Language Policies in Finland and Sweden

In this volume, authors from four disciplines join forces to develop an analysis of political discourse on a comparative and multidisciplinary basis. Theoretically the book draws on the concept of language policy, operationalising it through the politics and policies of Finland and Sweden.

Mia Halonen is a senior researcher at the Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her research interests include language ideologies and policy, sociophonetics, performances, micro analytic and mixed methods, social media and popular culture.Ihalainen Pasi :

Pasi Ihalainen is a professor of Comparative European History at the Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. His research interests include comparative history, national identity, parliamentary discourse, and multi-sited constitutional debates.Saarinen Taina :

Taina Saarinen is a senior researcher at the Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her research interests include language policy, methodology, and higher education internationalisation.

Mia Halonen is a senior researcher at the Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her research interests include language ideologies and policy, sociophonetics, performances, micro analytic and mixed methods, social media and popular culture.

Pasi Ihalainen is a professor of Comparative European History at the Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. His research interests include comparative history, national identity, parliamentary discourse, and multi-sited constitutional debates.

Taina Saarinen is a senior researcher at the Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her research interests include language policy, methodology, and higher education internationalisation.

The book promotes interdisciplinary and constructivist approach in research. Some of the comments by the authors on links between academic subjects are startlingly true: history and linguistics are close for the simple fact that research in history is mainly based on written documents. For someone who is a linguist, the book contains a great deal of complex theorising, and argumentation for a new approach to language policy research, probably designed to break intra- or interdisciplinary barriers.

Taru Nordlund, University of Helsinki, Finland:

This methodologically innovative volume carefully exposes the construal nature of ‘language’ vis-à-vis ‘national language’, ‘minority language’ or ‘home language’. It broadens our understanding of the interconnectedness of local practices and larger policies, and shows how macro level language policies are remodelled, experienced, and acted upon in individual life experiences.

Marko Lamberg, Stockholm University, Sweden:

Thanks to multiple perspectives, the present volume offers valuable insight into how problems caused by different languages have been felt at the grass roots level – among immigrants, in classrooms, during job interviews and in other every-day situations – and how politicians and legislators have sought to solve them. This coherent and well-edited book is definitively worthwhile reading for all who are interested in Scandinavian societal policies or language issues in general.

Sue Wright, University of Portsmouth, UK:

This excellent book provides a state of the art account of language issues in Sweden and Finland, presented in an interesting theoretical frame. The authors’ view that language policy is multi-sited and in constant dialogic development results in a cohesive volume which reveals both the origins and the current complexities of Northern language policy and practice.