I am a sociolinguist with an interest in language and culture, language ideologies and adult migrants' societal and workplace integration. I am also interested in spoken interaction in multilingual institutional settings, particularly gatekeeping events (job interviews) and interpreter-mediated contexts, i.e. court meetings, police interviews, doctor
This paper concerns interpreter-mediated courtroom hearings inDenmark. Based on audio-recordings,... more This paper concerns interpreter-mediated courtroom hearings inDenmark. Based on audio-recordings, we analyse the contributions of judgeand interpreter, and we focus on if, how and by whom the non-Danish speakingaccused is informed about the possibility to speak with a lawyer in private.Although legally trivial, this information is crucial to the accused as it concernshis/her legal rights and options. We show how the informational sequenceunfolds interactionally; we argue that the work of judge and interpreter iscollaborative; and we discuss the potential of our sociolinguistic / interactionalperspectives to inform the legal professionals. Here we are concerned witha wide-spread understanding of quality in legal interpreting. Rather thanregarding ‘quality’ as equal to ‘correct’ and ‘accurate’ translation and focusingon the work of the interpreter in isolation, we suggest that it is necessary toconsider context, aims, addressees and functions of the interpreting activity. Weargue that...
(Original article in Danish) This paper presents the main results from a large interactional stud... more (Original article in Danish) This paper presents the main results from a large interactional study of job interviews with second language speakers of Danish. The job interviews were part of a Danish governmental initiative (‘IO-stillinger’) aimed at integrating immigrants and newcomers to Denmark, firstly through tailor-made job interviews, and later on through workplace mentoring, language courses and professional upgrades. At first sight, the ‘IO-stillinger’ job project was an example of an affirmative action towards the integration of immigrants in the workplace. In practice, however, the recruitment process and the job interview as well as the phase-in were carried out as prototypical gatekeeping events that did not differ from other established employment practices. The paper discusses several examples of job interviews focusing on the co-construction of brought along and brought about conceptions of candidates’ communicative styles. It illustrates how successful candidates are not necessarily those with the best professional qualifications, but those whom the interviewers assess as capable of performing according to perceived Danish cultural norms.
During the last decade, universities worldwide have gradually become more internationalized. The ... more During the last decade, universities worldwide have gradually become more internationalized. The article contributes theoretically as well as empirically to the field of internationalization in higher education by discussing two plurilingual language strategies that have recently been implemented in Danish higher education. The authors discuss signs of plurilingualism, how they can be conceptualized and why the promotion of plurilingualism seems to be central to Danish universities' internationalization efforts. Furthermore, the authors present a preliminary model that tries to capture the plurilingual countermoves and the quantitative data that have been collected in order to investigate students' language needs and teachers' language needs, competences and practices. These findings suggest a multifaceted picture of language needs among students and language competences, practices and needs among university staff and problematize the perception of English and the national language(s) as sufficient languages for academia.
International Journal of the Sociology of Language, May 1, 2022
This paper discusses a disturbance to the Danish legal system, a cornerstone in the state of law.... more This paper discusses a disturbance to the Danish legal system, a cornerstone in the state of law. We focus on ‘expressions of upset’ during a reorganization of Danish legal interpreting, which was followed closely by the Danish media. We analyze these expressions as ‘communicative uptakes’ and we discuss how they made different elements of the interpreting affair salient. The elements include assumptions about what legal interpreting is or should be, its societal role and relevance. We argue that the uptakes integrated the interpreting situation with the institutionalized aim of the social space in which they occurred, and we draw on Agha’s theory of ‘mediatization’ to account for the relations between the overall situation and the various expressions of upset, and between the institutional roles of participants and mediatized aspects of the spaces. Data come from a trial, a meeting in the Danish Parliament, and a blog thread. The study thereby illustrates a communicative (thus, social) process in a modern (thus, complex) society in which a social event at societal level (so-called large-scale) is received and made meaningful by many different social actors in a variety of ways, thereby creating links between otherwise unconnected spaces.
International Journal of the Sociology of Language
This paper discusses a disturbance to the Danish legal system, a cornerstone in the state of law.... more This paper discusses a disturbance to the Danish legal system, a cornerstone in the state of law. We focus on ‘expressions of upset’ during a reorganization of Danish legal interpreting, which was followed closely by the Danish media. We analyze these expressions as ‘communicative uptakes’ and we discuss how they made different elements of the interpreting affair salient. The elements include assumptions about what legal interpreting is or should be, its societal role and relevance. We argue that the uptakes integrated the interpreting situation with the institutionalized aim of the social space in which they occurred, and we draw on Agha’s theory of ‘mediatization’ to account for the relations between the overall situation and the various expressions of upset, and between the institutional roles of participants and mediatized aspects of the spaces. Data come from a trial, a meeting in the Danish Parliament, and a blog thread. The study thereby illustrates a communicative (thus, soc...
This paper concerns interpreter-mediated courtroom hearings inDenmark. Based on audio-recordings,... more This paper concerns interpreter-mediated courtroom hearings inDenmark. Based on audio-recordings, we analyse the contributions of judgeand interpreter, and we focus on if, how and by whom the non-Danish speakingaccused is informed about the possibility to speak with a lawyer in private.Although legally trivial, this information is crucial to the accused as it concernshis/her legal rights and options. We show how the informational sequenceunfolds interactionally; we argue that the work of judge and interpreter iscollaborative; and we discuss the potential of our sociolinguistic / interactionalperspectives to inform the legal professionals. Here we are concerned witha wide-spread understanding of quality in legal interpreting. Rather thanregarding ‘quality’ as equal to ‘correct’ and ‘accurate’ translation and focusingon the work of the interpreter in isolation, we suggest that it is necessary toconsider context, aims, addressees and functions of the interpreting activity. Weargue that...
(Original article in Danish) This paper presents the main results from a large interactional stud... more (Original article in Danish) This paper presents the main results from a large interactional study of job interviews with second language speakers of Danish. The job interviews were part of a Danish governmental initiative (‘IO-stillinger’) aimed at integrating immigrants and newcomers to Denmark, firstly through tailor-made job interviews, and later on through workplace mentoring, language courses and professional upgrades. At first sight, the ‘IO-stillinger’ job project was an example of an affirmative action towards the integration of immigrants in the workplace. In practice, however, the recruitment process and the job interview as well as the phase-in were carried out as prototypical gatekeeping events that did not differ from other established employment practices. The paper discusses several examples of job interviews focusing on the co-construction of brought along and brought about conceptions of candidates’ communicative styles. It illustrates how successful candidates are not necessarily those with the best professional qualifications, but those whom the interviewers assess as capable of performing according to perceived Danish cultural norms.
During the last decade, universities worldwide have gradually become more internationalized. The ... more During the last decade, universities worldwide have gradually become more internationalized. The article contributes theoretically as well as empirically to the field of internationalization in higher education by discussing two plurilingual language strategies that have recently been implemented in Danish higher education. The authors discuss signs of plurilingualism, how they can be conceptualized and why the promotion of plurilingualism seems to be central to Danish universities' internationalization efforts. Furthermore, the authors present a preliminary model that tries to capture the plurilingual countermoves and the quantitative data that have been collected in order to investigate students' language needs and teachers' language needs, competences and practices. These findings suggest a multifaceted picture of language needs among students and language competences, practices and needs among university staff and problematize the perception of English and the national language(s) as sufficient languages for academia.
International Journal of the Sociology of Language, May 1, 2022
This paper discusses a disturbance to the Danish legal system, a cornerstone in the state of law.... more This paper discusses a disturbance to the Danish legal system, a cornerstone in the state of law. We focus on ‘expressions of upset’ during a reorganization of Danish legal interpreting, which was followed closely by the Danish media. We analyze these expressions as ‘communicative uptakes’ and we discuss how they made different elements of the interpreting affair salient. The elements include assumptions about what legal interpreting is or should be, its societal role and relevance. We argue that the uptakes integrated the interpreting situation with the institutionalized aim of the social space in which they occurred, and we draw on Agha’s theory of ‘mediatization’ to account for the relations between the overall situation and the various expressions of upset, and between the institutional roles of participants and mediatized aspects of the spaces. Data come from a trial, a meeting in the Danish Parliament, and a blog thread. The study thereby illustrates a communicative (thus, social) process in a modern (thus, complex) society in which a social event at societal level (so-called large-scale) is received and made meaningful by many different social actors in a variety of ways, thereby creating links between otherwise unconnected spaces.
International Journal of the Sociology of Language
This paper discusses a disturbance to the Danish legal system, a cornerstone in the state of law.... more This paper discusses a disturbance to the Danish legal system, a cornerstone in the state of law. We focus on ‘expressions of upset’ during a reorganization of Danish legal interpreting, which was followed closely by the Danish media. We analyze these expressions as ‘communicative uptakes’ and we discuss how they made different elements of the interpreting affair salient. The elements include assumptions about what legal interpreting is or should be, its societal role and relevance. We argue that the uptakes integrated the interpreting situation with the institutionalized aim of the social space in which they occurred, and we draw on Agha’s theory of ‘mediatization’ to account for the relations between the overall situation and the various expressions of upset, and between the institutional roles of participants and mediatized aspects of the spaces. Data come from a trial, a meeting in the Danish Parliament, and a blog thread. The study thereby illustrates a communicative (thus, soc...
Uploads