1. LANGUAGE
REPRESENTATIONS
A Classification Based on a Multilingual Empirical Approach.
Petra Daryai-Hansen, Ph.D.
Roskilde University, Denmark

2. What is the most beautiful/ugly language in the World?
”Beautiful: I'd say it's between the Spanish and French
languages, although Italian has a subtle beauty and
Portuguese has lovely romantic tones as well.
Ugly: Definitely German, Russian is very harsh as well.
Japanese is just too much, too maniac like. Danish is
horrible as well.”
SummerRain, Forum Member 08-02-2010, 19:56
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?s=ef4bdc67785ea28003a236ff76d24ca0&t=1213673

3. Language representations – a definition
language attitude research, social psychology, ethnodia-
lectologyy, linguistic anthropology in the Chicago tradition
• Hall’s (1997, 25) constructivistic definition: ”[…] things
don’t mean: we construct meaning, using representational
systems.”
• Bourdieu (1982:135): ”[…] sentations
mentales, c’est- -dire d’actes de perception et
ciation, […] où les agents investissent leurs
̂ts et leurs s”

4. Language hierarchisations in Denmark
”Engelsk har en vældig høj status […]. Dansk har [...]
naturligvis også en høj status […]. Efter engelsk og dansk
kommer de øvrige fremmedsprog som der er udstrakt
undervisning i: tysk, fransk, spansk m.v., og til sidst
kommer indvandrersprog som tyrkisk, arabisk, […]
mandarin m.v.” (Lund/Risager 2001, 6)
Risager (2005): three levels

5. Initial research questions
• Can Lund/Risager and Risager’s language hierarchy be
empirically substantiated?
• Are there internal hierarchisations? (Calvet 1987, 75)
• Are these trends particular to Denmark or are such
hierarchisations also manifest in other European
countries?

6. Project design
• comparison between Denmark and Germany
• representation of foreign languages
• framework of official language and educational policies
• documents: 2003-2008
• 1,940 Danish language representations
• 1,154 German language representations

7. Comparative critical discourse analysis
(Jäger 2001, Niehr 2002)
language policies
language ideology
sociology of
sociolinguistics
language

8. Language hierarchisations (Risager 2005)
Inclusive practice
(a) + language choice
(b) + language representation
Practices
Exclusive practice
(a) - language choice
(ba) - language representation
(bb) 0 language representation

9. Bourdieu’s linguistic market
Legitimate languages
Linguistic capital
Languages with positive distinction value
Illegitimate languages
Languages with negative distinction value

10. Dualism
Languages with positive market value
Inclusion – Promotion
+ language choice
+ language representation
Practices
Languages with negative market value
Exclusion – Discrimination
- language choice
- language representation
0 language representation

11. Convergence and divergence
Inclusive and exclusive practice
(a) + language choice
(b) - language representation
Practices
Exclusive and inclusive practice
(a) - language choice
(b) + language representation

12. Theoretisation of language hierarchisation:
Language representation and language choice
M a c r o- a n d m i c r o c o n t e x t
Levels of inclusion and exclusion
absolute relative
SUBJECT RECIPIENT
OBJECT: What languages?
PRACTICE: How?

13. The multilingual basis:
The object and practice of the representation
Immigrant languages:
• German discourse: ”Familiensprache“, ”Mehrsprachigkeit“
• Danish discourse: “ikke dansk som
modersmål“, ”tosprogethed“
English:
• German discourse: ”Einsprachenregime“, ”sprachliche
Monokultur“
• Danish discourse: ”fremmedsprog”, ”parallelsproglighed“

14. Inclusive and exclusive representational forms
language promotion
language rivalry
language acknowledgment
a n t i - e x clusiv e l a n g u a g e i n c l u s i o n
subordinated language inclusion
language discrimination

15. Other representational parameters
named not named
linked to English not linked to English
linked to the present/future linked to the past
linked to status/acquisition linked to corpus
specification of the representation

16. Language hierarchisations in the Danish discourse
English
English >< Danish
Immigrant languages
Antihegemonic discourse

17. Language hierarchisations in the German discourse
Two European languages (+ others, receptive)
language diversity
English, French
English >< German
Immigrant languages

18. Discussion
Do language policy studies, which are based on a
concept of language recognition and
dehierarchisation, have a special responsibility for
researching multilingually?

19. Language choice on the textual level:
A plurilingual language policy
• Thesis written in Denmark – in German
• Primary sources: Danish data without translation
• Secondary sources: Danish, French and English
research without translation
• Promotion of receptive plurilingualism outlined by
European language policies
• Accepted by the PhD Committee and the German
publisher

20. Bibliography
• Bourdieu, Pierre (1982). Ce que parler veut dire: l'économie des
échanges linguistiques. Paris: Fayard.
• Calvet, Louis-Jean (1987). La guerre des langues et les politiques
linguistiques, Paris: Payot.
• Jäger, Siegfried (2001a). Kritische Diskursanalyse. Eine
Einführung, Duisburg: Duisburger Institut für Sprach- und
Sozialforschung.
• Niehr, Thomas (2002). ”International vergleichende Diskurs- und
Argumentationsanalyse. Vorstellung eines Forschungsprogramms.”
EliSe, Essener Linguistische Skripte – elektronisch 2 (2002), 51-64.
• Lund, Karen / Risager, Karen (2001). ”Dansk i midten”. Sprogforum 19
(2001). København: Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitetsforlag, 4-8.
• Risager, Karen (2005). ”Sproglige eksklusionshierarkier – de hundrede
sprogs betydning”. Fra Minoritetsstudiers værksted nr. 2. København:
Københavns Universitet, 1-21.
• Hall, Stuart (1997) (ed.). Representations. Cultural Representations and

22. Danish discourse German discourse
Sproglovgivning, Redegørelse af 18/12 03 Grundgesetz, Artikel 3,
regering om det danske sprog Absatz 3
Sprog på spil – et ud- Diskursfragmente der Bundes-
spil til en dansk sprogpolitik regierung und des Bundestages
sprog- Diskursfragmenter fra Diskursfragmente fra
institutioner Dansk Sprognævn Deutscher Sprachrat
Skolevæsen, Fremtidens Sprogfag – Fremdsprachen in der
sprogfag vinduer mod en større verden Grundschule (KMK)
Almen sprogforståelse: lære- Bericht ‘Konzepte für den
plan/undervisningsvejledning bilingualen Unterricht’ (KMK)
Skolevæsen, Bekendtgørelse om folke- Empfehlung ‘Interkulturelle
indvandrersprog skolens modersmålsunder- Bildung und Erziehung in
visning der Schule’ (KMK)
Fælles Mål: Indvandrersprog Bericht ‘Zuwanderung’ (KMK)
Organisering af folke- Integration als Chance –
skolens undervisning af to- gemeinsam für mehr
sprogede elever Chancengerechtigkeit (KMK)

23. The multilingual basis:
The practice of the representation
How to define language promotion?
1. Positive evaluations
2. Representation as languages that are learned or
should be learned
3. Representation as languages that are promoted or
should be promoted

24. Discourses as flows of knowledge throughout time

25. The structure of discourse
• Discourse (strands)
• Entanglements of discourse strands (discursive knot)
• Interdiscourse, special discourse (scientific)
• Discourse planes and sectors
• Discourse fragments, discourse elements
• History, present and future of discourse strands
• Discursive context, discursive events
• Discourse positions (counter-discourses)
• Overall societal discourse, global discourse

26. Simultaneous inclusion and exclusion
“Any language policy, be it monolingual or
multilingual, strategies of inclusion and exclusion
of
languages go hand in hand. Language
hierarchizations can never be avoided altogether.”
(Risager 2012)