Gabrielle S Hogan-Brun

Changing Levels of Bilingualism across the Baltic.

Since the cessation of Soviet hegemony the Baltic Republics have endured drastic changes in their political, economic, social and linguistic situation. The official reinstatement of the respective state languages has been a key feature in the establishment of their newly regained national independence. Consequently, large sections of the population need to undergo language instruction in order to be able to function in the changed linguistic environment. For many members of the ethnic communities, this has involved a shift from either monolingualism (predominantly Russian) or bilingualism (e.g. of Belarusian or Ukrainian) with Russian to a bilingualism of their ethnic language, or in some cases of Russian, with Lithuanian, Latvian or Estonian. This contribution will report on language-related developments across the Baltic and on ensuing educational challenges in Lithuania set against a diachronic perspective of local bilingual settings.

Emerging language and education policies in Lithuania

Against a historical background, this paper explores language-related challenges that have arisen in Lithuania since the cessation of Soviet hegemony. The reinstatement in 1990 of the official status of Lithuanian led to the gradual replacement of Russian in public life. Provisions were made for public-sector employees and other members from the ethnic communities to become proficient in the state language, and laws were introduced for the protection of minority languages and cultures.Lithuanias two major ethnic groups, the Russians and the Poles, have responded differently to integration, requiring different educational measures to support the diverse needs of a society in transition. In contrast to the other Baltic states, where the proportion of Russians and other non-indigenous minorities is greater, Lithuanian language and education policies have been successful in promoting social integration whilst at the same time safeguarding cultural and linguistic diversity.

Language-in-education across the Baltic: policies, practices and challenges

Since their political reorientation that started in the late 1980s, the Baltic states have experienced profound social reforms to rebuild their democratizing societies. Education has featured as a key vehicle to this transformation process of overcoming the limitations of the Soviet past. National legislative frameworks were therefore soon provided to restructure educational systems and allow for ‘liberal’ approaches to schooling. The process of policy‐making for a new concept of education, however, entailed numerous challenges, and it has resulted in a diverse tapestry of educational provision across the Baltic. With specific focus on minority education, this paper presents a comparative analysis of education policies and practices in contemporary Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in response to emerging language needs in these intensely multiethnic settings.

Perspectives on Language Attitudes and Use in Lithuania's Multilingual Setting.

EU accession negotiations have impacted on and generated ongoing interest in Baltic language and citizenship legislation. There is however no detailed knowledge of prevailing language attitudes amongst mainstream and minority populations in Lithuania. This paper investigates attitudes to minority language use and to the (officially reinstated) state language, and considers aspects of linguistic identification in the historically densely multilingual and multiethnic areas of Eastern and South-Eastern Lithuania. Our findings, based on newly acquired data from a major survey, show that although language loyalties are complex, attitudes towards Lithuanian are overall positive. Moreover, the results also point to the potential development of relatively stable bilingualism (for Lithuanians and Russians) and trilingualism (for Poles) in this region.

Language and Education Orientations in Lithuania: A Cross-Baltic Perspective Post-EU Accession.

Abstract This paper presents an up-to-date overview of language policies and practices in Lithuania, paying particular attention to the latest developments that have taken place in national educational contexts. Against the background of recent sociodemographic changes in the three Baltic republics, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, it analyzes issues pertaining to educational measures chosen in support of both Lithuanian and other locally used languages. In tracing re-evolving individual multilingualisms amongst majority and minority populations around EU accession, it will be shown that these are symbolic of changing orientations, which are socially, politically and economically motivated.

The language situation in Lithuania

Abstract This article reviews language-related developments in contemporary Lithuania, contrasting these with the situation in Estonia and Latvia where appropriate. After a brief discussion of previous changing language settings, we look at the impact of state actions to regulate the implementation of Lithuanian and offer new research findings on language use and attitudes amongst mainstream and minority populations. We conclude that whilst language loyalties are complex, inclusive language and citizenship policies have helped to generate positive attitudes to linguistic and cultural diversity and social integration. Suggestions for a future research agenda on the language situation in Lithuania conclude this contribution.⟨p⟩

Minority Languages in Europe: An Introduction to the Current Debate

The use of the language of choice is an important human right as it is through language — a primary marker of identity — that we are able to identify ourselves, others, and to be identified by others, that we think, communicate and generally relate to the world around us. The violation of this right bears a potential for conflict as is only too evident in many ethnic conflicts in Europe, Africa and Asia, where language rights are often among the demands behind which ethnic groups rally when they challenge states for a recognition of their distinct identities. Acknowledging this potential for conflict has generated a long history of specific rights afforded to linguistically defined minority communities in Europe. The Peace Treaty of Westphalia, the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna and the League of Nations Minority Treaties during the inter-war period in the first half of the twentieth century all included provisions for specific group-based rights in key areas related to language use, such as cultural institutions, education and communication with public services. In the post-1945 period, the new international system took a turn away from group rights and focussed on individual human rights.

The Baltic Republics and Language Ideological Debates Surrounding European Union Accession

This paper describes the impact of European Union accession negotiations on language ideological debates regarding minority (language) and citizenship rights in the Baltic Republics. It explores issues pertaining to the transferability of standards developed for established democracies in the West to the situation of democratising countries in Central and Eastern Europe, where the demographic legacy of the Soviet past has left its imprint on the structure and outlook of society. Finally, it considers a range of factors which need to be taken into account in Western discourses on diversity and integration, or sameness and difference, when applied to postcommunist or post-imperialist contexts.

Contextualising language planning from below

This collection looks into ways in which social acts from below can combine to address language problems at local levels. With the remit of state systems gradually undergoing change through developments connected with globalisation, two primary factors tend to principally motivate the development of language management at the macro-level: national economic development in the international context, and human rights as anchored in the Universal Declaration of Language Rights. So, for some countries, dealing with the sheer numerical scale of incoming migrants is the defining factor; for others, responding to the diversity of their societies is the key, particularly in terms of associated educational challenges. Being a small nation-state may limit options, while levels and patterns of poverty circumscribe action in the poorest countries. Hence, with many polities becoming increasingly heterogeneous, it is proposed here that language planning needs to acknowledge the relationships of the social world in its complexity and consider localised settings in order to fully take account of language issues at stake. Undeniably, language policies (as statements of intent; Baldauf & Kheng, forthcoming) and planning (as indications for action; Baldauf & Kheng, forthcoming) always attempt to produce a change in ways of dealing with disturbing co-concurring or previous contexts. We can either manage or facilitate change. The former requires skills of control at the macrolevel, which has often formed part of national projects. The latter by contrast relies on a self-organising process. As the centralised nation-states (often reluctantly) accepted the concept of group rights for those they could not (or would not) assimilate, language policy and planning developed at the sub-national or ‘meso’ level. At the more localised or micro-level (Baldauf, 2006), the capacity for self-organisation can engender language change processes that surface from below. Thus, in adopting ways to manage change, a shift from trying to control change to facilitating it can be appropriate and effective at times, allowing for a natural progression of empowerment. In either case, language policy-making and planning can be considered as a decision-making and problem-solving process, employed to bring about change at the macroor micro-levels. The papers in this collection consider acts of ‘doing’ language planning from below (in the sense of facilitating language change processes) that complement ‘making’ (or managing such processes) from above. In using a rationaland context-sensitive approach, the contributors seek to deliver the prospect of significantly enhancing our understanding of the centrality of the social and political dimensions involved (see also Spolsky, 2009). The précis below on the individual articles is set out in the light of comments provided by some anonymous reviewers. Sloboda et al. present a study on the application of some existing theoretical ideas from the language policy, political science and sociological literature to the use of signage in public. Adopting a combined language management and advocacy coalition methodology (Sabatier & Jenkins-Smith, 1999; Sabatier & Weible, 2007), they focus on the agency involved in the multilingualisation of signage in four urban settlements across Europe.

Introducing early foreign language education in the Baltic context

This paper explores changing language education policies and implementation processes in Central/Eastern Europe. There are conflicting language policy orientations that govern the scene, resulting from post‐independence attempts on the one hand to strengthen the position of the national (state) language, and on the other to function as EU member states that respect multilingualism. In democratising society, participatory strategies are increasingly deployed with the aim of involving as many interest groups as possible in language policy development and decision‐making processes. Proposals on the development and compulsory implementation in Lithuanian schools of early foreign language education have engendered language ideological debates among different stakeholders.