English language and linguistics research seminar: Dorte Lønsmann, University of Copenhagen: English as an everyday language in Scandinavia

Historically, English has played the role of a foreign language in Scandinavia. During the 20th century English became increasingly more prominent in the Scandinavian countries, initially as one of the primary foreign languages taught in school and towards the end of the century as a language with a large presence in the media, in workplaces and in higher education. In this paper, I make a case for regarding English as an everyday language in Denmark – and the rest of Scandinavia.

The project English and Globalisation in Denmark: A Changing Sociolinguistic Landscape investigates the current role of English through a large-scale survey, a series of ethnographic focus groups and a linguistic ethnographic case study. In this paper, I draw on both quantitative and qualitative data to illustrate the current landscape of English as an everyday language in Denmark. Based on these analyses, I question prevalent conceptualisations of Denmark as a (largely) monolingual speech community and argue that we need to move beyond notions of ‘foreign’, ‘second’ or ‘additional’ language if we want to adequately theorise the role English plays in Denmark today. Intimately tied to ongoing socio-political, demographic, and technological developments, the changing role of English can be seen as a process of sociolinguistic change which involves the emergence of new language practices as well as new language ideological orientations.