Hør dog hvad de siger - Note-to-Self: Trials & Errors

English summary
During the past half century, Denmark, as well as the rest of the (Western part of) the world,
has experienced a growing cultural influence from (American) English. In the languages, this
influence has taken different forms: English loanwords, shifts to English in some public do-
mains (most notably, in higher education and business communication), a rising interest in
English at the expense of other foreign languages etc. This dissertation is about Danes’ con-
ception of the influence from the English language; both about their attitudes towards English,
and about their discursive construction of these attitudes.
The dissertation thus has a double focus. On the one hand, it analyses attitudes as they
are expressed in interviews with Danes of various social backgrounds, with a special empha-
sis on the arguments that informants base their attitudes upon. On the other, it investigates in-
terviews as a method in the investigation of attitudes and criticizes on empirical grounds the
standardized interview as it is attempted to be conducted. The dissertation is thus reflexive.
Instead of assuming that informant and researcher understand the language political issues to
be investigated in similar ways, it attempts to analyze how the informant makes sense of the
interview’s questions. Thus, the analytical scope is on the contextualized construction of
meaning in the interview. The extreme consequence of this reflexive self-analysis is the de-
construction of the claims of the dissertation. However, it is assumed that the reflexive analy-
sis also contributes an awareness of the concept of attitude, of the interview as a meaning- and
attitude-constructing practice, as well as an awareness of linguists’ as well as lay men’s con-
ception of the language political reality in Denmark at present.
The dissertation is comprised of 10 texts that are structured according to the double
focus of the dissertation. Some discuss interview methods and standardization in theoretical
terms, some present quantitative respectively qualitative attitude results, and finally, some at-
tempt to show how the attitude results have evolved through the social interaction of the in-
terview. In the interactive presentation which is handed in as part of the dissertation, experi-
ments are made with an alternative means of presenting research results. The goal is to let the
form of the presentation reflect the dissertation's reflexive aim.
The dissertation does not present one overarching conclusion; each text poses its own
claims. However, throughout the dissertation a critical objection is made against an attitude
investigation that does not regard the interactional aspects of the interview setting; and it is
shown how Danes construe English as the default language against which all other languages
are measured, while they associate English with modernity and internationality.
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