Gifting, service, and performance: Three eras in minority-language media policy and practice

Adapting Tom Ricento's (2006) three-era framework in language policy to the case of the Sámi in Finland and Irish in the Republic of Ireland, we identify three key eras in the development of minority-language media: the gifting era, the service era, and the performance era. Each era has its own particular logic and normativities in relation to the value and functions allocated to minority-language media, the key actors involved in these media, and concepts of languages and speakers. Although we observe a chronology in the evolution of these eras, previous eras do not simply disappear with this evolution. We argue instead that they are embedded in any single moment of media engagement in relation to minority languages and with implications for speakers.