Iceland’s language technology: policy versus practice

Iceland‟s language policies are purist and protectionist, aiming to maintain the grammatical system and basic vocabulary of Icelandic as it has been for a thousand years. Corpus planning plays a major role in keepin

The impact of global English on language policy : the situations of Iceland and Denmark

This thesis explores the tensions between national language policies and the ideologies underpinning them, and globalisation. In contributing to the current debates on this theme (for example, Mar-Molinero and Stevenson, 2006), I investigate the two case studies of Iceland and Denmark and their less well known European languages: Icelandic and Danish. I examine how global factors, specifically the impact of English, affect language policy in these two nations. The policy areas under investigation are those of education, cultural products and information technology. The impact ofEnglish in these areas has resulted in an infiltration of English words and structures into the corpus ofboth languages. This has led to the formulation of language policies in both countries in order to endeavour to counteract English. My findings indicate, however, that the effectiveness oflanguage policies is dependent upon the strength of nationalist ideologies underpinning the national languages, and upon institutional and public support for them. My research is carried out within the context ofthe supranational entities of Europe, and the Nordic region, to determine whether the language policies of these regions affect the national language policies of Iceland and Denmark, specifically whether they can assist these small nations in counteracting English. In order to carry out the study, visits were made to Iceland and Denmark, firstly to interview key professionals in language planning and policy, and secondly to do a survey of secondary school students to get an idea oftheir language practices.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Multilingual migrants in England: factors affecting their language use

The aim of this study has been to explore how multilingual immigrant students, who are competent in a number of linguistic varieties, experience (and make use of) their multilingualism and express their linguistic identities in educational settings in England. The study was carried out in the context of an EU funded research network, Languages in a Network of European Excellence (see www.linee.info for further details). The research took the form of qualitative interviewing, classroom observation and focus group work in two educational institutions, combined with questionnaires on student and teacher attitudes towards multilingualism. The researchers have endeavoured to explain immigrants’ use and attitudes towards the different languages in their repertoire by referring to social network theory, language hierarchies and educational policies, as well as investigating attitudes of parents, teachers and friends. The findings suggest that many factors combine to explain language attitudes and use, and that students’ multilingualism, although positively valued by the students themselves, is threatened by other values such as the high status of Englis

Icelandic Linguistic maintenance or change? : the role of English

Includes bibliographical references. Title from coverAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:6224. 1568(66) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Language use and employment opportunities of economic migrants in Europe

As part of the EU 6th Framework Network on Multilingualism(LINEE), this is a collaborative contribution to the special issue of the European Journal of Language Policy, Autumn 2010. <br/