung der vergangenen Jahre nachzeichnet. Zum anderen soll im Kontext dieses Bandes der Nutzen des Ansatzes für die Analyse von Sprachen von Migrantengruppen diskutiert werden. Schließlich wird der Beitrag durch einige Bemerkungen dazu abgerundet, in welchem Maße die Untersuchung von LL einen Nutzwert haben kann, der über wissenschaftliche Kreise hinausgeht. Grundlage für diesen Beitrag sind internationale Veröffentlichungen der letzten Jahre, vor allem aber gehen Erfahrungen aus eigenen Studien mit ein, die wir seit 2007 mit unterschiedlichen Zielsetzungen im Baltikum und in Deutschland durchgeführt haben.
This chapter introduces readers to the context and concept of this volume. It starts by providing an historical overview of languages and multilingualism in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, highlighting the 100th anniversary of statehood which the three Baltic states are celebrating in 2018. Then, the chapter briefly presents important strands of research on multilingualism in the region throughout the past decades; in particular, questions about language policies and the status of the national languages (Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian) and Russian. It also touches on debates about languages in education and the roles of other languages such as the regional languages of Latgalian and Võro and the changing roles of international languages such as English and German. The chapter concludes by providing short summaries of the contributions to this book.
In diesem Beitrag wird anhand von per Telefon gedolmetschten Gesprächen zwischen einer deutschsprechenden Asylverfahrensberaterin und arabischsprechenden KlientInnen die Notwendigkeit eines reflektierten computergestützten Transkriptionsverfahrens für interaktionsbezogene Untersuchungen diskutiert. Gesprächstranskription erfordert die Verwendung eines romanisierten, rechtsläufigen Schriftsystems für die schriftliche und grafische Darstellung der zeitlichen Dimensionen, d. h. die Synchronizität, Simultaneität und Reziprozität des sprachlichen Handelns. Durch die Entwicklung einer transparenten Systematik zur Romanisierung und Übersetzung von Gesprächsdaten wird ihre Opazität sowohl für LeserInnen ohne Arabischkenntnisse als auch für Sprachkundige ohne Kenntnisse über die rekonstruierten Varietäten reduziert und ansatzweise eine Lesbarkeit auch für Nicht-Sprachkundige geschaffen. Dies ist für die Datenkuratierung und etwaige Nachnutzungen von besonderer Bedeutung.
Drawing on naturalistic video and audio recordings of international meetings, and within the framework of conversation analysis, ethnomethodology and interactional linguistics, this chapter studies how multilingual resources are mobilized in social interactions among professionals, how available linguistic and embodied resources are identified and used by the participants, which solutions are locally elaborated by them when they are confronted with various languages spoken but not shared among them, and which definition of multilingualism they adopt for all practical purposes. Focusing on the multilingual solutions emically elaborated in international professional meetings, we show that the participants orient to a double principle: on the one hand, they orient to the progressivity of the interaction, adopting all the possible resources that enable them to go on within the current activity; on the other hand, they orient to the intersubjectivity of the interaction, treating, preventing and repairing possible troubles and problems of understanding. Specific multilingual solutions can be adopted to keep this difficult balance between progressivity and intersubjectivity; they vary according to the settings, the competences at hand, the linguistic and embodied resources locally defined by the participants as publicly available, the multilingual resources treated as totally or partially shared, as transparent or opaque, and as needing repair or not. The paper begins by sketching the analytical framework, including the methodology and the data collected; it then presents some general findings, before offering an analysis of various ways in which participants keep the balance between progressivity and intersubjectivity in different multilingual interactional contexts.
Cette contribution discute différents enjeux dégagés lors d’une étude des pratiques professionnelles plurilingues : ces enjeux ont émergé d’une analyse menée collaborativement par deux équipes de chercheurs, à Lyon et à Paris, participant au projet européen DYLAN (6e programme cadre) et élaborant ensemble l’analyse empirique d’un extrait d’une réunion de travail, enregistrée dans le cadre d’une collaboration sur un même terrain. Cette analyse est l’occasion de thématiser de manière exemplaire un certain nombre de questions surgissant de l’étude des contacts des langues dans les contextes professionnels, concernant aussi bien les enjeux épistémologiques que l'engagement du chercheur sur le terrain.
On the basis of a single case analysis of the emergence of an ethnic joke, this paper explores issues related to laughter in international business meetings. More particularly, it deals with ways in which a person's name is correctly pronounced. Speakers and co-participants seem to orient towards ‘proper’ ways of vocalizing names and to consequent ‘variations’ or ‘deviations’ from them, making different ways of pronunciation available as a laughable. In making such pronunciation variations available, accountable and recognizable, participants reflexively establish as relevant the multilingual character of the activity, of the participants’ competences and of the setting; conversely, they exploit these multilingual features within specific social practices, leading to laughter.
Our analysis focuses on the contexts of action, the sequential environments and the interactional practices by which the uttering of a name becomes a ‘laughable’ and then a resource for an ethnic joke. Moreover, it explores the implications of transforming the pronunciation into a laughable in terms of the organization of the ongoing activity, changing participation frameworks and membership categorizations. In this sense, it highlights the flexible structure of groups and the way in which laughter reconfigures them through local affiliating and disaffiliating moves, and by making various national categories available and relevant.
Germany's (single) national official language is German. The dominance of German in schools, politics, the legal system, administration and the entire written public domain is so great that for a long time the lack of a coherent language policy was not seen as a problem. State restraint in this area is due, on the one hand, to historical reasons; on the other hand, it has been promoted by the federal system in Germany, which grants the federal states far-reaching responsibilities in the fields of education and culture. More recently, multilingualism among the population has increased and has resulted in a growing interest in understanding the language situation in Germany and (in particular) taking a closer look at the different minority languages. In 2017, for the first time in about 80 years, there is a question on the language of the population in the German micro census. The Institute for the German Language has also carried out various representative surveys; in the winter of 2017/201, a large representative survey with questions on the language repertoire and language attitudes is in the field.
MRI data of German vowels and consonants was acquired for 9 speakers. In this paper tongue contours for the vowels were analyzed using the three-mode factor analysis technique PARAFAC. After some difficulties, probably related to what constitutes an adequate speaker sample for this three-mode technique to work, a stable two-factor solution was extracted that explained about 90% of the variance. Factor 1 roughly captured the dimension low back to high front; Factor 2 that from mid front to high back. These factors are compared with earlier models based on PARAFAC. These analyses were based on midsagittal contours; the paper concludes by illustrating from coronal and axial sections how non-midline information could be incorporated into this approach.
In dem Beitrag werden jüngste Entwicklungen auf dem Gebiet der Sprachpolitik, der Bildungspolitik und der Integrationspolitik in Deutschland dargestellt, die ein neues Verhältnis zur Mehrsprachigkeit erkennen lassen und die Schaffung zweisprachiger Bildungseinrichtungen ermöglichen. Dieser Beitrag wurde auch in einer englischen Version mit dem Titel "The political framework for creation and development of bilingual Kindergartens in Berlin" veröffentlicht. Sie ist über den Dokumentenserver des IDS zugänglich. Die deutsche Version des Beitrags trägt den Titel "Politische Rahmenbedingungen für zweisprachige Kindertagesstätten in Berlin". Sie ist nicht veröffentlicht, aber ebenfalls über den Dokumentenserver des IDS erhältlich.