Sune Vork Steffensen – författare

Language, Ecology and Society presents a view of language and ecology from a dialectical perspective. In this analysis, language is seen as a multidimensional phenomenon, which both shapes and is shaped by mind, nature and society. Contributing to the field of ecolinguistics, this volume proposes a new paradigm termed Dialectical Linguistics, pioneered by Jørgen Christian Bang and Jørgen Døør and based on research spanning three decades. The book argues for a politically and morally responsible approach to language and linguistics.The book opens with an introduction by Sune Vork Steffensen outlining the theory of Dialectical Linguistics and the history of ecolinguistics and stressing the importance of Bang and Døør's contribution to this global movement.

This edited volume contributes to recent theoretical work in ecolinguistics that treats language as, not about nature, but of nature.Through a dialogical interplay of theoretical and empirical work, the chapters apply ecological concepts of language, languaging, and emplacement to a multiplicity of issues, settings, and place-worlds. Empirically, the chapters meander through a universe of chimpanzees engaged in problem solving, children playing marbles, political constitutions, agricultural dictionaries, Sicilian nature reserves, children’s experiences of devastating outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, expressions of sorrow across closed borders, and the linguistic conquest of uninhabited islands. By attending to locale, sense of place, and location across this diversity, the volume evokes new empirical, methodological, and practical horizons that allow ecolinguists to ask how people and their emplacement are affected by language and languaging, and how the effects of practices impact on, not just human lifeworlds, but also trillions of bioecologies.This book will be of interest to students and scholars interested in ecolinguistics, discourse analysis, applied linguistics, language contact, environmental humanities, and human and social geography.

Moving beyond a more traditional view of language as a discrete sociocultural and cognitive entity that distorts our understanding of surrounding ecologies, this book argues that the starting point for ecolinguistics is an appreciation of language as not just about nature, but of nature. Exploring this conceptual change in the field, the book presents a process view in which language is substituted by languaging, emphasising the bioecologies that we cohabit with numerous other species. It puts forward this perspective by looking at the theoretical considerations behind the understanding of languaging as bioecological, and through examining languaging in various contexts and places. Drawing on examples from across the world, it addresses topics such as climate catastrophes, corporate narratives, questions of ecological leadership, the bioecological implications of the COVID pandemic, and relational landscapes. It also makes use of data from across multiple bioecological settings, including the dairy and agricultural industries.