Promoting minority languages in the Nordic region

Are you interested in language policy and how it applies to minority languages in the Nordic region? The term minority languages refers to languages that have relatively few speakers – for example Greenlandic, Faroese and Åland Swedish, a Swedish dialect spoken in an autonomous region in Finland. Other examples include Sami, Romani or German (in Denmark), regional minority languages with a long history in the Nordic countries, while other minority languages are the result of more recent immigration to the Nordic countries. Finally, there is a national sign language in each of the Nordic countries. Common to all these languages is the fact that they play an important role in the social and cultural identity of their users; supporting them can be seen as a central task for the Nordic democracies.

Institutet för språk och folkminne (Isof - the Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore, which is part of the Swedish Language Board) is to hold a number of seminars on the topic and is publishing research-based recommendations in the book Promoting minority languages. Here you can read more about minority languages in both a European and a Nordic context, and about various studies into minority languages, language technology, and the role of public authorities, schools and the media.

A number of researchers and experts have contributed to the book and put forward their recommendations to address the following questions: How can minority languages in the Nordic region best be supported? How can we work to revitalise these languages? What methods should we adopt?

CIP’s Centre Director, Anne Holmen, has written two of the articles in the publication and also participated in a training day for Nordplus staff on the topic earlier this year.

If you are interested in the subject or work with minority languages, you can find the book here: Promoting minority languages - why minority languages in the Nordic countries need to be supported and how this can best be achieved.

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