Towards Openly Multilingual Policies and Practices

This book investigates the maintenance of multilingualism and minority languages in 12 different minority communities across Europe. The authors argue that legislation and institutional and educational support provide no guarantee for minority language maintenance, surmising that changes in attitudes and language ideologies are the key.

Johanna Laakso is Professor of Finno-Ugric Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. Her research interests include Finno-Ugric languages, historical linguistics, language contact and gender linguistics.

Anneli Sarhimaa is Professor of Northern European and Baltic languages at the Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany. She is Vice-President of ELEN (European Language Equality Network). Her research interests include sociolinguistics, contact linguistics and language policies.

Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark is Associate Professor of International Law, Director and Head of Research at the The Åland Islands Peace Institute, Finland. Her research interests include international law, diversity, law and politics, and peace and conflict resolution.

Reetta Toivanen is an Adjunct Professor for social and cultural anthropology and a Finnish Academy Research Fellow at the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Her main research interests are ethnic and language minorities, indigenous peoples, minority rights, revitalization and politics of recognition.

Johanna Laakso is Professor of Finno-Ugric Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. Her research interests include Finno-Ugric languages, historical linguistics, language contact and gender linguistics.

Anneli Sarhimaa is Professor of Northern European and Baltic languages at the Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany. She is Vice-President of ELEN (European Language Equality Network). Her research interests include sociolinguistics, contact linguistics and language policies.

Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark is Associate Professor of International Law, Director and Head of Research at the The Åland Islands Peace Institute, Finland. Her research interests include international law, diversity, law and politics, and peace and conflict resolution.

Reetta Toivanen is Academy of Finland Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor for social and cultural anthropology at the Erik Castren Institute of International Law and Human Rights, University of Helsinki, Finland. She is interested in human rights, minorities, power, identity politics and ethnography.

This book is a rare gem. Issued from a research project, it clearly demonstrates how not only the research community, but the civil society at large can benefit from the interplay of data, research assumptions and methodology that is at the core of research. The authors go far beyond their duty of presenting their research results: they engage the readers in rediscussing their assumptions and pre-conceptions about multilingualism and language minorities in Europe, and they do it beautifully, involving them in a dialogue that reminds of the ancient Greek dialectical method.

This well researched and reasoned book provides the evidence and approaches to enable the human rights advocate to make the arguments for language protection in a clear and convincing manner. This work is an important addition for the advocacy of language protection as part of the human rights agenda.