Introductory Chapter: Questioning Borders

Abstract

Estonian language policy and planning (LPP) research has begun to expand beyond its decades-long focus on the integration and the Russian minority and on the state’s central role in policymaking. These traditional and critically important areas of focus, however, threaten to obscure other important and fascinating trends in Estonian LPP. Critical areas such as the Anglicization of higher education, the practices of transnational families and corporations, the changed security discourse, dynamic regional language communities, and the emergence of important political agents in LPP, in addition to the state, are also in need of attention. This edited volume aims to help expand our understanding of the dynamism of language policy and planning by exploring the ways in which Estonian-based research in the field reveals shifting borders and new centers of LPP influence and power.