This volume gathers papers examining linguistic diversity and its changing face across Europe. Following an introduction by the editors, the twelve individual chapters are grouped into three parts.
In the first part, four case studies take a look at how linguistic diversity is perceived and performed in different settings and speaker communities. Niko Partanen & Janne Saarikivi explore who speaks Karelian with whom and uncover a complex network of language use and its change over time through a series of interviews. Heini Lehtonen discusses how the language practices of multilingual adolescents in Helsinki schools are shaped by their linguistic biographies. Boglárka Janurik studies the broadcasts of Radio Vaygel, which are analysed for code-switching between Erzya and Russian, as well as for the role they play in language maintenance. Christian Pischlöger reviews Udmurt use on social network sites and concludes that Udmurt as a content language on such sites has not gained widespread acceptance yet but is rather limited to language activism.
In the second part, the authors look at the identities of minority-language speakers and processes involved in trying to standardise these identities. Hanna Lantto gives an overview of the linguistic history of multilingual Bilbao, for example, the ongoing language shift that manifests itself in hybrid practices such as language mixing in songs and poems. Next, Oksana Myshlovska writes about changing identities in the face of changing politics by looking at the Russian minority in Ukraine and the Ukrainian minority in Russia, whose identities are characterised by diversity and ambiguity. Erika Katjaana Sarivaara investigates self-identification in the context of the Sámi people and looks into who has the right to identify as Sámi, considering that official Sámi status is tied to political and monetary resources. Reetta Toivanen makes the case for pluralistic minority identities by looking at what happens when the local minority identity is influenced by new global ideas about diversity and human rights, and what happens to ‘minorities within minorities’ in heterogeneous minority groups.
The third part considers linguistic diversity in a wider context: How is the concept of diversity itself perceived and protected? Konstantin Zamyatin surveys Russia's implementation of the European Language Charter and what role language-protection laws play in the preservation of a minority language. Johanna Laakso focuses on the concept of language diversity itself and argues that we should speak of a ‘metadiversity’, a multitude of diversity concepts, as there is a lot of variation in how different minority groups perceive their (linguistic) minority status and its relation to other minorities. Ulriikka Puura & Outi Tánczos examine how responsibility for language maintenance is represented in media discourse and who are regarded as the most important carriers of language. Lastly, Svetlana Edygarova explores the role of standard language within three Permian language minority communities and attitudes towards language variation that deviates from the standard.
Overall, the book, with its multitude of case studies, represents a useful resource for anyone wanting to gain a detailed insight into the wide range of diversities across Europe.
