The international master in Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism (SoMu) is an international joint-degree study program co-organized by Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas, Lithuania), Johannes-Gutenberg University (Mainz, Germany), Stockholm University (Sweden), and the University of Tartu (Estonia).

The program is designed to provide students with the theoretical background and analytical tools to understand and evaluate an on-going work in Nordic and Baltic sociolinguistics and multilingualism, as well as furnish their foreign language skills: additionally to English, students will learn a further international vehicular language, for example, German, and at least two lesser-used and taught European state and/or national languages.

The program familiarizes students with the general key theories and methods of sociolinguistics (traditional, variationist sociolinguistics, constructivist sociolinguistics, language variation, the dialogic relationship of language use and societal patterns), as well as offers a new and wider perspective and understanding of multilingualism as the parallel use of national, minority and migrant languages alongside one or more international vehicular language(s).

Among the existing MA programs in sociolinguistics our program is unique in regard to: 

• its language focus (students acquire competences in two international vehicular languages as well as at least two lesser-used and taught languages);
• its geographical focus on the entire Nordic and Baltic-Sea region (there is no linguistic MA program which would cover such a wide range of languages spoken around the Baltic-Sea);
• its focus on multilingualism in a wide sense (rather than on language policy and planning issues concerning just one European minority population or country);
• its in-built mobility (studying abroad is compulsory and equally long study periods in three universities in three different countries are required).

Our main goal is to prepare specialists who with their solid linguistic training will be able to conduct research on multilingualism and disseminate their results not only within the academia but also amongst the different stakeholder groups, including politicians, thus contributing to well-informed decision-making.

The international master in Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism is research-based and research-oriented. It educates new-generation sociolinguists who will possess

• A broad scholarly and practical understanding of the parallel use of multiple languages in Europe;
• A professional awareness of the social dynamics and the cultural, political and socioeconomic impact of multilingualism in varying European contexts.

 

The following key competences will be acquired:

• Professional skills as trained sociolinguists

The graduates will demonstrate sociolinguistic knowledge and understanding at a level which provides a solid basis for originality in developing and/or applying ideas within the context of demanding work assignments, including research tasks within and outside of the academia. They will possess problem solving abilities that will allow them to function in complex, new or former unfamiliar societal environments within broader and multidisciplinary contexts related to their field of study, and, when needed, they will be able to make rational judgments even with incomplete data.

• Professional communication skills

Critical thinking and practical research skills are emphasized and systematically supported by developing the students’ competences in academic communication in the involved languages, as well as in co-operation, dissemination and management of (student) research projects.

• Strengthened capacities to lifelong-learning

During the program, the students are encouraged to self-directed or autonomous study. They will qualify themselves in independent acquiring scholarly knowledge and understanding, making informed judgments and choice and communicating knowledge and understanding in a professional manner. These capacities will qualify them for continuing their academic career in a graduate school but also furnishes them with skills that today are compulsorily needed in the ever-changing labor market.

• Interdisciplinary competences

Attention is paid to advancing the student’s interdisciplinary skills in the use-based linguistic theories beyond sociolinguistics, as well as in cultural and political sciences as well as in the constructive theories of sociology.

• Language skills

Within the framework of the obligatory, in-built student mobility covering partner universities the program offers a unique in Europe combination of lesser-widely used and taught languages.

• Cross-cultural communication competences

The language courses and the student mobility offer a fertile live context for deepening one’s cross-cultural awareness and developing cross-cultural communication skills; acquiring the awareness as well as learning new patterns of communication is supported by the academic contents of the program.

• Knowledge application in practice

Graduates will be able to identify and formulate sociolinguistic research problems by using sociolinguistic background information on Nordic and Baltic societies and information retrieval skills in order to formulate a coherent discussion of a sociolinguistic problem in general, and a multilingualism-concerned problem in particular; to plan and supervise individual research-based contributions to sociolinguistic knowledge bearing on a significant problem concerned with multilingualism in Baltic-Sea Europe; to conduct empirical research projects, deal with existing research knowledge, and also gain interdisciplinary methodological skills.

Student mobility is one of the key features of the program. During their four-semester studies, students study in three different universities: the first semester is taught in Kaunas, the second in Mainz; for the third semester students choose between Stockholm and Tartu; and the fourth semester students stay at the university of their M.A. thesis main supervisor.

The obligatory student mobility, as well as teacher mobility, contribute to the academic networking of all involved and provide a fertile ground for developing student’s intercultural communication skills, alongside the academic ones, further. SoMu supports student mobility by avoiding various problems usually involved in recognizing studies from abroad, therefore, in a joint degree study programme, no translation of national qualifications is needed.

The international dimension of SoMu is enhanced through intercultural academic environment, student mobility abroad, and through courses lectured by prominent specialists and scholars of international repute.

Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism offers students a possibility for professional networking and perspectives for their future job mobility within the European labor market. Its successful completion opens an access to further academic studies in thematically related third cycle (doctoral) programs with a subsequent career within the academia and/or a wide array of employment possibilities in the private and the public sectors.

The market and job trends signal the demand for versatile specialists in multilingualism issues, and the graduates of this program can expect to find employment in the following fields:

• Academic sphere, e.g., research tasks and/or doctoral studies in sociolinguistics, cross-cultural communication, identity, multilingualism, regionalism, etc.;
• Counseling on multilingualism issues at political and cultural institutions, including the EU institutions;
• Counseling and analytical teaching on multilingualism issues in educational institutions of all levels
• Counseling business and finance organizations in issues involving multilingualism and regional and economic cooperation
• Various international, national and regional public and private sector institutions and projects concerned with multilingualism, language planning and policy;
• Mass media (with additional qualifications), e.g., in fields such as political journalism.