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Notes on English used as a lingua franca as an object of study*Abstract: This article discusses how English used as a lingua franca (ELF) can be defined as an object of study. It offers a critical appraisal of a high-profile definition of ELF (the VOICE/Seidlhofer definition), and argues that definitions of this kind, whether purposely or not, in effect invite conceptualizations of ELF as a reified entity. This kind of reification is shown to entail a number of problems, the main one being that reified conceptualizations of ELF as an object of study are at odds with the available empirical evidence. On the basis of this critique, the article suggests an alternative approach to the conceptualization of ELF where ELF is defined in straightforward functional terms as the use of English in a lingua franca language scenario. This definition underscores the complexity and breadth of ELF as an object of study, and highlights that researchers in the field of ELF studies need to acknowledge this complexity and adopt structured methods in dealing with it. Using well-known examples from the literature, the article shows that Dell Hymes's SPEAKING heuristic may be employed as one such tool.Keywords: English used as lingua franca (ELF); definition of ELF; language scenario; SPEAKING heuristic.Noter vedrørende brugen af engelsk som lingua franca som forskningsobjekt Resume: Denne artikel diskuterer hvordan engelsk anvendt som lingua franca (ELF) kan defineres som forskningsobjekt. Artiklen giver en kritisk vurdering af en højtprofileret definition af ELF (VOICE/Seidlhofer-definitionen), og argumenterer for at definitioner af denne type, hvad enten det er intenderet eller ej, i praksis laegger op til en konceptuel reificering af ELF. Det påvises at denne form for tingsliggørelse medfører en raekke problemer, hvoraf det mest centrale er at reificerende konceptualiseringer er i strid med de eksisterende empiriske data. På baggrund af denne kritik foreslås en alternativ tilgang til konceptualiseringen af * I would like to thank Hartmut Haberland, two anonymous reviewers, and the journal editors for providing highly valuable feedback on earlier versions of this paper. I am of course solely responsible for remaining shortcomings.Brought to you by | University of British Columbia -UBC Authenticated Download Date | 6/17/15 4:53 AM 26 Janus Mortensen ELF hvor ELF defineres i konkrete funktionelle termer som brugen af engelsk i et lingua franca-sprogscenarie. Denne definition viser hvilken kompleksitet og bredde der kendetegner ELF som forskningsobjekt, og understreger at forskere der arbejder med ELF, bliver nødt til at erkende denne kompleksitet og anvende strukturerede metoder til at håndtere den. Med udgangspunkt i velkendte eksempler fra litteraturen demonstreres det at Dell Hymes' SPEAKING-heuristik med fordel kan anvendes som en sådan metode.Nøgleord: Engelsk anvendt som lingua franca (ELF); definition af ELF; sprogscenarie; SPEAKING-heuristik.

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In recent discussions about the increased use of English atEuropean universi ties, English is often referred to as the "the new Latin". The current article puts this comparison to the test by presenting a critical historical overview of the use of Latin, Danish, English and other languages at Danish universities from 1479 to the present day. The article argues that the current use of English in Danish academia cannot, despite some apparent similarities, be compared to the use of Latin at earlier stages of Danish university history. Most impor tantly, the article argues that the motivation for using English today is radi cally different from the motivation behind the use of Latin at the early stages of Danish university history as well as the motivation for the use of Danish in more recent history.

A key assumption in linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics has traditionally been that interaction within communities tends to proceed on the basis of some degree of shared understanding of social and linguistic norms. However, in transient multilingual communities, defined here as social configurations where people from diverse sociocultural and linguistic backgrounds come together (physically or otherwise) for a limited period of time around a shared activity, such shared assumptions cannot be assumed to be in place a priori. By examining the social and linguistic processes that characterize transient communities, researchers are invited to analyze and theorize meaning‐making in ways that hold the potential to enrich current work at the interface between sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology. The article aims to take a first step in this direction by offering a definition and a discussion of the notion of transient multilingual communities, exemplified by data from an international student community in Denmark, and by discussing some of the general methodological challenges and opportunities involved in research that focuses on transient multilingual communities. The article is concluded by a brief discussion of how the notion of transient communities may be utilized in a research agenda concerned with sociolinguistic change.