Volume 35, Issue 3 -

This article explores how linguistic resources from two local languages, Finnish and Swedish, are used in expert presentations in bilingual formal meetings and how they function with respect to the three ideal criteria of professional communication: economy, efficiency, and precision. Based on the results, the article suggests a typology of bilingual action for bilingual formal meetings. While economic language use has to do with the time used for getting something done, efficiency, covers relevant, concise, and focused language use and precision is connected with ways of presenting a full depiction of the issues discussed. The typology suggests six types of bilingual action that interact closely depending on the context. The findings underline the importance of documentation and open discussion of organization-level practices in guiding bilingual action as an intentional and goal-oriented practice in professional contexts. The typology of bilingual action suggested in this article can be used when introducing the practices of bilingual meetings to new participants.

This article examines the current situation of regional language bilingual primary education in Alsace and contends that the regional language presents a special case in the context of France. The language comprises two varieties: Alsatian, which traditionally has been widely spoken, and Standard German, used as the language of reference and writing. The advantages of learning Standard German have been highlighted by language-in-education policy-makers: as well as being the written form of the regional language, German is promoted as the most widely spoken language in the European Union, the language of neighbouring countries, an asset in the search for employment and an aid to learning another powerful language in our increasingly globalized world, namely English. Nevertheless, Alsatian can be, and in some cases is being, employed in the classroom, although it remains in a minority position in comparison to Standard German. Based on original research undertaken in the region, the article aims to explore current classroom practices, which are sometimes found to be incongruous with official language-in-education policy. It analyses the language attitudes of parents and considers the effect of these attitudes on the promotion of Alsatian and Standard German. Practices and attitudes in city and small town locations are compared to evaluate the influence of urban and peri-urban settings. As the transmission of Alsatian is no longer guaranteed in the home, the article investigates whether the school can promote this traditional, non-standardized regional variety alongside the dominant standard languages, and whether parents wish for this to happen.

In this paper, I use a holographic metaphor to explain the identification of overlapping sign language communities in Panama. By visualizing Panama’s complex signing communities as emitting community “hotspots” through social drama on multiple stages, I employ ethnographic methods to explore overlapping contours of Panama’s sign language communities in both time and space, similar to what a hologram accomplishes. Based on rapid appraisal of Panama’s signed languages through 2 weeks of participant observation, interviews, and lexical comparisons, and contextualization of this data in a broad 5-year project that included fieldwork in 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, I propose recognition of overlapping Chiriquí and Panamanian Signing Communities using distinct signed languages: Lengua de Señas Panameñas and Lengua de Señas de Chiriquí.