The study of World Englishes has allowed researchers to capture diverse sociolinguistic profiles of English by analyzing its emerging forms and varieties, by outlining its historical, economic, educational and socio-political roles, and by identifying its linguistic functions within a particular context (Bolton and Kachru Reference Bolton and Kachru2006). World Englishes research draws on a tripartite conceptual framework that facilitates a comparative overview of various Englishes based on their status within the sociolinguistic context (Kachru Reference Kachru1997). The framework's three categories are applied to identify the English variety as: 1) a primary language of the majority population in the country (e.g., United States), 2) an additional language for intra- and international communication (e.g., India), or 3) a language used almost solely for international communication (e.g., Croatia) (Schneider Reference Schneider, Filppula, Klemola and Sharma2017).

This edited volume challenges the recognized categorizations within the World Englishes paradigm, where each sociolinguistic profile of English is associated with a particular country as a unique case. Instead, it encourages a unified regional perspective on the spread of English across different sociolinguistic domains and functions, taking a critical stance regarding the opportunities and the threats of its dominance across the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). These countries have been known for their populations’ high proficiency in English and the similarity in their core values and traditions when it comes to education and governance. Given the widespread use of English in different sociolinguistic domains, it becomes difficult to fit them within one of the three categories in the World Englishes framework. Despite these similarities, the editors, Elizabeth Peterson and Kristy Beers Fägersten, warn the reader that the unified approach they adopt does not imply or encourage linguistic, cultural and historical homogeneity across the Nordic countries. On the contrary, the juxtaposition of the everyday realities across these countries reveals the intricate differences among them.

The editors have managed to gather contributions from scholars whose research has been well-established across various linguistic disciplines within the historical and political constraints in the Nordic region. The lineup of prominent scholars in the last chapter (Chapter 12), discussing different topics and issues that emerge from the spread of English in this region, is especially impressive. The volume features a multidisciplinary approach to the study of English spread by including different methodological considerations that stem from political science, sociolinguistics, pragmatics and linguistic landscape. The methodological diversity, in turn, allows for representation of different aspects of the role and status of English in the Nordic countries across the 12 chapters included in the volume.

The chapters are organized into two parts; while Part 1: Background and Critical Perspective outlines the spread of English and its influences on the local languages, Part 2: English in Different Settings describes a range of contemporary domains of English use in the Nordic region. With this structure, the volume brings into focus specific language-related and use-related observations and issues embedded within a particular geographical or social context, rather than spotlight the sociolinguistic profile of a country. In the Introduction, the editors use the opportunity to justify this approach to the volume structure by defining the region and the scope of the book, as well as by highlighting the presence of English across the Nordic region.

The five chapters in the first part of the volume provide a broad overview of the historical and contemporary linguistic developments in the Nordic countries, with focus on the Nordic languages, their linguistic contact with English and the consequences of long-term language contact, such as increased linguistic and pragmatic borrowing and ideologies associated with linguistic threat. Chapters 2 (Strang) and 3 (Peterson) outline the shared history of the dominant languages in the Nordic region by discussing the importance of the Scandinavian languages in political cooperation, transnational communication and formation of a shared cultural and social values. Chapter 2 (Strang) emphasizes English's democratic, egalitarian and inclusive function, which allows for abatement of the hierarchies that have historically existed in the region. Chapter 3 (Peterson), on the other hand, compares the historical and contemporary linguistic phenomena to distinguish between outward movement of people and languages in the past (from the Nordic countries to Britain and North America) and inward movement of people and languages into the Nordic region (current migration trends). Despite the divergent perspectives on the linguistic history, both chapters strongly acknowledge English as a new lingua franca within the region.

Chapter 4 (Beers Fägersten), Chapter 5 (Hilmisdóttir and Peterson), and Chapter 6 (Mortensen) continue the discussion regarding the outcomes of the intense Nordic languages’ linguistic contact with English, especially within the past few decades. In Chapter 4, Beers Fägersten explains the influence of Anglophone popular culture on contemporary discourse in the Nordic languages due to the prevailing positive attitudes and young people's exposure to English through both education and media. While Beers Fägersten emphasizes cultural loans and code-switching, Hilmisdóttir and Peterson (Chapter 5) argue that the prolonged unidirectional contact with English has led to linguistic borrowings that contribute to the social and grammatical variation in the linguistic systems in the Nordic region. Therefore, these borrowings do not represent threat to the local linguistic systems, and instead of replacing the standardized linguistic varieties of the Nordic languages, they gain social functions (e.g., modernity, informality). In Chapter 6, Mortensen extends the discussion on the perceived opportunities and threats of English, taking a critical perspective on past and current political ideologies that fuel societal debates and arguing that understanding the role of English in the Nordic countries requires a critical approach to the debates.

With the historical and contemporary overviews of the language situations across in the Nordic region, the first part establishes the fundament for the second part of the volume. The five chapters in this part zoom in on language practices that involve English in specific linguistic domains, such as English-medium instruction (EMI), the Nordic workplace, social media and multilingual families. In addition to highlighting a specific linguistic setting, each of these chapters draws on specific cases from Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. Chapter 7 (Paulsrud and Cunningham) and Chapter 8 (Lønsmann) deal with ideologies and polices regarding the use of English vis-à-vis the local language(s) or the Nordic languages in the contexts of higher education and the corporate world. In both contexts, English, often governed by top-down policies, is linked with recruitment of internationals and migration. Although the presence of English in higher education and the professional settings is expected to remain in the foreseeable future, both chapters argue for the establishment of multilingual policies that carefully position English in relation to the Nordic languages in order to avoid lack of power balance, insecurity, and exclusion.

The following three chapters (Chapters 9–11) depict the dynamics of multilingual practices at regional level, in digital environments and within families. Chapter 9 (Hiss) presents a rhizomatic view of the linguistic constellations in the multilingual context of Northern Norway, where English competes with multiple languages, including Norwegian, Sámi and Kven. Here, Hiss argues that the multilingual relations among the languages are fluid, unpredictable and dynamic. Chapter 10 (Kytölä), on the other hand, argues that participants’ communicative behavior in digital settings blurs linguistic boundaries. Participants in social media events tend to have the capacity to appropriate and own the English language in order to express nuanced language and humor. The fluid translingual practices discerned in larger societal and digital settings are also identified in communication within multilingual families, as presented in Chapter 11 (Pietikäinen & Gühr). The chapter argues that although linguistic relationships remain stable, permutations in the dominance or the form of English use are also observed, regardless of whether these permutations develop intuitively or are based on conscious decisions within the family.

Given the exhaustive coverage of topics, the volume targets readers interested in the linguistic ideologies, policies and practices that govern the positioning of English within the rich linguistic tapestries in the Nordic region. The unique representation of the characteristics of English as a social, cultural and political phenomenon that has developed through continuous interactions with the local languages make the volume appealing to researchers, scholars and students across various linguistic disciplines.