STANDARDS (completed)

About the project

Developing a standard for a minority language is not a neutral process; this has consequences for the status of the language and how the language users relate to the new standard. When standardising minority languages one risks establishing standards that the users do not accept and identify with. Thus, standardisation which was supposed to empower minority language speakers may create a new form of stigma for those who feel that they cannot live up to the codified standard.

This project expands the focus from language policy and linguistic aspects of standardisation to include analyses of how the users relate to standardisation processes. Language standardisation can be seen as a form of technology, and the project uses Nexus Analysis and theories from the tradition of science and technology studies (STS) to analyse standardisation of minority languages in Europe, addressing issues such as how the users of the standard are configured, exclusionary effects of standards, positions of non-users, and the political role of standards.

Subprojects

1. Standardisation of Kven from the perspective of users

2. Minority language standards in Scotland (Scots and Gaelic): Language inequality, nationalism and the promotion of linguistic diversity

3. Meänkieli language users’ relation to the standardisation process of their language

4. The Discursive Construction of Users in the Language Standardization of Limburgish

Duration

March 2018

Financing

Research Council of Norway, University of Oslo (FRIHUMSAM/Fellesløftet)