ABSTRACT

Linguistic and cultural diversity in Northern Norwegian working life has increased dramatically in the twenty-first century. Based on a series of telephone interviews with company representatives, this article presents an overview of the new multilingual reality in many workplaces and analyzes how managers and administrators position their expectations and experiences of it. Participants’ responses suggest that many workplaces are linguistically segregated. Though most participants said their companies did not have explicit workplace language policies, they expressed clear perceptions of how things should be in their workplaces, and these were often in conflict with their descriptions of the status quo. We also show how multiple contextual conditions in and out of workplaces, both ideological and practical, informed participants’ accounts of multilingual practices in their workplaces. Static and normative ideological positions are challenged by employees’ language choices, practices, and developments on a societal level, particularly those of the labour market, which regulates companies’ access to workers. Our study reveals the need for applicable knowledge about multilingual practices and sociolinguistic relations in workplaces.

摘要

挪威北部工作生活中的语言和文化多样性在 21 世纪急剧增加。本文基于对公司代表的一系列电话采访，概述了许多工作场所中新的多语言现实，并分析了经理和行政人员如何定位他们对它的期望和体验。参与者的回答表明，许多工作场所在语言上是隔离的。尽管大多数参与者表示他们的公司没有明确的工作场所语言政策，但他们对工作场所的情况表达了明确的看法，而这些看法往往与他们对现状的描述相冲突。我们还展示了工作场所内外的多种背景条件，包括意识形态和实践，告知参与者他们工作场所的多语言实践。静态和规范的意识形态立场受到员工在社会层面上的语言选择、​​实践和发展的挑战，尤其是劳动力市场，它规范公司接触工人的机会。我们的研究揭示了在工作场所需要有关多语言实践和社会语言关系的适用知识。