Band 2011, Heft 209 - The Many Faces of Language Emancipation

The rise of Finnish in the 19th century is an example of a concluded and successful language emancipation process. The important factors in raising the status of Finnish were language ideology, strong motivation, and the introduction of the use of Finnish into all domains. On an individual level, the establishment of Finnish language schools was more important than the choice of home language. An important feature of the language situation in Finland at the end of the 19th century was that industrialized and modernized Finnish society was developed through both Finnish and Swedish simultaneously. In contrast, the situation of many minorities today is much more problematic. They find themselves in a situation which could be described in terms of a “sociolinguistic time lag” as their language emancipation lags far behind in what has been rapid modernization. In this situation, the introduction of minority languages into the most important contemporary domains of activity is, in many ways, a very demanding task. Consequently, whilst much can be learned from 19th century Finnish language emancipation by contemporary emancipators, today's emancipatory language movements are in an essentially different situation and face new and tough challenges.

The indigenous Sámi languages of the Nordic countries and North-West Russia have gained official recognition after a long period of neglect and assimilation policies. In the context of positive changes in state or macro level indigenous policy and especially that regarding language policy, this paper investigates what subsequently happens at the grassroots or micro level. This investigation shows that despite more positive policies, there is a strong sentiment of defeatism with regard to Sámi. Sámi speakers face problems because of the lack of implementation of nationally decided laws at the local level, they encounter prejudice and neglect from other people, even in their families, and as a result they often experience difficulty in transmitting Sámi to their children. Nevertheless, they also express belief in Sámi and feel a need for this transmission, not only for affective reasons and for the sake of cultural maintenance, but also for instrumental reasons, i.e. to give their children better opportunities in the labor market where knowledge of Sámi is necessary.

This article investigates and applies the concept of language emancipation to the situation of the Kven language in Norway. This is done from a historical perspective by addressing the role of language in the ideological construction of the Norwegian nation-state, and from a contemporary perspective through the analysis of the consequences of Norway's ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. This ratification has lead to the recognition of Kven as a language. Through describing the historical development of Norwegian language policy with regard to Kven, this article discusses how this case is an example of nationalist or modernist language emancipation progressing to the contemporary situation where language emancipation processes reflect language policies which are in favor of Kven. This discussion is carried out in the context of current language ideology theory and shows that nationalist language emancipation is being reapplied in the contemporary language emancipation context. This is particularly the situation in the process of the standardization of Kven which, despite the best intentions of those involved, may result in a standard which not all Kven speakers can identify with.

The term “language emancipation” has to date been mainly used in the context of historical minority languages and underprivileged vernaculars. The aim of the present article is to discuss the extension of this concept to other language categories and in this case, an immigrant language. It focuses on the situation of Hungarians and Hungarian in Finland and discusses the relevance of language emancipation in this context. The factors which are concentrated on are: first, the long history of cultural relations between Hungarians and Finns; second, the situation of Hungarian at various levels of education in Finland; and third, the attitudes towards Hungarian on the part of the majority society as well as the Hungarians themselves. The situation of Hungarian in Finland is special compared with other immigrant languages because Hungarian was part of the Finnish nationalist language emancipation. This historical heritage still seems to positively affect the status of Hungarians and the Hungarian language in Finnish society as reflected in a recent sociolinguistic study carried out among second generation Hungarians in Finland. Both official support from the state level and the favorable attitudes among majority language speakers contribute to the privileged status of Hungarians among immigrant groups in Finland.

This paper discusses the applicability of language emancipation to the regional languages of France and shows that, from a historical and contemporary perspective, it is very relevant for these languages. In particular, Gallo, Eastern Brittany's Oïl language variety, provides a pertinent grass roots illustration of many of the issues addressed through the concept of language emancipation. However, the historical and contemporary entrenchment of a monolingual and centralist language ideology which is vehemently opposed to pluralist language ideology in France means that, if language emancipation is to be socio-politically acceptable, some degree of care has to be exercised in the manner in which it is presented and what facets are emphasized in the French context. Indeed, through their long established activism in favor of regional languages in the education system, regional language movements and not least the Gallo movement are already well-positioned to promote one of the main and most compelling arguments for contemporary language emancipation: this is that an active knowledge of two or more languages, including a regional language, is beneficial to the individual and to society in general. Only a “language attitudes shift” can create the conditions for genuine language emancipation in France.

Guinea-Conakry, West Africa, was one of the only countries of sub-Saharan Africa to reject the colonial language along with colonial rule, at least in basic education. Under its first president, Sékou Touré, Guinea adopted eight major national languages as media of instruction for primary and middle school levels. Language emancipation through education was part of Touré's platform of combining a socialist economy and nationalist ideology. Unfortunately, education in national languages did not survive past Touré's administration but died with him in 1984. Since then, the entire schooling system has depended solely on French, a language that very few Guineans speak at home. Meanwhile, national languages have continued to play a role in other domains, and in current educational, linguistic and political circles there is talk of bringing these languages back into formal education. Using data gathered from various documentary sources, combined with a synthesis of our interviews and discussions with teachers, literacy facilitators, education authorities, linguists and decision makers, this paper discusses the potential for Guinean languages to be re-emancipated in official policy and national practice. We also describe the approach of one NGO to support this re-emancipation through experimental schooling in Soso, one of Guinea's three most widely spoken languages.

This paper examines the termination of indigenous language classes at a small public elementary school in the United States, from the perspective of both nonindigenous school teachers whose classrooms were used to conduct the classes and the parents whose children participated in the classes. Interviews with both groups reveal general support for language teaching, but opposing views about the inclusion of such classes in the public school setting. I argue that their differing perspectives do not reflect negative attitudes on the part of the teachers about the language itself, but rather that teachers experience both national and local factors that do not favor indigenous language teaching. These factors include differences in expectations about student behavior and language class results, as well as federal and statewide pressure to produce improvement in student performance in English reading and math. This research demonstrates that general support for indigenous language teaching is not sufficient for the successful incorporation of classes into schools. A number of issues pertaining to national and local educational goals must also be considered.