Language Serves the People, Not the Other Way Around!
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RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE Vuk Vukotić LANGUAGE SERVES THE PEOPLE, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! Ideologies of language in Lithuania, Norway, Serbia and the Baltic, Scandinavian and Ex-Yugoslav regions. A typological perspective on metalinguistic media discourses and language policies Doctoral dissertation HUMANITIES, PHILOLOGY (04 H) Vilnius, 2019 Leidinio bibliografinė informacija pateikiama Lietuvos nacionalinės Martyno Mažvydo bibliotekos Nacionalinės bibliografijos duomenų banke (NBDB). Doctoral dissertation details Author: Vuk Vukotić Title: “Language serves the people, not the other way around!” Ideologies of language in Lithuania, Norway, Serbia and the Baltic, Scandinavian and Ex-Yugoslav regions. A typological perspective on metalinguistic media discourses and language policies Department: Centre of Sociolinguistics Institution: Institute of the Lithuanian Language Supervisor: Dr Loreta Vaicekauskienė (Associate professor, Senior Research Fellow, Head of the Centre of Sociolinguistics at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language) © Vuk Vukotić, 2019 ISBN 978-609-411-231-7 © Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 2019 CONTENTS LIST OF abbreviations ..................................................................................................6 Introduction ..................................................................................................................7 1. Theory & METHOD ...................................................................................................12 1.1. What is language, what is ideology? ........................................................................12 1.2. Language ideology – the field, history, issues ..........................................................13 1.2.1. Michael Silverstein and anthropological linguistics .......................................14 1.2.2. Problem-oriented and critical sociolinguistics ................................................15 1.2.3. The public sphere and language ideologies ...................................................18 1.2.4. Terminological notes and summary ...............................................................20 1.3. Ideologies of language era of the internet – research overview ................................22 1.3.1. Research in the sociocognitive paradigm .......................................................23 1.3.2. Research in the critical paradigm ...................................................................26 1.3.3. Other relevant research – online metalinguistic commentaries ......................28 1.4. Previous research on metalinguistic discourses and language ideologies in Lithuania, Norway and Serbia .............................................................................30 1.4.1. Lithuania ........................................................................................................30 1.4.2. Norway ..........................................................................................................33 1.4.3. Serbia .............................................................................................................34 1.5. Research method ......................................................................................................37 1.5.1. Limitation of the research object. ..................................................................37 1.5.2. Representation, expertise and function as theoretical conceptions ................38 1.5.3. Data for the dissertation .................................................................................39 1.5.3.1. The ‘expert discourse’ data ................................................................40 1.5.3.2. The ‘vox populi’ (non-experts) data ..................................................43 2. THE RESEARCH CONTEXT: Language PLANNING (LP) IN THE Baltic, Scandinavian AND EX-Yugoslav REGIONS ....................................................45 2.1. The Baltic states .......................................................................................................46 2.1.1. Historical overview: “Late standards” develop and fall under Soviet rule (1900-1990) ...................................................................................................46 2.1.2. Estonia – how to teach “them” Estonian? .....................................................47 2.1.3. Latvia makes it everyone’s national duty to strengthen Latvian .....................48 2.1.4. Lithuania is reborn: new freedoms and new restrictions ................................50 2.2. The Scandinavian countries ......................................................................................53 2.2.1. Transnational language policies in Scandinavia the Nordic countries ............54 2.2.2. Denmark accepts English ...............................................................................56 3 2.2.3. Norway’s critical culture ................................................................................57 2.2.4. Sweden preserves the purity of Swedish… but not really ..............................59 2.3. The Ex-Yugoslavian countries ..................................................................................60 2.3.1. A common South Slavic language: efforts and failure (1850-1990) ..............60 2.3.2. Bosnian orientalism .......................................................................................62 2.3.3. Croatia’s infamous purism is not state-sponsored ..........................................63 2.3.4. Montenegrin – the youngest state language in Europe .................................65 2.3.5. Serbia keeps it in the academy ......................................................................66 2.4. A comparison of LP goals, ideologies, institutions and power in the three regions ....68 2.4.1. Legislation .....................................................................................................68 2.4.2. Goals (and their implementation) ..................................................................69 2.4.3. Institutions and power ...................................................................................70 2.4.4. Ideologies .......................................................................................................73 3. Metalinguistic DISCOURSES IN THE virtual SPHERE .................................77 3.1. Language experts ......................................................................................................77 3.1.1. Lithuanian expert voices: reserved for academics and institution representatives? ..............................................................................................79 3.1.2. Norwegian experts: celebs and researchers ....................................................93 3.1.3. Serbian experts are not just from Serbia .......................................................99 3.1.4. Quantitative and comparative results ...........................................................106 3.2. The online comments, or “vox populi” ..................................................................111 3.2.1. Lithuania ......................................................................................................112 3.2.1.1. Representation ................................................................................114 3.2.1.2. Expertise .........................................................................................119 3.2.1.3. Function..........................................................................................124 3.2.2. Norway ........................................................................................................126 3.2.2.1. Representation ................................................................................127 3.2.2.2. Expertise .........................................................................................130 3.2.2.3. Function..........................................................................................133 3.2.3. Serbia ...........................................................................................................135 3.2.3.1. Representation ................................................................................135 3.2.3.2. Expertise .........................................................................................140 3.2.3.3. Function..........................................................................................144 3.2.4. Quantitative and comparative results ...........................................................146 4. DISCUSSION, critique, RECOMMendations ...................................................148 4.1. Types of beliefs about language ..............................................................................148 4.2. “The big picture”: Language ideologies on the macro-societal level ...................... 150 4.2.1. Language ideologies in the Baltic, Scandinavian and Ex-Yugoslav societies, a preliminary sketch ....................................................................................150 4.2.2. European, “Western” and global context .....................................................155 4.3. Methodology critique .............................................................................................158 5. CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................161 6. Literature ................................................................................................................165 6.1. Primary