Language should serve the people

and not vice versa!

Ideologies of language in Lithuania, Norway, Serbia and
the Baltic, Scandinavian and Ex-Yugoslav regions.
A typological perspective on metalinguistic media
discourses and language policies

Vuk Vukotić
 Language ideologies are...

“...shared bodies of commonsense notions

about the nature of language in the world.”
(Rumsey 1990: 346, my italics)

“the cultural system of ideas about social

and linguistic relationships, together with their loading
of moral and political interests” (Irvine 1989: 255)
Language ideologies in the Western world are
pretty similar (?)

“particular metadiscursive regimes were rendered powerful, became

naturalized, and were projected as the universal bases of knowledge,
truth, culture, nation, rationality, science, politics”
(Bauman & Briggs 2003: 313)

In language, these are the idea that languages are homogenous,

inseparable entities and the idea that one nation should “naturally”
have one language and one territory.
 State-finances (+),
  Kalbos priežiūros insitucija
self-financed (-)
  Part of:   Priklauso:
Bosnia,
Montenegro – Academy of Sciences –
Serbia
Ministry of Education and
Croatia +/- –
Sports / Academy of Sciences
Denmark + Ministry of Culture –
Norway + Ministry of Culture –
Sweden + Ministry of Culture –
Ministry of Education (2011-
Estonia +/- + Ministry of Education (permanent)
2017)
Latvia + President‘s office + Ministry of Justice
Liethuania + Parliament + Ministry of Culture
 
Corpus Corpus Status Status Orthogr Area of control
planning control planning control aphy

Bosnia, Croatia
Montenegro, – – – – – –
Serbia
Denmark
– – – – + –
Norway – + – – +/- School glossary

Sweden – + – – + –

Estonia – – + + – Public institutions

Public institutions, public events,

Latvia + – + + + films, official translations.
Public institutions, written and
Liethuania + + – + + spoken media, publishing,
advertising.
  Ideology Power of institutions Country
Monolingual,
Type A “Hard power” Lithuania
normativist, purist

Type B Monolingual “Hard power” Latvia and Estonia

Partially monolingual,
Norway, Denmark,
Type C Usus-ideology, “Soft power”
Sweden
functionalist
Monolingual,
Type D “Soft power” Croatia
normativist, purist

Monolingual,
Type E “Soft power” Serbia
normativist

Unclear Bosnia and

Type F No power
(re-standardization) Montenegro
Researc Sta
te
h
method Experts

Vox populi
Empirical data
• State-sponsored language planning documents and previous
research on the subject
• Incl. Baltic, Scandinavian and ex-Yugoslav regions
• Expert articles in online media (n=184)
• Online comments about language (n~10 000)

• Period ~ 2008-2016
Three main groups of ideological inclanations

Monolingua
l

Cognitivist Historical
 Monolingual

Kažkur dingo nuostata, kad aš esu lietuvis, rašau taisyklingai, viešai kalbu
taisyklingai.

[The attitude that, I am Lithuanian, I write correctly, I speak

correctly in public, has somehow disappeared.]
(Delfi.lt, 2012-05-08. Beraščių karta: dėl klaidų jau tenka atmesti ir disertacijas.
https://www.delfi.lt/news/daily/education/berasciu-karta-del-klaidu-jau-tenka-atmesti-ir-disertacijas.d?
id=58666579
)
 Monolingual

Kažkur dingo nuostata, kad aš esu lietuvis, rašau taisyklingai, viešai kalbu
taisyklingai.

[The attitude that, I am Lithuanian, I write correctly, I speak

correctly in public, has somehow disappeared.]
(Delfi.lt, 2012-05-08. Beraščių karta: dėl klaidų jau tenka atmesti ir disertacijas.
https://www.delfi.lt/news/daily/education/berasciu-karta-del-klaidu-jau-tenka-atmesti-ir-disertacijas.d?
id=58666579
)
 Monolingual
Vi savner bevissthet på å ta vare på det språket vi er best på, norsk

[We do not have the consciousness to take care of the

language that we know best, Norwegian]

(Vg.no, 2007-11-16, Vil verne norsk, men omfavner engelsk.

https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/2QymR/vil-verne-norsk-men-omfavner-engelsk)
Monolingual
Nekada smo se smejali Romima zbog njihove kolektivne neobrazovanosti i što nema
ni jednog koji ume da govori, važilo slično i za Leskovčane i okolinu, ko bi rekao da
ćemo doživeti da naša deca padnu na isti nivo.

[We used to laugh at Roma people, because of their collective

lack of education and because there none of them is able to
speak, the same goes for people from Leskovac and that area,
who would have thought our kids would fall to that level.]
(Anon. Serbian commentator)
Historical
Man kan lage regler, man kan bruke rødblyanten, man kan forklare og
argumentere. Men språkets iboende krefter er sterkere enn alle
foreldre og lærere til sammen.

[One can make rules, one can use the red pen, one can
explain and argument. But the internal powers of
language are stronger than all parents and teachers
together.]

(Dagbladet.no, 2015-01-02. Er det greit å spise skjøttkaker?

https://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/er-det-greit-aring-spise-skjoslashttkaker/60193852)
Cognitivist
Det er ikke noe som er lov og ikke lov, det er opp til språkbrukeren selv.
Det kommer også an på hvem avsenderen er.

[There is no allowed or not allowed, that is up to the language

users themselves. It also depends on who the sender is.]

(Vg.no,2015-02-07, Ordene som kan få deg i trøbbel: Slik unngår du språklig sjikanering.
https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/mkBe4/ordene-som-kan-faa-deg-i-troebbel-slik-unngaar-du
-spraaklig-sjikanering
)
Cognitivist
visiskai pritariu nuomonei, kad kalba yra TIK komunikavimo priemone.
Ir pati kalba nera vertybe. Visiskai tam pritariu. Tai tik dar viena proga
visokio plauko klerkams ir knyginems ziurkytems prisidengus
kalbininkija pamelzti is musu kiseneliu atliekamu litu!

[I totally support the opinion that language is ONLY a means of

communication. Language itself is not a value. I totally agree with that.
It’s just another opportunity, disguised as linguistics, for the
bureaucrats and bookworms to milk more money from our pockets!]

(Anon. Lithuanian commentator)

 Results:
Distribution of ideologies in
Lithuania, Norway and Serbia
 Ideologies by country

• State • State • State

Serbia
Lithuania

Norway
• Experts • Experts • Experts
• Vox • Vox • Vox
populi populi populi
 Ideologies by country

• State • State •-

Serbia
Lithuania

Norway
• Experts • Experts • Experts
• Vox • Vox • Vox
populi populi populi
(Not financed)
Conclusions.
Language ideologies: modernist or postmodern?
• Lay language users – in all three conutries: mostly monolingual dominant
discourse, cognitivist counter-discourse
• Experts – in Lithuania and Serbia: dominantly monolingual academic
experts, in Norway, no monolingual academic experts, only historical or
cognitivist. Non-academic experts (writers, teachers, journalists,
editors...) mostly monolingual in all three countries.
• State
– Lithuania: powerful, monolingual
– Norway: advisory, somewhat monolingual mostly cognitivist
– Serbia: powerless, monolingual