English in the Nordic Countries

People in the Nordic states - Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland - rank as among the most proficient speakers of English in the world. In this unique volume, international experts explore how this came to be, what English usage and integration looks like in different spheres of society and the economy in these countries, and the implications of this linguistic phenomenon for language attitudes and identity, for the region at large, and for English in Europe and around the world. Led by Elizabeth Peterson and Kristy Beers Fägersten, contributors provide a historical overview to the subject, synthesize the latest research, illustrate the roles of English with original case studies from diverse communities and everyday settings, and offer transnational insights critically and in conversation with the situation in other Nordic states. This comprehensive text is the first book of its kind and will be of interest to advanced students and researchers of World/Global Englishes and English as a lingua franca, language contact and dialect studies/language varieties, language policy, multilingualism, sociolinguistics, and Nordic/Scandinavian and European studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Elizabeth Peterson is a senior university lecturer in the Department of Languages at the University of Helsinki. She is a sociolinguist who specializes in variation, language contact, language attitudes, and ideologies. An American migrant to Finland, she is especially interested in the dynamics of multilingualism, language rights, and language change. Kristy Beers Fägersten is Professor of English Linguistics at the School of Culture and Education at Södertörn University, Sweden. Her research disciplines include pragmatics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and conversation analysis. Her publications feature analyses of the language of media and popular culture, with a special focus on language play, humor, and swearing.

Chapter 1. English in the Nordic countries: An introduction Elizabeth Peterson and Kristy Beers Fägersten Part I: Background and critical perspectives Chapter 2. The role of English in the Nordic language system Johan Strang Chapter 3. Shifting connections between English and the languages of the Nordic region Elizabeth Peterson Chapter 4. Anglicization of the languages of the Nordic countries: Popular culture and everyday discourse Kristy Beers Fägersten Chapter 5. Language contact and language change: Impact on the languages of the Nordic countries Helga Hilmisdóttir and Elizabeth Peterson Chapter 6. Beyond threat or opportunity: English and language ideological tensions in the Nordic countries Janus Mortensen Part II: English in different settings Chapter 7. Parallelingualism, translanguaging, and English-medium instruction in Nordic higher education BethAnne Paulsrud and Una Cunningham Chapter 8. English in the Nordic workplace: Practices, policies, and ideologies Dorte Lønsmann Chapter 9. English in Norway's multilingual North: A rhizomatic view on encounters with historical and transnational diversity Florian Hiss Chapter 10. Metapragmatics of "bad" English in Finnish social media Samu Kytölä Chapter 11. English in Nordic multilingual families: Couple and family language practices Kaisa S. Pietikäinen and Louisa Gühr Chapter 12. English in the Nordic countries: Conclusions Elizabeth Peterson and Kristy Beers Fägersten