Varying metalinguistic contextualizations of linguistic diversity at work

The paper draws attention to the multiple ways in which linguistic diversity is contextualised metalinguistically in a variety of workplaces. All data are collected in Northern Norway, a region which hosts a traditional diversity (including Norwegian, Sámi, and Kven) as well as an increasing number of immigrant languages (used by immigrant workers and refugees from other parts of Europe and the World). Multilingual encounters in work and economy have taken place in the region throughout centuries. This tradition also contributes to a special awareness vis-à-vis the currently ongoing diversification. The paper draws on interview and ethnographic data collected as part of a postdoctoral research project ("Linguistic and Cultural Diversity at Work", 2014-2017) and historical materials to sketch the diverse ways in which multilingualism is contextualised in work-related settings. It shows how language awareness was expressed in historical workplace settings, and how such historical conditions are recontextualised in current accounts of, e.g., corporate social responsibility. A set of interviews with representatives from regional business companies illustrates how statements of metalinguistic awareness merge the public, private, institutional, and professional spheres. Cases range from explicit expressions of awareness to not treating diversity as a relevant topic at all, from the discursive construction of coherence to pointing out differences and difficulties. Many statements relate diversity to language ideologies as well as particular work practices. Comparing such diverse expressions of metalinguistic awareness in and around the workplace with ethnographic observations of multilingual work practices, the paper offers new perspectives on the synchronic and diachronic complexity of multilingual practices and their metalinguistic contextualisation in work and economy.