Towards a more flexible language policy: a comparative analysis of language policy design in Denmark and Estonia
Date
2012-11-12
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Abstract
Doktoritöö analüüsib kriitiliselt keelepoliitika tulemuslikkust keele kasutamise suunajana. Analüüsi peamisi järeldusi on, et praegune Eesti keelepoliitilistes dokumentides sõnastatud keelepoliitika põhifunktsioon, tagada keelenormi säilimine ja keelekasutuse vastavus normile, raskendab keele kasutamise, õppe ja keelelise lôimumise problemaatika kompleksset käsitlemist. Inspireerituna nii sotsiolingvistikast, etnolingvistikast, sotsioloogiast kui ka politoloogiast, arendab töö välja keelepoliitika laiendatud mõiste, vaadeldes keelepoliitikat kui protsessi, milles osalevad peale poliitikute ka ühiskonna eri tasanditel olevad keelepoliitilised toimijad, näiteks õpetajad, haridusasutused, ettevõtted jne. Keelepoliitika dünaamilise mõiste aluseks on arusaam, et keelekasutajate vajadused on muutuvad ja sõltuvad keelekasutaja elufaasist ning laiemast ühiskondlikust, kultuurilisest ja sotsiaalsest kontekstist. Keelepoliitika kauaaegsed uurijad Jernudd ja Nekvapil on rõhutanud keelepoliitika seotust sotsiaalpoliitikaga, kuna keelepoliitilised meetmed peavad tagama kôigi ühiskonna liikmete võrdse kaasamise majan¬dusse, kõrgharidusse ja kodanikuühiskonda. Keelepoliitika tegelik väljakutse seisnebki selle ideaali ja kehtiva olukorra vahe vähendamises. Dokoritöö uurib võrdlevalt Taani ja Eesti keelepoliitilisi mudeleid, näidates kuidas ja kas täna pakutavad lahendused keele kasutajat elus hakkamasaamisel toetavad. Analüüsist järeldub, et oluline on keelepoliitika paindlikkus: mida rohkem ühiskonna eri tasandite toimijaid (rahvusvahelise, riikliku, kohalike omavalitsuste ja ametiasutuste tasandi toimijad) on kaasatud keeleprobleemide määratlemisse ning lahenduste leidmisse, seda paindlikum on keelepoliitika ja seda toimivamad on pakutud lahendused. Mida kesksemat rolli mängib probleemide määratlemisel ja lahenduste leidmisel riik, seda vähem paindlik on keelepoliitika ja seda vähem on riigil resursse kohalikke ja keerukaid probleeme lahendada. Teine oluline tegur on sekkumise aeg subjekti seisukohalt ehk millises inimese elufaasis riik keelekasutaja ellu sekkub. Mida varasemas elufaasis riik kontrollides ja tugiõpet pakkudes sekkub, seda tulemuslikum see on. Hilisemas elufaasis toimivad aga paremini kontekstuaalsed lahendused ettevõtete või kohalike omavalitsuste tasandil, kus keeleõpet pakutakse näiteks täiendkoolituse või praktika käigus töökohal.
Answering the question of whether and how language policies can succeed also requires a critical reconsideration of what language policy is about in terms of goals stated and infrastructure developed. Rather than asking how the existing policy quarantees survival of a language norm, the question should be whether and how the policy address language users’ needs, ensuring social justice, economical well-being and participation in democratic processes in the society for all it’s members. Without language users’ active choice to use a language, there is no (future for a) language. For that purpose an extended and interdisciplinary concept of language policy is offered that goes beyond sociolinguistics and the ethnography of language, reaching out into political and social science, with a focus on structure and agency and a concern for the distribution of resources to offer best possible solutions for language users’ needs. This apporach outlines language policy as a dynamic and multilayered process, passing through circles of policy genesis, implementation, (re)creation and (re)appropriation, and being thus constantly in the making, involving different agents on different societal levels. The central point of the thesis is that a certain amount of flexibility in language policy design is required to meet language users’ changing needs in different settings and on different stages of their life. The flexibility of language policy design means that different agents on different interstate, state, local municipality and institutional level should be involved to quarantee successful identification and solving of local and contextual language problems. Key points of the thesis are highlighted through contrasting examples of Estonia’s overt (or thick) and Denmark’s covert (or thin) language policy design. Using an analytical paradigm of allocatively and authoritatively distributed resources, and moving from the macro level in legislation to the meso and micro levels of language activity, the thesis demonstrates how ‘free spaces’ can open up, revealing potential for bottom-up agency to solve language problems in the allocative model, whereas the authoritative model (as in Estonia) can lead to ‘holes’ through its insufficient distribution of resources to support succesful linguistic integration, since the majority of resources are used on control.
Answering the question of whether and how language policies can succeed also requires a critical reconsideration of what language policy is about in terms of goals stated and infrastructure developed. Rather than asking how the existing policy quarantees survival of a language norm, the question should be whether and how the policy address language users’ needs, ensuring social justice, economical well-being and participation in democratic processes in the society for all it’s members. Without language users’ active choice to use a language, there is no (future for a) language. For that purpose an extended and interdisciplinary concept of language policy is offered that goes beyond sociolinguistics and the ethnography of language, reaching out into political and social science, with a focus on structure and agency and a concern for the distribution of resources to offer best possible solutions for language users’ needs. This apporach outlines language policy as a dynamic and multilayered process, passing through circles of policy genesis, implementation, (re)creation and (re)appropriation, and being thus constantly in the making, involving different agents on different societal levels. The central point of the thesis is that a certain amount of flexibility in language policy design is required to meet language users’ changing needs in different settings and on different stages of their life. The flexibility of language policy design means that different agents on different interstate, state, local municipality and institutional level should be involved to quarantee successful identification and solving of local and contextual language problems. Key points of the thesis are highlighted through contrasting examples of Estonia’s overt (or thick) and Denmark’s covert (or thin) language policy design. Using an analytical paradigm of allocatively and authoritatively distributed resources, and moving from the macro level in legislation to the meso and micro levels of language activity, the thesis demonstrates how ‘free spaces’ can open up, revealing potential for bottom-up agency to solve language problems in the allocative model, whereas the authoritative model (as in Estonia) can lead to ‘holes’ through its insufficient distribution of resources to support succesful linguistic integration, since the majority of resources are used on control.
Description
Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone.
Keywords
Eesti, Taani, keelepoliitika, võrdlev analüüs, Estonia, Denmark, language policy, comparative analysis