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Language policy and social change: A critical examination of the implementation of an English-only language policy in a Danish company

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2018

Dorte Lønsmann  and
Janus Mortensen
Dorte Lønsmann*
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Janus Mortensen
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
*
Address for correspondence: Dorte Lønsmann, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Management, Society and Communication, Dalgas Have 15, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark[email protected]
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Abstract

The article examines the introduction of English as a corporate language in a Danish consultancy company from a critical angle. Based on analyses of language policy documents and interviews with language policy makers in the company, we investigate the underlying assumptions of the policy-making process, and explore how the language policy functions as a means of exerting power beyond the domain of language. The article shows how the language policy is heavily influenced by the language ideology of English as the natural language in global business as well as by neoliberal ideals of international expansion. Drawing on the notion of language commodification, the article investigates how the language policy reconfigures the social space of the organisation. The analysis shows that while the language policy aims to change the company culture towards a more ‘global mindset’, it also effects social change by legitimising certain types of employees while marginalising others. (Language policy, social change, English as a corporate language, language ideologies, linguistic market, language commodification)*

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , June 2018 , pp. 435 - 456
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

*

We would like to thank Nikolas Coupland, Hartmut Haberland, Kamilla Kraft, Jenny Cheshire, and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful and helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. We take full responsibility for any remaining shortcomings.

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