Institute of Ethnology, Central European and Balkan Studies IECEBS Místnost č. 27
Marián Sloboda specializes in sociolinguistics and discourse analysis on the basis of Slovak and other Slavic languages. His research interests lie in the branch of sociolinguistics inspired by ethnomethodology and linguistic anthropology. From these perspectives, he is also interested in linguistic landscape research. He has carried out fieldwork in several regions and countries, including Czechia, Belarus, Croatia, Hungary, Lusatia and Wales. His work there has concerned various aspects of language diversity and multilingualism, such as intercomprehensibility of Slavonic languages, language shift and language policy. As a member of the Language Management Research Group based at the Faculty of Arts, he is also involved in the work on the theory and practice of language management.
He serves on the editorial board of Sociolinguistic Studies and is a member of the Commission on Language Contact of the International Committee of Slavists. Outside academia, he was active in the Czech Government Council for National Minorities.
since 2010 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Arts, Charles University (2010–2011 Institute of Slavonic and East European Studies, since 2011 Department of Central European Studies)
2011–2014 Research Assistant, Institute of the Czech Language of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (Department of Lexicology and Lexicography), part-time engagement
2006–2010 Researcher, Faculty of Arts, Charles University (Institute of Linguistics and Finno-Ugric Studies)
Education
PhD in Linguistics, Charles University (2011)
MA in General and Comparative Slavic Studies, Linguistics and Phonetics, Charles University (2003)
Study stays
Belarusian State University, Belarus (2004–2005, 8 months)
University of Zagreb, Croatia (2001, 3 months)
Training courses
Summer School of Migration Studies (IOM & Czech Ministry of the Interior, 2010)
Belarusian-Russian Borderlands: History, Culture and Language (University of Warsaw, 2004)
Summer School of the Slovak Language and Culture “Studia Academica Slovaca” (Comenius University, Bratislava, 2000 & 2004)
Seminar for Foreign Slavicists (University of Zagreb, 2002)
Serbian language course (Azbukum, centar za srpski jezik i kulturu, Novi Sad, 2002)
School of the Modern Greek Language (Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, 1999)
Sloboda, M. (2021). Demarcating the space for multilingualism: On the workings of ethnic interests in a ‘civic nation’. In R. Blackwood & D. A. Dunlevy (Eds.), Multilingualism in Public Spaces: Empowering and Transforming Communities (pp. 31–58). Bloomsbury.
Sloboda, M., L. Molnár Satinská & M. Nábělková (2018). Language planning in Slovakia: Nation-building in the context of European integration. In E. Andrews (ed.), Language Planning in the Post-Communist Era: The Struggles for Language Control in the New Order in Eastern Europe, Eurasia and China. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 261–286.
Fairbrother, L., J. Nekvapil & M. Sloboda (2018). Methodology in language management research. In L. Fairbrother, J. Nekvapil & M. Sloboda (eds.), The Language Management Approach: A Focus on Research Methodology. Berlin: Peter Lang, 15–39.
Sloboda, M. (2016). Historicity and citizenship as conditions for national minority rights in Central Europe: old principles in a new migration context. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 42 (11), 1808–1824.
Sloboda, M. (2016). Transition to super-diversity in the Czech Republic: its emergence and resistance. In M. Sloboda, P. Laihonen & A. Zabrodskaja (eds.), Sociolinguistic Transition in Former Eastern Bloc Countries: Two Decades after the Regime Change. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 141–183.
Sloboda, M. & K. Brankačkec (2014). The mutual intelligibility of Slavic languages as a source of support for the revival of the Sorbian language. In L. Fesenmeier, S. Heinemann & F. Vicario (eds.), Sprachminderheiten: gestern, heute, morgen / Minoranze linguistiche: ieri, oggi, domani. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 25–44.
Sloboda, M. & M. Nábělková (2013). Receptive multilingualism in ‘monolingual’ media: managing the presence of Slovak on Czech websites. International Journal of Multilingualism 10 (2), 196–213.
Sloboda, M. (2013). Zanikání státního jazyka: běloruština v procesu formování národa [The vanishing of a state language: Belarusian in the process of nation-building]. Slavia 83 (3), 281–314.
Sloboda, M., L. Šimičić, E. Szabó Gilinger & D. Vigers (2012). The policies on public signage in minority languages and their reception in four traditionally bilingual European locations. メディア・コミュニケーション研究 [Media and communication studies] 63, 51–88.
Szabó Gilinger, E., M. Sloboda, L. Šimičić & D. Vigers (2012). Discourse coalitions for and against minority languages on signs: Linguistic landscape as a social issue. In D. Gorter, H. F. Marten & L. van Mensel (eds.), Minority Languages in the Linguistic Landscape. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 263–280.
Sloboda, M. (2010). Menej používané jazyky v Česku: problémy rozvoja v jazykovo „homogénnom“ národnom štáte. In A. M. Papp (ed.), Kevésbé használt nyelvek helyzete a Visegrádi Négyek országaiban / The Situation of the Lesser Used Languages in Visegrád Four Countries. Budapest: Országos Idegennyelvű Könyvtár, 38–55.
Sloboda, M. (2011). Belarusian. In O. García & J. A. Fishman (eds.), Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity. Volume 2. New York: Oxford University Press, 381–398.
Sloboda, M., E. Szabó-Gilinger, D. Vigers & L. Šimičić (2010). Carrying out a language policy change: Advocacy coalitions and the management of linguistic landscape. Current Issues in Language Planning 11 (2), 95–113.
Hilmarsson-Dunn, A. M., Beswick, J., Sloboda, M., Vasiljev, I., Ille, K. & Jernej, M. (2010). Language use and opportunities for economic migrants in Europe: policy and practice. European Journal of Language Policy 2 (2), 205–228.
Sloboda, M. (2011). Doslov: Jazyková autobiografia ako osobná výpoveď, inšpirácia a metóda [Epilogue: Language autobiography as a personal testimony, inspiration and method]. In I. Vasiljev, Život s více jazyky: Jazyková autobiografie [A Life with Several Languages: A Language Autobiography]. Praha: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 276–288.
Nekvapil, J., M. Sloboda & P. Wagner (2009). Mnohojazyčnost v České republice: základní informace / Multilingualism in the Czech Republic: Basic Information. Praha: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny.
Sloboda, M. (2009). Styling for hegemony: The West as an enemy (and the ideal) in Belarusian television news. In R. Fitzgerald & W. Housley (eds.), Media, Policy and Interaction. Farnham: Ashgate, 137–159.
Sloboda, M. (2009). A language management approach to language maintenance and shift: A study from post-Soviet Belarus. In J. Nekvapil & T. Sherman (eds.), Language Management in Contact Situations: Perspectives from Three Continents. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 15–47.
Sloboda, M. (2009). State ideology and linguistic landscape: A comparative analysis of (post)communist Belarus, Czech Republic and Slovakia. In E. Shohamy & D. Gorter (eds.), Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery. New York, London: Routledge, 173–188.
Giger, M. & M. Sloboda (2008). Language management and language problems in Belarus: education and beyond. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 11 (3–4), 315–339. (Reprinted in: Pavlenko, A. (ed.) (2008). Multilingualism in Post-Soviet Countries. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 41–65.)
Sloboda, M. (2006). Folk views on linguistic variation and identities in the Belarusian-Russian borderland. In F. Hinskens (ed.), Language Variation – European Perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 217–231.
Sloboda, M. (2003). Language maintenance and shifts in a Greek community in a heterolinguistic environment: the Greeks in the Czech Republic. Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora 29 (1), 5–33.
