Can language policies affect language vitality? A study of Sámi language use in Norway and Sweden (Mar. 20, 2024)
Faculty, students, and any community members interested in reflecting on minority languages and the effects of language policy are invited to join Prof. Tanja Kupisch (University of Konstanz) for the 8th event of the JHI Annual Seminar on Multilingualism: Reflecting on a Global Reality through Time, Space, Mind and Text. Prof. Kupisch will draw on a study of language use and competence in the Indigenous Sámi populations of Norway and Sweden, comparing educational, linguistic, and budgetary policies in each country.
WHEN: Wednesday, March 20, 2024; 12pm - 2pm
WHERE: MN 3230 (CDRS) / Zoom.
A light lunch will be served from 1pm - 2pm.
All attendees are welcome!
Please register to join via Zoom: https://uoft.me/ai5
Last-minute arrivals are always welcome, but if you know in advance that you will attend, please email the organizers at michelle.troberg@utoronto.ca.
Language policies target language behaviour, sometimes with the aim of revitalising languages which might be in danger because of assimilatory policies in the past. However, it is notoriously difficult to assess their effects. This talk discusses language use and competence in the Indigenous Sámi populations of Norway and Sweden, comparing educational, linguistic, and budgetary policies in each country. Sámi language use and proficiency are somewhat higher in Norway, which seems to reflect the more favourable policies adopted there.
Tanja Kupisch is Professor of Linguistics and Member of the Excellence Cluster "The Politics of Inequality” at the University of Konstanz. Her research is concerned with bilingualism from different perspectives, including child language acquisition, adult heritage speakers, trilingualism and bilectalism, focussing on syntax and phonology. Another research focus is the link between language vitality and language policy in multilingual minorities. She is co-editor of the journal Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism.