Language policies and linguistic competence: new speakers in the Norwegian construction industry

Abstract

Taking the Norwegian construction industry as its site of study, this article discusses under which conditions migrant workers in the Norwegian construction industry obtain the status as new speakers in the workplace. These conditions are determined by language proficiency requirements and speaker hierarchies that are constructed through language management at various institutional levels (legislation, industry and workplace). Moreover, the article highlights how language management in the construction industry ascribes linguistic competences, especially competences in the nation-state language Norwegian, with value. Ultimately, this value entails opportunities as well as challenges for the professional lives of migrant workers. The study uses an Ethnography of Language Policy approach combined with Foucauldian discourse analysis which emphasises discourses as social practices. Discourses of policy documents and recommendations are analysed and contextualised with workplace practices and workers’ accounts from three different Norwegian construction sites. The article contributes to the study of new speakers by providing insights into language management in a workplace dominated by multilingualism, migration, and temporariness.