Pia Lane

Professor & Circle U Chair

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Email pia.lane@iln.uio.no

Phone +47-22845695

Room HW 418

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Visiting address Henrik Wergeland Building Niels Henrik Abels vei 36 0313 OSLO

Postal address Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies P.O. Box 1102 Blindern 0317 OSLO Norway

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Pia Lane is a Professor of Multilingualism at MultiLing - Centre for Multilingualism in Society Across the Lifespan at the University of Oslo and Academic Chair for the Circle U. Multilingualism, Interculturality and Language Lab. She has investigated multilingualism from a range of theoretical perspectives, primarily drawing on data from Kven and Sámi communities in Northern Norway.

Pia Lane has primarily worked within the framework of nexus analysis (developed by Ron Scollon and Suzie Scollon), and also draws on Indigenous, decolonial and southern perspectives on multilingualism, as in her recent publication From Silence to Silencing? Contradictions and Tensions in Language Revitalization, published in Applied Linguistics. Her research addresses language as a part of a larger semiotic system, for instance showing how material objects are used as means for identity construction in a situation of language shift, outlined in the article Identities in action: A nexus analysis of identity construction and language shift. Visual Communication (2009). “We did what we thought was best for our children.” A Nexus Analysis of Language Shift in a Kven community, International Journal of the Sociology of Language (2010) also analyses language shift.

Currently, Pia Lane’s main research focus is language revitalisation, language policy and and minority language standardization. She has been PI of the project Standardising Minority Languages, financed by the Research Council of Norway. The project investigated sociopolitical aspects of the standardisation of five European minority languages, with a particular focus on the role of users in these processes and how users accept, resist and reject aspects of standardisation. Together with James Costa and Haley De Korne she has edited the volume Standardizing Minority Languages. Competing Ideologies of Authority and Authenticity in the Global Periphery, published Open Access by Routledge Critical Studies in Multilingualism.

Pia Lane served as a member of the Norwegian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a parliamentary commission of inquiry, whose task was to investigate the Norwegianisation policy and injustice against the Sámi and Kvens/Norwegian Finns and propose measures for future reconciliation. The commission delivered its report to the Norwegian Parliament in June 2023.

Ongoing research projects

Pia Lane is PI of the project Indigenous language resilience: From learners to speakers (SPEAKERS), financed by the Sámi research programme (the Research Council of Norway). The aim of SPEAKERS is to investigate why and how some learners transition from learners to speakers of Indigenous languages. Pia Lane is the lead researcher of the Sámi case study, whereas her colleague Haley De Korne will lead the Zapotec case.

Pia Lane has been involved in several international networks. She was a member of the Steering Committee, Management Committee and co-leader of the Working Group Indigenous minority languages Management Committee of the EU-financed network, New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe: Opportunities and Challenges (COST Action IS1306). She is also a member of the AILA Research Network on Social and Affective Factors in Home Language Maintenance and Development, co-ordinated by Andrea Schalley and Susana Eisenchlas. She serves as co-editor-in-chief of the series Linguistic Minorities in Europe, published by De Gruyter.

Google Scholar profile

Tags: Multilingualism, Sociolinguistics, Language ideologies, Language policy, Language Policy and Planning, Language revitalisation, Language shift, Language Endangerment, Ethnography, Nexus Analysis, Mediated Discourse Analysis, Multimodality, Narratives, Kven, Sámi

Lane, Pia 2023. From Silence to Silencing? Contradictions and Tensions in Language Revitalization, Applied Linguistics, 2023;, amac075,
Lane, Pia 2023. ‘The South in the North: decolonisation and decolonisation of the mind. In: Deumert, A. and
and Makoni, S. (eds). From Southern Theory to Decolonizing Sociolinguistics – Voices, Questions and Alternatives. Multilingual Matters.
Lane, Pia; Costa, James and De Korne, Haley. 2017. Standardizing Minority LanguagesCompeting Ideologies of Authority and Authenticity in the Global Periphery Routledge
Lane, Pia and Makihara, Miki 2017. Indigenous peoples and their languages. In: García, Flores and Spotti (Eds.). Oxford Handbook of Language and Society, Oxford University Press, 299-230
Lane, Pia 2015. Minority language standardisation and the role of users. Language policy, 14, 3, 263–283
Lane, Pia 2019. Nexus analysis and multilingualism. In J. Darquennes, J. Salmons & W. Vandenbussche (Ed.), Volume 1 (pp. 573-587). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110435351-047

Lane, Pia (2023). Language reclamation in the family: Breaking the cycle of silence. Journal of Multilingual Theories and Practices (JMTP). ISSN 2632-4490. 4(2), p. 244–264. doi: 10.1558/jmtp.25997. Full text in Research Archive
Lane, Pia (2023). The role of the past in language revitalization. In Pavlenko, Aneta (Eds.), Multilingualism and History. Cambridge University Press. ISSN 9781009236256. p. 239–254.
Lane, Pia (2023). The South in the North: Colonization and Decolonization of the Mind. In Deumert, Ana & Makoni, Sinfree (Ed.), From Southern Theory to Decolonizing Sociolinguistics: Voices, Questions and Alternatives. Multilingual Matters. ISSN 9781788926553. doi: https:/doi.org/10.21832/DEUMER6560.
Lane, Pia (2023). From Silence to Silencing? Contradictions and Tensions in Language Revitalization. Applied Linguistics. ISSN 0142-6001. 44(5), p. 833–847. doi: 10.1093/applin/amac075.
Lane, Pia; Hagen, Kristin; Nøklestad, Anders & Priestley, Joel (2022). Creating a corpus for Kven, a minority language in Norway. Nordlyd. ISSN 0332-7531. 46(1), p. 159–170. doi: 10.7557/12.6345. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Language documentation, including the development and use of corpora, is frequently linked to revitalisation. This is also the case for the Kven language, a Finnic minoritised language, traditionally spoken in the two northernmost counties of Norway. Kven is a recognised minority language in Norway, protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. This status led to increased efforts to document Kven, including the development of the Ruija Corpus, consisting of recordings of interviews in Kven. The corpus was an important tool for the standardisation of Kven. In this article we describe how the corpus was developed and account for search functions, including a discussion of the limitations of the corpus. We also discuss the role of corpora and other online tools for language revitalisation, with a particular focus on the standardisation of Kven and conclude by reflecting on how expertise also resides with the speakers of an endangered language and that they have a right to be involved in efforts of language documentation and revitalisation.
Lane, Pia (2022). “It feels like now this is in our own language”: Religion, authenticity and belonging. In Lane, Pia; Kjelsvik, Bjørghild & Myhr, Annika Bøstein (Ed.), Negotiating Identities in Nordic Migrant Narratives: Crossing Borders and Telling Lives. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 978-3-030-89108-4.
Kjelsvik, Bjørghild; Lane, Pia & Myhr, Annika Bøstein (2022). Interdisciplinary approaches to the study of spoken, written and material narratives . In Lane, Pia; Kjelsvik, Bjørghild & Myhr, Annika Bøstein (Ed.), Negotiating Identities in Nordic Migrant Narratives: Crossing Borders and Telling Lives. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 978-3-030-89108-4. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-89109-1_1.
Lane, Pia & Wigglesworth, Gillian (2021). From “Civilising Missions” to Indigenous Language Reclamation: Language policy, language shift and maintenance in Australia and Norway. In Røyneland, Unn & Blackwood, Robert (Ed.), Multilingualism across the Lifespan. Routledge. ISSN 9781003125815. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This innovative collection examines key questions on language diversity and multilingualism running through contemporary debates in psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics. Reinforcing interdisciplinary conversations on these themes, each chapter is co-authored by two different researchers, often those who have not written together before. The combined effect is a volume showcasing unique and dynamic perspectives on such topics as multilingualism across the lifespan, bilingual acquisition, family language policy, language and ageing, language shift, language and identity, and multilingualism and language impairment. The book builds on Elizabeth Lanza’s pioneering work on multilingualism across the lifespan, bringing together cutting-edge research exploring multilingualism as an evolving phenomenon at landmarks in individuals’, families’, and communities’ lives.　Taken together, the book offers a rich portrait of the different facets of multilingualism as a lived reality for individuals, families, and communities. This ground-breaking volume will be of particular interest to students and scholars in multilingualism, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics.
Rasmus, Sini & Lane, Pia (2021). New speakers of Sámi: From insecurity to pride. Linguistic Minorities in Europe Online (LME). doi: 10.1515/lme.12818309. Full text in Research Archive
Lane, Pia (2019). Nexus Analysis and Multilingualism. In Darquennes, Jeroen; Salmons, Joseph C. & Vandenbussche, Wim (Ed.), Language Contact – An International Handbook. De Gruyter Mouton. ISSN 978-3-11-043325-8. doi: 10.1515/9783110435351-047.
Costa, James; De Korne, Haley Jean & Lane, Pia (2017). Standardising Minority Languages: Reinventing Peripheral Languages in the 21st Century. In Lane, Pia; Costa, James & De Korne, Haley Jean (Ed.), Standardizing minority languages: Competing ideologies of authority and authenticity in the global periphery. Routledge. ISSN 978-1-315-64772-2. p. 1–23.
Lane, Pia (2017). Language Standardisation as Frozen Mediated Actions. The Materiality of Language Standardisation. In Lane, Pia; Costa, James & De Korne, Haley Jean (Ed.), Standardizing minority languages: Competing ideologies of authority and authenticity in the global periphery. Routledge. ISSN 978-1-315-64772-2. p. 101–117. Full text in Research Archive
Lane, Pia & Räisänen, Anna-Kaisa (2017). Kven in Norway. In Seals, Corinne & Shah, Sheena (Ed.), Heritage Language Policies around the World. Routledge. ISSN 9781138193321. p. 69–83. doi: 10.4324/9781315639444-5.
Lane, Pia & Makihara, Miki (2017). Indigenous peoples and their languages. In Garcia, Ofelia; Flores, Nelson & Spotti, Max (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Language and Society. Oxford University Press. ISSN 9780190212896. p. 299–320. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190212896.013.7.
Lane, Pia (2016). Standardising Kven: Participation and the role of users. Sociolinguistica : Internationales Jahrbuch fuer Europaeische Soziolinguistik. ISSN 0933-1883. 30(1), p. 105–124. doi: 10.1515/soci-2016-0007. Full text in Research Archive

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Lane, Pia; Kjelsvik, Bjørghild & Myhr, Annika Bøstein (2022). Negotiating Identities in Nordic Migrant Narratives: Crossing Borders and Telling Lives. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-030-89108-4. 236 p.
Lane, Pia; Costa, James & De Korne, Haley Jean (2017). Standardizing minority languages: Competing ideologies of authority and authenticity in the global periphery. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-64772-2. 249 p. Full text in Research Archive

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Lane, Pia & Johansen, Åse Mette (2024). Breaking silence: A longitudinal study of language revitalisation.
Lane, Pia (2024). Refleksjon: Fremtidens Sápmi (panelsamtale).
Lane, Pia (2024). Presentasjon av hovedfunn i Sannhets- og forsoningskommisjonens rapport.
Lane, Pia; Camps, Diana Maria; De Korne, Haley; Kvietok Dueñas, Frances & Solovova, Olga (2023). Indigenous languages, minoritised languages, language revitalization, and standardization.
Lane, Pia (2023). Sannhet og forsoning. Kommisjonens funn og anbefalinger for språk- og kulturfeltet .
Lane, Pia (2023). The Norwegian Truth and Reconciliation Commission .
Lane, Pia (2023). Discussant: Historically minoritized languages in public spaces – moving towards utopia?
Lane, Pia (2023). Desde el silencio hasta el silenciamiento: Paradojas de la revitalización lingüística/Layers of silence: Paradoxes of language revitalisation.
Lane, Pia (2023). Kampen for morsmålet. [Journal]. Apollon.
Kvietok Dueñas, Frances; Lane, Pia & Kleemann, Carola Babette (2023). Becoming Indigenous language speakers in university: comparative perspectives from Sámi, Quechua, and Aimara student teachers.
Kvietok Dueñas, Frances; Lane, Pia & Kleemann, Carola Babette (2023). Becoming Indigenous language speakers: comparative perspectives from Sámi and Quechua learners and speakers.
Lane, Pia (2023). Kapittel 13 Språktapet. .
Lane, Pia (2023). Foreslår veien mot Nivå III for kvensk språk. [Newspaper]. Ruijan Kaiku.
Lane, Pia (2023). UiO-professor Pia Lane: – Eg tok tilbake kvensk som vaksen. [Newspaper]. Uniforum.
Lane, Pia (2023). Sannhet og forsoning. Grunnlag for et oppgjør med fornorskingspolitikk og urett mot samer, kvener/norskfinner og skogfinner.
Lane, Pia (2023). Samtale om litteraturens forsoningspolitikk.
Kvietok Duenas, Frances; Kleemann, Carola & Lane, Pia (2023). Becoming Indigenous language speakers in university: Comparative perspectives from Sámi, Quechua,and Aimara student teachers.
Johansen, Åse Mette & Lane, Pia (2023). Å bryte tausheten: En longitudinell studie av språklig revitalisering. Show summary
I samiske og kvenske områder har langvarig assimilering hatt som mål å bringe samiske og kvensk språk til taushet. Samtaler om språkvalg i familier og samfunn er også blitt taushetsbelagte. Revitaliseringsprosesser har ikke bare som målsetting at minoriserte språk tas i bruk igjen og styrkes på ulike domener, men innebærer også tematisering av etniske identiteter og språkvalg. Dette medfører ofte at forskjellige posisjoner og spenninger kommer til uttrykk i familier og samfunn. I denne studien følger vi diskursive utviklingstrekk i det sjøsamiske samfunnet Olmmáivággi – Manndalen – Olmavankka, som er kjennetegna både av fornorskning (ca. 1850–1950) og revitalisering (ca. 1980–i dag). Tidsfaktoren er lite utforska i språkskifte- og revitaliseringsforskning. Lane (2010) argumenterer for at tidsskalaer (‘time scales’) er sentrale for analysen av språkskifte, både på grunn av tidsspennet mellom språkpolitisk implementering og individuelle språkvalg, og fordi språkskifte og datainnsamling foregår til ulike tidspunkt. Tid er mer implisitt også en relevant faktor i Johansens (2013) studie av hvordan språkbrukere i nettopp Olmmáivággi erfarer kompleksiteten i den historiske overgangen fra fornorskning til revitalisering. Basert på dybdeintervjuer i henholdsvis 2007 og 2023 med samme språkbruker, utforsker vi hvordan individuelle erfaringer med språkrevitalisering endrer seg i Olmmáivággi. I 2007 var samfunnet i en forsoningsprosess etter en periode med dyptgående etnopolitiske konflikter knytta til implementeringa av revitaliseringstiltak på 1990-tallet. I dag er revitaliseringsprosessen blitt mer akseptert og styrka. Analysen retter oppmerksomhet mot hvordan det å bryte tausheten om språkvalg i fortid og nåtid erfares på individnivået. Hvilke metaperspektiver og refleksjoner uttrykkes, og endres de? Oppstår nye former for diskursiv taushet i løpet av en revitaliseringsprosess, eksempelvis som strategier for å unngå konflikt? Forskningsintervjuet er dessuten i seg selv en kontekst der taushet kan brytes. Hvordan kan forskning bidra til forsoning i forlengelsen av assimilering og taushet?
Lane, Pia (2023). From silence to silencing? Paradoxes of language revitalization.
Lane, Pia (2023). Flere unge lærer seg samisk, men det er ikke enkelt å ta det i bruk.
Lane, Pia (2023). Challenges and Rewards of International Collaboration .
Lane, Pia (2023). Breaking the cycle of silence: The role of parents in revitalization processes.
Bech, Kristin; Keskitalo, Aili & Lane, Pia (2023). Språk i grenseland: Samisk, kvensk, finsk og norsk i Finnmark. Nytt Norsk Tidsskrift. ISSN 0800-336X. 40(1), p. 41–48. doi: 10.18261/nnt.40.1.5.
Lane, Pia (2022). Kväners erfarenheter av förnorskningspolitik och kvänskans situation i Norge.
Lane, Pia (2022). The Sámi yoik Máze: Sounds of Silence and Struggle.
Lane, Pia (2022). Kvääniteatteri - å synliggjøre det usynlige folket. Teatersalong - Nationaltheatret.
Lane, Pia (2022). Hva er kvensk identitet? [Radio]. NRK Kompass.
Lane, Pia (2022). Flerspråklighet.
Lane, Pia (2022). "Tenk at man ikke kan lese sitt eget språk!" Standardiseringens mange ansikter .
Johansen, Åse Mette & Lane, Pia (2022). Breaking silence: A longitudinal study of language shift.
Lane, Pia (2022). Ut av stillheten: Revitaliseringens paradokser.
Kvietok Dueñas, Frances & Lane, Pia (2022). Indigenous experiences of language revitalization. Critical and decolonial perspectives on binary speaker categorizations.
Lane, Pia (2022). Forsker: Barna er viktig om kvensk språk skal reddes – men er det nok?
Lane, Pia (2022). The South in the North: Language shift, language reclamation and silences .
Lane, Pia & Ramstad, Liss Ellen (2021). Sannhets- og forsoningskommisjonen; Mandat, status og veien videre.
Lane, Pia (2021). Fra språktap til revitalisering.
Lane, Pia (2021). Caught unawares? Language shift and internalised ideologies.
Lane, Pia (2021). Minority language standardisation as mediated social action .
Solovova, Olga & Lane, Pia (2021). Northern borderscapes as material and historical frozen actions.
Lane, Pia Marit Johanne (2021). Multilingualism and language endangerment.
Røyneland, Unn; Lane, Pia & Grenoble, Lenore (2021). Linguistic Minorities in Europe online.
Solovova, Olga & Lane, Pia (2020). Russian in my head, Norwegian in my heart. Multilingualism in Sør-Varanger.
Lane, Pia (2020). Samiske språkbærere: fra stillhet til revitalisering.
Lane, Pia (2020). Language standardization as frozen mediated actions: the materiality of language standardization .
Lane, Pia (2019). Trajectories of vulnerabilities.
Lane, Pia (2019). Ny stolthet over morsmålet. [Newspaper]. Ruijan Kaiku.
Zachariassen, Ketil & Lane, Pia Marit Johanne (2019). Store forventninger møtte Sannhets- og forsoningskommisjonen. [Internet]. NRK Kvensk/NRK Kvääni .
Lane, Pia & Johansen, Åse Mette (2019). Introduction to revitalisation and reclamation in Northern Norway.
Zachariassen, Ketil & Lane, Pia Marit Johanne (2019). Norwegian TRC Presentation.
Lane, Pia (2019). Sannhetskommisjonen inn i tøft arbeid – NRK Kveeni. [Radio]. NRK .
Lane, Pia (2019). Vi skal ikke sitte fast i smerten, men komme oss videre. [Internet]. NRK.
Lane, Pia (2019). Effective practices in teaching of and education in minority languages .
Lane, Pia (2019). Paradoxes of language revitalisation.
Lane, Pia (2019). Reclaiming indigenous minority languages .
Lane, Pia & Solovova, Olga (2018). Linguistic landscapes in the Northern Borderlands - a nexus analysis.
Lane, Pia (2018). Out of silence. Reclaimin indigenous minority languages.
Johansen, Åse Mette; Lane, Pia & Olsen, Torjer Andreas (2018). Mangfold i utdanningssystemet – hva er dagens muligheter og utfordringer? Panelsamtale.
Lane, Pia (2018). Å ta språket sitt tilbake. En framtid for kvensk språk?
Lane, Pia (2018). Sannhetskommisjonen: – Arbeidet kan bli tøft. [Newspaper]. Utrop.
Lane, Pia (2018). Det umulige «N-ordet» . [Newspaper]. Aftenposten.
Lane, Pia (2018). Fakta og myter om flerspråklighet.
Lane, Pia (2018). Out of silence. Reclaiming indigenous minority languages.
Lane, Pia (2018). Language rights – perspectives from Norway. Standardisation of Kven .
Lane, Pia (2017). Introduction: New Speakers and the European Charter of Regional and Minority Languages.
Lane, Pia (2017). Standardisering av kvensk.
Lane, Pia (2017). Abels Tårn. [TV]. NRK2.
Lane, Pia (2017). Multilingualism across the lifespan (Invited featured panel).
Lane, Pia (2016). Minority language standardisation as social action.
Lanza, Elizabeth; Røyneland, Unn & Lane, Pia (2016). MultiLing. Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan: A Center of Excellence in Norway. Sociolinguistica : Internationales Jahrbuch fuer Europaeische Soziolinguistik. ISSN 0933-1883. p. 223–231.
Lane, Pia (2016). Arrival - filmanmeldelse. [Radio]. Kulturhuset.
Lane, Pia (2016). Fleirspråklegheit i nord: språk og identitet.
Lane, Pia (2016). Kvensk er en del av det vi er. [Newspaper]. Finnmarken.
Lane, Pia (2016). Hjertespråket. [Radio]. Språkteigen, NRK.
Lane, Pia & Keating, Clara (2016). New speakers and life trajectories - an analysis of language experiences of Portuguese migrant speakers and Kven heritage speakers.
Lane, Pia (2016). Abels Tårn. [Radio]. Ekko NRK P2.
Lane, Pia (2016). Reclaiming a minority language: Becoming a new speaker.
Lane, Pia (2015). It takes more than two to tango - tverrfaglig forskning på flerspråklighet.
Lane, Pia (2015). På språkjakt! Standardisering av kvensk språk.
Lane, Pia (2015). Abels Tårn. [Radio]. Ekko NRK P2.
Lane, Pia (2015). Abels Tårn. [Radio]. Ekko .
Lane, Pia & Costa, James (2015). The War of the Words: Minority language standardization and orthographic debates in the globalized European periphery.
Lane, Pia (2015). Språkstatus er ingen livsgaranti. [Newspaper]. Vårt Land.
Lane, Pia; Lanza, Elizabeth & Pennycook, Alastair (2019). Family multilingualism: Language practices and ideologies of Brazilian-Norwegian families in Norway. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive