Josep Soler CarbonellUniversity of Tartu (Estonia)

University of Barcelona (Spain)

Conference “Languages of the Wider World”

London, 16-17 April, 2009.

Local and Global Languages in Different Official Status.

IntroductionDiscuss the interrelation between local and

global languages in different settings.Source: fieldwork in Estonia and Catalonia.Main questions:

Becoming a minority and its consequences.The adaption (or lack thereof) of a local

language.The maintenance of a global language.Highlight the most interesting trends

observed from the two study cases.

A note on terminologyThe labels “global

language” and “local language”, a problematic issue.

Global Language: English and only English?

The classification of local languages.

OR

English

Spanish

Chinese

German

French

More on methodology

The tools

Participatory observation.

In-depth interviews.

Focus-group discussions.

Ethnographic survey.

ResultsCatalonia: Spanish Autonomous Region. Aprox. 7 M inhabitants.Official languages: Spanish and Catalan.94,5% understand Catalan language.48,8% consider it their first language.44,32% cosider Spanish to be their L1.Source: Institutd’Estadística de Catalunya.

Estonia: independent State (since 1991), EU member (since 2004). Aprox. 1,4 M inhabitants. Official languages: Estonian.Population (by ethnic filiation): Estonians 68,8%, Russians 25,6%, Ukranians 2,1%, Belarrussians 1,2 %.Source: Estonian People’s Ministery.

Participatory observation:The classroom in

Tallin:

The classroom in Barcelona:

Table

Blackboard

Teacher

L1E

L1E

L1E

L1E

L1R L1R

L1R

L1R

EMPTY

EMPTY

EMPTY

EMPTY

Blackboard

Teacher

L1C L1C

L1C L1C

L1C L1C L1C

L1S

EMPTY

EMPTY

EMPTY

L1 Russian L1 Estonian

1 72 85

2 97 83

3 50 64

4 82 90

Estonian language value in terms of:1.Social activities.2.Labor activities.3.Leisure activities.4.Intellectual activities.

100: Very important.67: Important.33: Unimportant.0: Not at all important.

Adopting a local language:

For what purpose?Is it a must or a plus?A painful or a playful process?Imposing or promoting its adoption?

L1 Russian L1 Estonian

1 67 73

2 66 81

3 88 94

4 99 85

5 83 64

6 31 93

100: I totally agree.75: I agree.50: I neither agree, nor disagree.25: I disagree.0: I totally disagree.

1. Estonian is a necessary language in Estonia.2. Estonian is a language that’s worth being developed.3. I would like my children to master Estonian.4. Estonian helps you find a better job.5. If you master both Estonian and Russian, then youmight find a better paid job.6. I’d like Estonian to remain the sole official languagein Estonia.

The loss of status:

In Estonia:Clear change 1991.Perceived differently

by older and younger generations.

In Catalonia:Not such an issue.

Gradual process.Nowadays tendency:

towards a clash of languages’ roles.

“What I see here is they are trying to do the same Russians did, because Estonians think there was a Russification during Soviet times, but the other way round. Now there is being Estonification, if we can say so. That’s why Russian has no status now.(...) And look at what other countries are doing. Look at Finland, for example, where only 5% of the population is Swedish and there you have this as an official state language. That’s normal!” (JI3EMPL1RUS).

“I don’t think Russian has lost any status, simply because it is still very much widely spoken in all the country, at least in larger cities” (JA1ESTL1RUS).

Interesting observed trends

• Languages as a capital value(Bourdieu).

• Languages and their identity value;the i-value, or the question of “authenticity”(Gal & Woolard 2005).

THANK YOU!