Sociology of Language

This paper examines the dynamic interplay between language policy and local stakeholders in the process of dialect planning in the city of Shanghai, in the context of social tensions surrounding the decline of Shanghai dialect in mainland China. A process-oriented Language Management Theory (LMT) model is adopted as the analytical framework to reveal the interactive facet of micro language planning. Drawing on in-depth interviews and document analysis, the paper analyzes and interprets ten key players' perceptions and experiences in relation to the 'saving Shanghai dialect' movement. Qualitative data analysis demonstrates five stages in the dialect planning process and reveals how individuals' agency, when struggling and striving for local language rights, exert bottom-up influence upon language policy-making. The findings also unravel the social political duality between macro structure and individual agency. The paper ends with a discussion on the need to negotiate the individual agency in a more interactive and democratic dialog with predefined policy constraints. This study may have implications for multilingual/multidialectal contexts in other geographical locations where linguistic diversity in the local contexts is encountering shifts in language use and language changes. Besides, this study may also enrich applicability of the LMT framework which reveals the interactive and dynamic process by unbundling individual responses and influences on language planning.

The chapter describes the evolution of literary languages for four endangered indigenous languages. Different paths of language standardization and revitalization in the Soviet Russian minority context are illustrated with case studies from Dolgan (Turkic), Forest Enets (Uralic), and Kildin Sáami (Uralic). The three cases offer an excellent comparative view of the origin and progress of literacy creation for small indigenous languages in the Russian Federation. The fourth language Skolt Sámi (Uralic) provides a comparative view beyond the border into the European Union. The different geographical and political settings of language planning attempts for the four languages has resulted in chronologically and substantially different developments. For Dolgan, Forest Enets and Kildin Sámi, the effect standardization has upon language survival has been very similar. In these languages, neither standardization nor the evolving written culture seem to inhibit language shift to any considerable degree. On the other hand, Skolt Sámi in Finland has undergone a slightly more successful process of revitalization, even if the language remains critically endangered.

To pay tribute to the contributions made by Wallace Lambert in the field of immersion education at an international level, this article highlights initiatives undertaken to revitalize regional languages through immersion education in France. Based on the immersion model, school-based programs have been implemented in France to teach regional languages such as Occitan, Basque, and Catalan in the south, Corsican on the island of Corsica, Breton in the northwest, and German in the eastern regions of Alsace and Moselle. This article points out many differences across these regional contexts, but concludes by emphasizing common issues that need to be addressed across the different regions with respect to pedagogical practices and professional development.

Le volume traite de la médiation des savoirs sur le langage et l’appréhende sous deux aspects. D’une part, le volume propose quelques pistes pour mieux comprendre ce qu’engage de fabriquer des savoirs sur le langage lorsque la relation entre linguistes et public investigué est celle d’une attention mutuelle des deux parties plutôt que celle d’une position surplombante de l’une sur l’autre. D’autre part, il présente certaines manières par lesquelles les savoirs construits en sciences du langage sont diffusés par les linguistes auprès du public, qu’il soit professionnel ou ‘profane’, sans prétentions à en épuiser l’inventaire.

Le choix d’articuler ces deux aspects s’explique d’abord par le fait que la médiation des savoirs sur le langage, au contraire peut-être de nos a priori, ne s’observe pas seulement au moment de la communication, de la vulgarisation ou de la transposition des résultats mais tout au long du processus de recherche. Dans un cas comme dans l’autre, se réunissent autour de l’objet langage des instances aux positions épistémiques et sociales différenciées. L’articulation de questionnements relatifs à la fabrication et à la diffusion des savoirs sur le langage répond également à la préoccupation de sortir la recherche de sa tour d’ivoire pour en envisager les implications. Dans la perspective d’une science aux prises avec le monde social, et dans le prolongement d'une réflexion sur la co-construction des connaissances, la médiation des savoirs apparait comme une des conditions, un des moyens et une des finalités incontournables de la recherche.

One of the dangers that we should be aware of when we study issues of language policy and planning is the fragmentary perspective by which they can be approached. Reality, by contrast, is interrelated and overlapping. This is why a complexity perspective stresses the importance of studying the contexts of phenomena, that is to say, their external relations. The direction to be followed here leads towards a better understanding of reality as a set of open systems that are in continuous exchange with the surrounding ecosystem, bearing in mind always that any apparent stability is the result of a dynamic equilibrium. Making headway towards an interdisciplinary approach is therefore necessary and imperative.
Headings such as status/normative/institution vis-à-vis others such as solidarity/normal/individual seem to imply a basic distinction in the definition of sociocultural reality. To discover and understand the dynamics of the interaction between these two major categories is, in fact, one of the most important subjects waiting to be addressed by language planning and policy strategies and more broadly by sociolinguistics. An interrelated set of guiding questions for the field could thus be stated as follows: What group or organisation, in pursuit of what overall objective or intention, wants to achieve what, where, how and when; and what do they actually achieve, and why? With this approach, even if how a group or organisation obtains its desired goal – that is, its actual intervention – is included as one of the main elements in a piece of research, the research will not focus exclusively on this topic, but will frame the intervention and identify how it is interrelated with all the other elements involved globally in this phenomenon, trying to establish a clear theoretical understanding of the entire interwoven set of events and processes.

The concept of the ‘new speaker’ has gained currency in the sociolinguistics of minority languages in the past decade, referring to individuals who have acquired an additional language outside of the home and who make frequent use of it in the course of their daily lives. Policymakers and language advocates in both Scotland and Canada make frequent reference to the role that new speakers may play in the future of the Gaelic language on both sides of the Atlantic, and Gaelic language teaching of various kinds has been prioritised by policymakers as a mechanism for revitalising the language. This article examines reflexes of this policy in the two countries, juxtaposing the ongoing fragility of Gaelic communities with new speaker discourses around heritage, identity, and language learning motivations. In particular, I consider Nova Scotian new speakers’ sense of identity as ‘Gaels’, an ethnonym largely avoided or problematised by Scottish new speakers.

Abstract: The argument I will develop in this essay is that the foreign students are a latent human resource who can assist with overcoming English monolingualism in the Australian population. Foreign students, properly rewarded, can be a major source of skills transfer. Every one of those students is a walking compendium of language and cultural skills that Australians need to know.

This article presents the results of a 2016 language sociological survey focusing on the language choices and practices of two different Ndebele-speaking communities in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, the two northeastern provinces of South Africa. The survey shows the prevailing dynamics in these multilingual environments, in both the private and public spheres. One of the main differences between the investigated groups is that in Mpumalanga, Ndebele is the dominating language in its surroundings, whereas in Limpopo, the local Ndebele variety is in the position of a minority language. From the perspective of daily practices and attitudes, Northern Sotho often dominates in this particular case. The different perceptions of the implementation of language policies, and the attitudes of individual speakers with respect to private and public use of the two Ndebele variants, suggest that further research is needed in order to shed more light on the language sociological status of Limpopo Ndebele in particular. The survey consisted of a pilot sample of three different groups: 1) speakers of the Mpumalanga Ndebele variety, which corresponds to isiNdebele and has official status in South Africa; 2) the significantly divergent Limpopo Ndebele, which does not have any official status; and 3) a control group sample from Mokopane town.

The paper argues that language communities can be conceptualised as autopoietic systems aimed at their own reproduction, i.e. ensuring their own sustainability in time. Factors influencing language sustainability can be divided into three wide-ranging categories: (1) factors of the external environment, (2) factors of the internal environment, (3) ethnolinguistic vitality of the community. Like biological species that are unable to adapt to the changing environment, cultures and languages also become extinct when they are unable to function in the changed environment. To react to the changes in the external environment and to preserve their integrity, language communities attempt to develop their internal environment (social institutions) as fully as possible. The strength of the internal environment depends, crucially, on the third factor: the subjective ethnolinguistic vitality of the community, i.e. its ability to behave in interethnic communication as a distinctive collective entity. The article outlines the main components of all three sustainability factors and characterises their interaction.

This study presents a sociolinguistics of academic publishing in historical as well as in contemporary times. From the perspective of Swedish academia, it unites a wide range of scholarly knowledge, including perspectives from the sociology of science, history of science and ideas, and research policy. The study focuses on publishing practices in the empirical realities of two disciplinary fields, history and psychology. Drawing on facts and figures from publishing practices as well as interviews, the study argues that English is currently making inroads into the field of history, in line with and aided by the field-external power of new regimes of research evaluation and performance-based funding impinging on the university field at large. In the field of history, unlike in psychology, the English language is thus currently a weapon since it provides access to international publishing markets where new forms of scientific authority can be obtained. This option seems to be most compelling for junior scholars seeking to enter the field. Following Bourdieu, publishing in English is here interpreted as pertaining to a social strategy, enacted in pursuit of investing differently, so as to subvert the order of the historical field.

A transcript and video of a TV interview with Sir Eric Pickles MP on 20 March 2017, in which he agrees that the first large-scale central government funding for promoting the Cornish language, delivered from 2010 to 2016, was a political ‘bribe’ to secure fiscal savings in other areas of government from his Liberal Democrat coalition partners. Includes some relevant background information.

The process of redefining national and ethnic identities often relies on a close relationship between cultural and linguistic traditions, political movements and
religious communities. This manuscript seeks to understand how the religious
aspect influenced regional identity-building under conditions of colonial rule in
India. The paper draws on a project concerning itself with the political implications
of regional identities during the twenties and thirties of the 20th century. The
project compares the movements of the Sikhs, the Tamil "Non-Brahmans" and
the Pakhtuns.
It is intended to outline the evolution of the religious aspect in these movements
through three major stages of political mobilisation: revivalism, loyalism
and radicalism. The issue seems to be of particular interest in the Indian case
for two reasons:
- Was there any common pattern behind the influence of religion on group
identity? What were the similarities and the differences in the role of religion
in the three movements?
- Was there any peculiarity in the Indian case under colonial rule as compared
to the time of independence?

In 1984, Richard Ruiz set forth three orientations to language planning: language as problem, language as right, and language as resource. Since that time, the orientations have only become more powerful, rising to the level of paradigm in the field of language policy and planning (LPP). In this paper, we revisit Ruiz's orientations. By drawing upon Ruiz's own work as well as the work of other scholars who have been inspired by him, we unpack the ideas aligned with each orientation in order to reflect upon the application of the three orientations as a heuristic for LPP. In contrast to critiques that the three orientations do not map onto the political reality of policy situations, we argue that they are analytically useful as both etic concepts that can be used by researchers to guide deductive analysis about the values that emerge from messy policy debate and negotiation and as (latent) emic concepts in situations when people express their beliefs about language.

Na hierarquia dos saberes escolares, a Língua Portuguesa tem ocupado um lugar proeminente no sistema de ensino brasileiro pelo menos desde o início do século. Essa situação, longe de ser atenuada pela intensificação das trocas internacionais em épocas mais recentes, foi realçada por uma série de modificações na forma de se conceituar o aluno competente operada pelo próprio sistema de ensino. Mais concretamente, este passou a sobrevalorizar, nos seus exames, qualidades que dizem respeito à capacidade de interpretar o mundo, segundo a fórmula disseminada pelas próprias instâncias oficiais. Pensada no contexto do currículo escolar como capacidade a ser ensinada e, portanto, aprendida, a correta interpretação do mundo vem sendo tratada como estreitamente vinculada e dependente do bom domínio da Língua Portuguesa. Um domínio que, desnecessário dizer, distribui-se muito desigualmente entre os diferentes grupos sociais interessados na escola.
Este artigo trata dos processos mais recentes que contribuíram para reafirmar o lugar central ocupado por esta disciplina e do papel diferenciador que ela pode e, de fato, desempenha no espaço escolar. A discussão é estruturada por uma indagação sobre a função exercida pelo sistema educacional enquanto instância produtora da maneira como se concretizam a desigualdade entre os grupos sociais. As lutas pela definição da competência escolar, outra forma de apresentação das lutas pela definição do conhecimento legítimo, apresentam-se, assim, como uma porta de entrada eficaz para se examinar o lugar da escola na produção e manutenção da estrutura de dominação que dá sentido às interações entre os grupos sociais na sociedade brasileira. A argumentação apóia-se nos achados de uma pesquisa que tomou essa maneira de pensar a educação (especialmente desenvolvida por Max Weber e, posteriormente, por Pierre Bourdieu e seus colaboradores) como ponto de partida para investigar a hierarquia de saberes que estrutura o espaço escolar brasileiro. O foco da análise são as escolas paulistanas melhor sucedidas em preparar estudantes capazes de bem responder às exigências do próprio sistema de ensino, isto é,
para estarem em condições de trilhar percursos escolares prestigiosos, obtendo diplomas necessários para a entrada em posições dirigentes.

Le suisse allemand constitue la langue la plus volontiers parlée en Suisse alémanique, son usage est généralisé à tous les domaines, à tous les supports et à toutes les classes sociales ; la frontière que constituait traditionnellement l'écrit s' efface de plus en plus, ne laissant apparemment à l’allemand standard que la portion congrue des échanges langagiers. Il semble ainsi légitime de se demander quels rapports les Suisses allemands entretiennent avec une langue officielle sensée être la leur et s’ils s’identifient véritablement à celle-ci.

Chinese martial arts have had a major influence on the emergence of martial arts in the culturally tributary nations of China such as Korea, Vietnam, and particularly Japan. From this Chinese legacy in Japan, Karate 空手, or Karate-do 空手道, is it perhaps the more expressive, both by the direct origins of Chinese martial arts in that Japanese martial art, and by the world-wide visibility that karate has conquered throughout the world, being today the most popular sporting art in the world. The author traces the trajectory of the Chinese origins of Japanese karate through the triangular historical relationships between Okinawa Island, China and Japan.

In Reversing Language Shift, Joshua Fishman (1991) distinguishes between the threatened minority language (termed ‘Xish’) and the dominant language (‘Yish’). He advises that the ideological distinction between ‘Xians’ and ‘Yians’, and between Xish and Yish culture must be clarified early on in any attempt at language revitalisation, and warns that all efforts to reverse language shift “will be conflicted and contested from within” unless these clarifications are made at the onset of such initiatives. This paper is based on a study conducted in 2007 and examines the varying degrees to which the Welsh, Scottish Gaelic (henceforward ‘Gaelic’) and Cornish languages are regarded as symbols of minority identity in twenty-first century Britain. In order to quantify this tripartite comparison, questionnaires were used to measure the identities, language abilities and language attitudes of young people in full-time education at schools in Ceredigion, the western Highlands and west Cornwall. The first section of the article introduces the theoretical context and provides an analysis of existing literature on attitudes to Welsh, Gaelic and Cornish, and on the role of these ‘Xish’ minority languages in the expression of ‘Xian’ cultural identities in each context. The second section outlines the methodology employed and assesses the roles assigned to Welsh, Gaelic and Cornish in the construction of identities by students in each of the three locations.

The objective of this study is to draw out, and establish, the attitudes held by Setswana first language (L1)-speaking university students toward their L1, in a context of that L1 being one of the many spoken in a multilingual society, South Africa. The study also aims to test the potential influence of the following nine variables on attitudes toward Setswana: (1) gender; (2) age group; (3) years at university; (4) level of study; (5) competence in Setswana; (6) linguality; (7) location of nurture; (8) field of study; and, (9) type of university attended. The following variables are new in language attitudes studies in South Africa: competence in one’s L1; linguality; location of nurture; and, type of university attended. The other five variables were previously tested, thus, this study’s findings will be compared, particularly with those of Dyers (1999), Dalvit (2004), and Aziakpono (2007).

Using mixed methods, the data were gathered from students at five universities (three public, and two private) in Gauteng province. Quantitative data were analysed using means, and the chi-square test, while the remaining data were analysed qualitatively.

The findings reveal that the respondents believed that their L1 would be spoken by many generations to come, and was not under the threat of extinction; they supported ‘mother tongue education’, on condition that English was sufficiently taught as an ‘additional language’ for communication purposes with a larger audience; they wanted universities to develop Black South African languages (BSALs) to a point where they would be used in support materials for the students with weaker competence in English; and, they wanted BSALs being equitably developed, in order for their speakers to derive the same educational benefits derived by L1 speakers of English and Afrikaans.

Statistical evidence (p ≤ 0.05) showed that the following six variables had statistically-significant relationships with at least one of the 16 belief statements: (1) age group; (2) years at university; (3) level of study; (4) competence in Setswana; (5) field of study; and, (6) type of university attended. The following three variables did not have statistically-significant relationships with any of the 16 belief statements: (1) gender; (2) linguality; and, (3) location of nurture. Some researchers, such as Aziakpono (2007: 4 & 117) and Mann (2009: 359), found that gender was statistically significant in influencing attitudes toward isiXhosa and Anglo-Nigerian Pidgin (ANP), respectively. Linguality and location of nurture were new variables in ‘language attitudes’ studies in South Africa, thus, could not be compared with any previous studies. However, outside South Africa, Mann (2009: 359) also found that linguality did not evince any statistical significance, with regard to attitudes toward ANP.

In summary, this study revealed that these Setswana L1-speaking university students held positive attitudes toward their L1.

Principios de sociolingüística y sociología del lenguaje. Información General. Autor: Francisco Moreno Fernández; Editores: Ariel; Año de publicación: Primera edición: 1998: Cuarta edición: 2009.  País: España; Idioma: Español; ISBN : 84-344-8224-X.

Prólogo a la cuarta edición
Cuando un libro de texto corre de mano en mano durante varios años, parece adquirir
vida propia y, si el autor tiene la oportunidad de retocarlo, se ve tentado de renunciar a parte de su intención primera para responder a lo que los lectores han ido buscando en la obra. Las más de las veces, el libro de texto sigue siendo pórtico de entrada a una materia para estudiantes de distinto nivel de formación o estudiosos de diferente procedencia intelectual, por lo que el autor puede hacer el intento de abundar en el ecumenismo, con el deseo de ser entendido desde posiciones muy dispares. En ocasiones, se demanda una información actualizada al tiempo que interpretada por el autor, porque es tal el aluvión bibliográfico actual que a menudo requerimos el apoyo de opiniones ajenas que ayuden a separar el grano de la paja y a esquivar los árboles que impiden la visión del bosque. Otras veces, en fin, se busca simplemente un recordatorio de conceptos clásicos, una especie de vuelta a los orígenes, pero con argumentos más claros y sencillos, siempre bien ejemplificados. Esta cuarta edición de Principios de sociolingüística y sociología del lenguaje tiene algo de todo eso, pero no renuncia a los objetivos que orientaron su concepción original.
Por otro lado, sería cínico negar que las reediciones son el punto idóneo para abordar el aliviador quehacer de la corrección de erratas… y de la subsanación de errores. Difícil tarea la de editar una obra técnicamente compleja —como lo es un manual— por cuanto el autor, más que demiurgo, se siente un Sísifo que, aplicado en la pesada revisión de despistes, siempre se halla al comienzo del camino, conmás faltas que corregir y aspectos quemejorar. Para los que creemos que las cosas deben hacerse bien, la enmienda de los errores que no cesan resulta desesperante. Afortunadamente, hay subterfugios filosóficos capaces de positivar la realidad más fea: para la estética japonesa wabi-sabi, todo es imperfecto, todo es efímero, todo es incompleto. Consuela pensar que, incluso en tal estado, las cosas pueden llegar a ser útiles y bellas. Con todo, este libro sigue siendo imperfecto e incompleto, pero ha enmendado erratas—sobre todo en el índice analítico—, ha actualizado referencias bibliográficas y la relación de enlaces de internet, a la vez que ha incluido algunas noticias de aspectos no tratados en ediciones anteriores. Ojalá siga aceptándose como una obra de provecho y pueda llegar, con vida propia, donde el autor no alcanzará a pisar nunca.

El lenguaje y la construcción de la realidad social han llegado a consolidarse como un tema de interés de un extenso debate dentro de dicha disciplina. Son varios los autores que han tratado la cuestión, pero en el presente texto se tratarán los enfoques de cinco de ellos: Michel Foucault, Alfred Schütz, John R. Searle, John Peter Berger y Thomas Luckmann. De este modo, se pretende exponer los argumentos a los que estos autores recurren para explicar cómo es posible la comunicación, así como analizar los puntos en común y las diferencias que existen entre unos y otros en determinados aspectos.

The theme of this book is Swedish in Tampere past and present. It contains three studies on the Swedish language and culture in inland Finland in general and in the city of Tampere in particular from the point of view of the sociology of language. In addition to original research, the book also contains an introductory article, which discusses the insular Finland-Swedish language community of Tampere. So far no attempt at a linguistic description of the issue has been made in the shape of a scholarly book. The book is intended for all those interested in the history and the present situation of so-called Swedish speech islands in Finland, especially the city of Tampere, founded in 1779. Nowadays Tampere is the third largest city in Finland and the largest Swedish speech island in the country. Moreover, it is the only speech island located in Finnishspeaking inland Finland. In 2008, Tampere had 209,552 inhabitants, of whom 1,065 (0.5 %) reported Swedish as their first language. The Oxford English Dictionary (1989) defines speech island as “a small area inhabited by speakers of a language or dialect other than that spoken in the surrounding areas”. However, it is not an unproblematic notion, as the author shows. The book is a part of the postdoctoral researcher’s project Linguistic Change in an Industrial Town. Swedishness in Tampere, 1779–2000, financed by the Academy of Finland during the period 2008–2010. The site of the research is the School of Modern Languages and Translation Studies at the University of Tampere and the leader responsible for the project is Harry Lönnroth Ph.D. The purpose of the project is to study the socio-historical development of so-called Swedishness, i.e. Swedish language and culture, in Tampere, which was once the most prominent industrial city in the Nordic countries. Today the city is known among other things for its high technology, education and culture. The linguistic and socio-historical status and development of languages in Tampere is analysed in relation to major historical and social events in Finnish history. The first study concentrates on language encounter in fiction. It focuses on the phenomenon of language switching in Carola Sandbacka’s historical novels Ellen Llewellyn (1995) and Släkt och vänner (2004). In her historical novels Sandbacka, a Finland-Swedish writer born in Tampere and currently living in Swansea, Wales, deals with issues concerning the industrial tradition of Tampere from the point of view of the Swedish-speaking bourgeois and factory owners. The language encounter between Swedish and Finnish is reflected in the frequent use of Finnish in the novels. The second study focuses on the sociolinguistic biographies of elderly Finland-Swedish people in Tampere. The main question of the interview study is language maintenance and linguistic identity among the elderly living in the bilingual old people’s home De Gamlas Hem i Tammerfors – Vanhain Koti Tampereella, founded in 1898. The third study is about language contact and conflict in an  industrial society. It discusses a local newspaper as a language mirror mainly from the point of view of discourse studies. The newspaper in question is Tammerfors Aftonblad, published during the period 1882–1972. The study analyses the first volume of the Swedish newspaper of the Tampere region with special emphasis on the so-called language question in Tampere in the early 1880’s.

This article examines aspects of Icelandic linguistic purism in the early 18th century, as revealed in a wordlist compiled by Jón Ólafsson from Grunnavík (1705–1779) and preserved in ms. AM 1013 4to (fol. 37v).
After a brief introduction (§ 1), there follows an overview of the development of Icelandic language purism from its late-sixteenth-century origins to the first half of the 18th century (§ 2). The description of Jón Ólafsson’s life which follows (§ 3) highlights his genealogical links with Arngrímur Jónsson the learned (1568–1648), a pioneering figure in the purism movement. The next section (§ 4) explores the wordlist itself and is divided into three subsections. The first (§ 4.1) summarises Jón’s linguistic scholarship as a whole. The second (§ 4.2) presents a diplomatic edition of the list and an analysis of eight of its word pairs, which have been chosen for their relevance with respect to their formation and ideological background. The analytical approach adopted describes the words as single lexical units in accordance with the main tenets of loanword studies, and examines the list in the light of language policy and planning studies. The final subsection (§ 4.3) highlights the relationship between the wordlist and Jón Ólafsson’s most important work, i.e. the Icelandic dictionary (AM 433 fol.). The last section (§ 5) summarises the main points of the article and sets them within the context of pre-1750 Icelandic language purism. It will be argued that Jón Ólafsson’s work is of paramount importance in the development of Icelandic purist attitudes, both lexically, because of its close relationship with the principles set out by Arngrímur Jónsson in his Crymogæa, and in terms of the later history of the movement.

The idea for the special issue emerged a few years ago when the guest editors, Kamilla Kraft and Mi-Cha Flubacher, started discussing the different possible directions of language, work and migration studies that have dominated the fields of sociology of language, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and applied linguistics. These studies have become increasingly accentuated in the context of tightened language policies (Extra et al. 2009) and securitization (e.g. Khan 2016) for migration as well as migrant populations – i.e. the legally stipulated learning of the locally dominant language and related sanctions in the case of refusal to comply. Though perhaps keeping with a rather crudely binary distinction, we started musing on how, on the one hand, some scholars appear to have treated language – e.g. in the form of language learning or/and the use of multilingual repertoires – as empowering for migrants and migrant workers. For instance, and especially in applied linguistics or second language teaching, a plethora of studies have been conducted with the intention to improve learning conditions and/or learning material with the aim to empowering individuals with migrant backgrounds to achieve greater social and professional opportunities (e.g. Darvin and Norton 2015; Goldstein 1997; Holmes et al. 2009; Yates 2014). On the other hand, critical studies on language seem to have treated the domain of “language learning” as representative and constitutive of systems that (re)produce in- equalities within societies. In this critical reading, migrants who are “forced” to learn the locally dominant language are treated as language-less and deficient subalterns compared to their local counterparts, resulting in the introduction of exploitative measures of self-discipline for said learning. The thrust of this latter line of thinking is to provide a social critique and push for broader social change that is not conditioned on the basis of the assimilation and activation of disenfranchised individuals. In this we inscribe the contributions of this special issue in a line of research that critically questions and nuances promises of and investments in language at the intersection of empowerment and inequality (e.g. recently Bae and Park 2019; Duchêne and Daveluy 2015; Flubacher et al. 2016; Kraft 2020; Muth and Suryanarayan 2019; Norton 2013; Strömmer 2016; Tabiola and Lorente 2017; Zimmermann 2019).

The first attempt at spelling reform in South Korea took place in the early 1950s as the Korean War (1950–53) drew to a close. The subsequent Han’gŭl Crisis is often interpreted as an example of the authoritarianism of President Syngman Rhee (Yi Sŭngman), yet the event also represents a clash of generations between the supporters of the Unified Orthography of 1933 and the previous spelling standard. During the han’gŭl simplification debates, the legacies of Chu Sigyŏng (1876–1914) and Pak Sŭngbin (1880–1943) reemerged as their followers continued a contentious linguistic debate that stretched back into the colonial period. The event ended as a victory for the Unified Orthography of 1933, but several ambiguous questions remain for further investigation. Ultimately, behind the claims of “scientific rationalism” in the current han’gŭl spelling are the forgotten memories of linguistic activism and the difficulties in uniting divergent linguistic practices in post-Liberation Korean society.

This paper argues that folk linguistic research methods have much to offer critical sociolinguists concerned with linguistic inequalities and power structures. In as much as critical theory considers knowledge as inherently woven into power relations, the folk linguistics research tradition shows that knowledge about language and the sociolinguistic world is not only the domain of academics but also resides, and is actioned, in the community. This paper specifically explores the contribution folk linguistic research methods can make to critical sociolinguistics. The paper argues that folk linguistic methods are not only well-placed to identify and trace community-based claims of knowledge that create and sustain inequalities between languages and speakers, but also allow us to localise sociolinguistic knowledge by understanding local phenomena through local world-views. Ultimately, this helps to decolonise sociolinguistics by voicing, legitimising and indeed applying more ontologies and epistemologies of language than those from the West that generally still dominate sociolinguistic scholarship.

This article reviews an English translation of "First Principles of Islamic Economics" (Leicester: Islamic Foundation, 2011) by Maulana Sayyid Abu’l A‘la Maududi (1903–1979), a foundational document of the field, that was published in Urdu in 1969. After a brief Introduction the selections in this book are arranged in two parts: Islam’s philosophy (or system, the words are used interchangeably) of economic life, and the application of this philosophy to some specific economic issues. The article reviews the text, and provides a brief guide to the semantic minefield that readers of translated texts on Islamic economics must traverse.

Tampere kieliyhteisön käsittelee Tampereen monikielisyyttä ennen ja nyt. Vaikka Tamperetta on usein pidetty varsin suomenkielisenä kaupunkina, Hämeen sydämessä on vuosien saatossa puhuttu myös muita kieliä. Tamperelaisen kieliyhteisön monikielisyys liittyy ennen kaikkea kaupungin teolliseen historiaan; teollisuuden myötä kaupunkiin saapui teollisuusasiantuntijoita muun muassa Ruotsista, Saksasta ja Englannista. Kirja kuvaa suomen kielen eri muotojen ja suomenkielisen kadunnimistön lisäksi kolmen vanhan kielivähemmistön – ruotsin-, venäjän- ja saksankielisen – vaikutusta Tampereella. Lisäksi kirjassa annetaan kuva vuonna 1779 perustetun sisämaakaupungin muista kielistä ja siitä, miltä Tampereen kielikartta näyttää 2000-luvulla. Kirja on suunnattu kaikille monikielisyydestä kiinnostuneille, ja se soveltuu kaikille, jotka haluavat tietää lisää Tampereen kielellisestä monimuotoisuudesta.

The present paper addresses the issue of language policy and language planning in Morocco. In particular, it argues that there is a lack of a clear language planning strategy that is based on a sound political, socioeconomic , ideological and academic justification. This problem has resulted in an inconsistent education approach, creating an incompatibility between different levels of education (e.g. high schools vs. universities), social classes (e.g. low class vs. middle/high class) and professional environments (e.g. academia vs. job market). For this reason, we suggest that three elements need to be integrated into any language planning effort. These are Literacy Prestige, Economic Prestige and Academic/Scientific Prestige.