Language ideologies and inequality with a perspective on the Arctic

The Arctic is a site of huge sociolinguistic changes.

Historically, different types of migration have led to complex sociolinguistic situations with language ideologies and policies, implicitly or explicitly, supporting certain linguistic practices while suppressing others.

This is evident in the way colonial powers have sought to install certain languages as legitimate, e.g. through processes of standardization, while others have been constructed as inferior and perhaps even uncivilized and unfit for modern life.

In many Arctic regions indigenous languages are no longer the unmarked everyday language, but this does not mean that they have lost their importance as markers of identity and belonging, and at the same time, these languages and dialects can gain new meaning and value.

The linguistic situation in the Arctic is furthermore impacted by modern processes of globalization, mobility, and language contact, leading to new complex sociolinguistic situations. Long distance labor migration to e.g. Sápmi or Greenland leads to the presence of languages such as Arabic and Tagalog, whereas English is ubiquitous as the global lingua franca and as a prominent everyday language in many aspects of modern life, also in the Arctic.

The contemporary sociolinguistic situation in the Arctic calls for an engagement with language ideologies and inequality, examining the diverse and unpredictable ways in which language form part of everyday inequalities. 

Registration for attendance

There is no conference fee, and the conference language will be English.

If you are interested in attending the presentations at the LIIA-conference, we ask that you send us an e-mail on [email protected] with a deadline on May 17th. This registration is free but it helps us estimate the amount of coffee and tea necessary for the breaks. Lunch on both days will be free for participants presenting at the conference. It is possible for other participants to buy lunch in the cafeteria.

In case of questions, please e-mail the organizers (Tikaajaat Kristensen, Christoph Hare Svenstrup and Marie Maegaard), also at [email protected].

We look forward to welcoming you in Nuuk in May 2024.

Tikaajaat Kristensen, Christoph Hare Svenstrup and Marie Maegaard

Oqaatsinik Ilisimatusarfik, Kulturimik, Oqaatsinik Oqaluttuarisaanermillu Ilisimatusarfik, Ilisimatusarfik

Centre for Language Research, Institute of Culture, Language and History, University of Greenland