Speaking of workplaces in the time of Covid-19

Abstract This article studies the development of changes in language use and digital place making in relation to workplaces emerging during the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of the working population in the Nordic countries were strongly affected by the crisis and many started working from home, which led to a complete reorganization of daily work routines and introduction of new digital tools. In this article, we explore how these changes influenced cultural practices of placemaking and language use. Analyzing the data from an online survey with participants from Denmark, Finland and Sweden, we discuss: (a) to what extent the view of what linguistically can be referred to as a (working) place was extended to digital environments, (b) to what extent materiality of the digital plays a role in the making of a digital workplace, and (c) how individuals use naming as a strategy to creatively form and make stances regarding analogue, digital, and hybrid workplaces. Our conclusions point at commencing re-negotiations of the dichotomies work-home and digital-analogue being expressed through linguistic practices.