ABSTRACT

This paper presents a thematic analysis of public sector discourse on the values assigned to regional minority and community languages within the UK and Finland. This paper draws from semi-structured interviews conducted in Manchester, Cardiff, Helsinki, and Rovaniemi. Two key themes emerged from the interview data: Language as a Resource for Integration and Language as a Resource for Employment. The findings demonstrate that the concept of language as a resource is multidimensional and complex, as majority, regional minority, and community languages are valued differently within macro-policy and service provider discourse. In the public sector discourse, the majority language skills were positioned as necessary resources for migrants’ integration into society. However, the regional minority languages, Welsh in Wales and Swedish in Finland, were framed as providing additional integration benefits. Community language skills were acknowledged as resources for meeting the diverse language needs of the public sector. However, both regional minority and community languages were positioned as ancillary to the majority languages for employment opportunities. Overall, these patterns reveal a hierarchical attribution of value based on underlying ideologies that emphasise the civic and economic benefits of multilingualism.

摘要

本文对公共部门关于英国和芬兰地区少数民族和社区语言的价值观的讨论进行了专题分析。本文取材于在曼彻斯特、加的夫、赫尔辛基和罗瓦涅米进行的半结构化访谈。访谈数据中出现了两个关键主题：语言作为整合资源和语言作为就业资源. 研究结果表明，语言作为资源的概念是多维和复杂的，因为在宏观政策和服务提供者话语中，多数语言、区域少数语言和社区语言的价值不同。在公共部门的话语中，大多数语言技能被定位为移民融入社会的必要资源。然而，区域少数民族语言，威尔士的威尔士语和芬兰的瑞典语，被认为提供了额外的融合好处。社区语言技能被认为是满足公共部门不同语言需求的资源。然而，地区少数民族和社区语言都被定位为就业机会的主要语言的辅助。全面的，