The Linguistic Landscape of Educational Spaces: Language Revitalization and Schools in Southeastern Estonia

Abstract

That a language can ‘come out of hiding’ or, as another teacher put it, ‘have a renaissance’, (Interview, June 2008) invites one to consider the material expression of emergent multilingualism in the school environment. This chapter is an empirical exploration of the intersection of place-claiming and language revitalization in school space. Using qualitative data collected over a decade of research in the region, I examine the deliberate reintroduction of a lesser-used language into the schoolscape (Brown, 2005) and its material presence in kindergarten and elementary schools. In particular, I consider the meanings and explanations used by those directly involved in the rewriting process, teachers and administrators, to understand better the possibilities for radically transforming schoolscapes to be inclusive of lesser-used languages and their advocates. I incorporate theoretical perspectives from critical cultural geography, place-based education, and linguistic ecology to advance linguistic landscape research in schools. In the following pages, I argue that language plays a role in the emergent pedagogy of place as reflected in the linguistic landscape of schools.

It has been there all along, but now that it is respected, it has come out of hiding.

Kindergarten teacher on the presence of Võro in her school (Interview, June 2008)