scholarly journals Language policy and corporate law: A case study from Norway

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-91
Author(s):  
Guro R. Sanden
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Corporate Law ◽  
English Only ◽  
Domain Loss ◽  
Industry Affiliation ◽  
Language Requirement ◽  
Industry Sectors

AbstractThis paper investigates how 492 of the largest companies in Norway comply with the language requirement of the Norwegian Accounting Act Article 3-4. The results show that 36% of the companies presented their financial statements in Norwegian only, 45% in one or more language(s) in addition to Norwegian, while 19% had been granted dispensation and presented statements in English-only. The company’s ownership, use of English as a corporate language, and industry affiliation were the three most commonly mentioned reasons for dispensation, but the findings show significant differences between industry sectors in terms of language choice. The study contributes to corporate law research by examining the interpretation and application of the Norwegian Accounting Act by the Norwegian Directorate of Taxes; to sociolinguistics by shedding new light on the concepts of domain loss and diglossia; and to language-sensitive research in international business by analysing language use in Norwegian companies.

A case-study in historical sociolinguistics beyond Europe: Reconstructing patterns of multilingualism in a linguistic community in Siberia

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-251
Author(s):  
Olesya Khanina ◽  
Miriam Meyerhoff
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Linguistic Community ◽  
Oral Histories ◽  
Northern Siberia ◽  
Historical Sociolinguistics

AbstractA collection of traditional and ‘old life’ stories recorded in the late 1940s is used to reconstruct the sociolinguistic situation of the Enets community in Northern Siberia from the 1850s until the 1930s. The Enets had regular contacts with a number of neighbouring indigenous peoples (Nganasans, Tundra Nenets, Selkups, Evenkis, Dolgans) and later with Russian newcomers. The oral histories often comment on language use, and as a result we can reconstruct not only the languages that the Enets people used in this period, but also the contexts in which they used them. The Enets community’s multilingualism was typically characterized by command of key neighbouring languages, with the occasional command of other more (geographically and socially) remote ones. With close neighbours, language choice seems to have had limited social load, while in cases of trade or agonistic contact, the choice of language in interethnic communication seems to have followed a principle of asymmetric convergence towards the language of the party with the greatest contextual social power. The analysis is founded on a database of dozens of communicative events mentioned in the oral stories (over 50 are analyzed). Ongoing fieldwork on the modern sociolinguistic situation suggests that until quite recently there was considerable stability in the sociolinguistic norms governing multilingual interaction among the Enets.

Language choice and conversational repair in bilingual interaction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Additional Resource ◽  
Concurrent Use ◽  
Language Alternation ◽  
Conversational Repair ◽  
Research Questions

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating this form of language use. Now that code-switching has been rehabilitated, the research tradition faces an entirely new challenge, namely that of its continued relevance. This book argues that, in order to overcome this challenge, research should aim to describe specific interactional practices involving the use of two or more languages and outlines a methodology for doing so. This chapter illustrates this methodology by means of a specific case study. The chapter describes the interactional practice of conversational repair in bilingual interaction. Two research questions are raised: (a) where in the repair sequence can language alternation occur and (b) what does language alternation do when it occurs in repair sequences. It is shown that language alternation interacts with repair organisation in two ways. Either language alternation is the focus of conversational repair or it is an additional resource for the organisation of conversational repair.

scholarly journals National language in science: The case of Latvian

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 325-342
Author(s):  
Agnese Dubova ◽  
Diāna Laiveniece ◽  
Egita Proveja ◽  
Baiba Egle
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
National Language ◽  
Main Trend ◽  
Scientific Language ◽  
Draft Report ◽  
Language Of Science ◽  
Different Sources

Aim. To show and describe the current situation in Latvian language as a case study of the problem about the place of a national language and its existence in sciences in modern globalised times, when the dominance of English as the lingua franca of science grows. Methods.  A descriptive method, including literature review of language of science used globally. Empirical discourse content analysis was conducted; it examined various documents, including Latvian legal texts that governs the rights and rules of Latvian language use, as well as a wide array of mainly online media. Results. During the study, 21 different sources and 304 online comments under articles relating to the issue were analysed. The material revealed that there is a breadth of opinions, ranging from the Ministry stance to organisations and the general public. It could be said that the main trend in the opinions can be described as follows: there is a variety of language options – a dissertation written only in Latvian; a dissertation written in English; a choice of language that is up to the doctoral student. This would ensure that the language choice fits the doctoral students’ goals and field of research and making English mandatory would not likely lead to guaranteed scientific excellence as what matters is the research itself, not the language. Conclusions. National language of science is a current issue in Latvia, as there is a need for state language use in the scientific register. The discussed Ministry document is still a draft report and it is not yet known what final decisions on the PhD process and dissertation language will be taken. Latvian is a scientific language and it should be recognised as one of the languages used in science  within the international scientific discourse.

scholarly journals Dual language intervention in a case of severe speech sound disorder

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-111
Author(s):  
Eliane Ramos ◽  
Jean Mead
Keyword(s):  
Dual Language ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Speech Sound Disorder ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
English Only ◽  
One Year

This single case study of a bilingual child with a severe speech sound disorder examined whether language transference occurs when treatment is provided in L1 or L2 and whether monolingual or bilingual intervention is most effective. A 6-year 5-month old sequential Portuguese/English bilingual female was seen for 3 separate intervention phases lasting about 2 months each. Four phonological processes common to both languages were targeted in either monolingual or bilingual conditions in each phase. The child’s speech was examined with formal tests and analyses of spontaneous speech after each phase. Results indicated that transference occurred in both directions for some processes (L1 to L2 and L2 to L1), but in general L1 had to be specifically targeted for significant improvement to occur. For both languages, the bilingual condition was most effective. A follow-up assessment one year after Portuguese treatment was interrupted revealed that the child continued to make progress in English only (the only language treated for the entire year) and her Portuguese phonology still showed the same errors as in the previous year. This case study provides further evidence that bilingual intervention is the preferred choice for bilingual children. Implications for language choice and future studies are discussed.

Language choice and speech representation in bilingual interaction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Research Tradition ◽  
Concurrent Use ◽  
Speech Representation

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating this form of language use. Now that code-switching has been rehabilitated, the research tradition faces an entirely new challenge, namely that of its continued relevance. This book argues that, in order to overcome this challenge, research should aim to describe specific interactional practices involving the use of two or more languages and outlines a methodology for doing so. This chapter illustrates this methodology by means of a specific case study. In the chapter, the interaction practice of speech representation in talk in two languages is described. It is shown that, in talk in two languages, language choice in the interactional site of speech representation follows a three-path map: language choice may be an incidental aspect, it may be as a supportive aspect and it may be the depictive element in speech representation.

scholarly journals Teaching through English: Monolingual Policy Meets Multilingual Practice

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (45) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Ragnhild Ljosland
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Medium Study ◽  
Learning Situation ◽  
Detailed Understanding ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Domain Loss ◽  
English Monolingual

The present paper proposes to explore the boundaries of Teaching Through English by discussing situations where English meets other languages within the teaching and learning situation and in the surrounding environment. In contrast to the view that the English language is taking over whole areas of society in a process of domain loss, the paper shows that even within officially English medium study programmes there is a certain scope for multilingual practices. Through looking in more detail at actual language use in a range of communicative situations within the study environment, the paper seeks to build a more detailed understanding of what constitutes a sociolinguistic domain, and where its boundaries are. The paper is based on a case study of an English medium MSc programme at a Norwegian university.

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