Comparative Analysis of Semiotics and Language Ideologies

Saussurean Signs

Signs are arbitrary, split into 'signifier' (sound-image) and 'signified' (concept), context-independent.

Peircean Signs

Signs can be icons (resemblance), indexes (causal/link), or symbols (conventional); context-dependent, shaped by culture.

Icons

Onomatopoeia, vowel harmony (resemblance).

Indexes

Pronouns, dialects, deictic markers like 'here', 'that' (pointing to context).

Symbols

Arbitrary signs like alphabet letters, traffic lights.

Iconization

Links linguistic form to social essence.

Fractal Recursivity

Repetition of opposition across scales.

Erasure

Simplifies language landscape, ignoring contradictions.

Language Ideology

Beliefs tying language to people, values, and hierarchies.

Standard Language Ideology: US vs UK

US: SAE linked to white middle-class, immigrants stigmatized; UK: RP tied to aristocracy, accents show class, Cockney has covert prestige.

French Civic Nationalism

Unity through common values and official French, suppressing patois.

German Romantic Nationalism

Nation tied to language, culture, ethnicity, anti-Semitic roots.

Printing Press: Europe vs South Asia

Europe: Enabled nationalism, Protestant reform, scientific revolution; South Asia: Delayed access, colonial control; later used for anti-colonial activism.

Western Apache Humor

Contrast/distortion in jokes to critique Anglo behavior.

Mock Spanish

Direct index = fun slang, Indirect index = lazy Mexicans.

Colonial Language Ideologies in Senegal

Ethnic groups mapped to fixed languages; Fula, Wolof, Serer erased linguistic mixing and political complexity.

Examples of Non-Kin Publics

YouTube (Grass Mud Horse), Tamil Nadu teashops, Nairobi SMS, European cafés, Instagram/Finsta.

Sri Lanka Language Ideologies

Ethnic Tamils value purist, literary Tamil; Indian Tamils prefer cosmopolitan colloquial Tamil.

Entextualization

Language becomes portable (e.g., slogans).

Interdiscursivity

Shared meaning across media (e.g., memes, jokes).

Media Ideologies

Beliefs about media influence (e.g., texts seen as impersonal).

Text vs Talk in Digital Communication

Talk-like: turn-taking, repairs, adjacency pairs; Text-like: multitasking, stylized voice, asynchronous.

Zambian/Nepali Radio

Zambia: Elite languages dominate radio; Nepal: FM radio democratizes voice, blends formal/informal codes.

Drop the I-Word Campaign

Challenges term 'illegal immigrant' as dehumanizing; Language shapes legal and moral frames of immigration.

Code-switching

Between sentences (e.g., Cantonese to English).

Code-mixing

Within a sentence (e.g., English phrases in Cantonese).

Mock Spanish (Hill)

Appropriates Spanish into English with altered meanings (e.g., 'no problemo'); Indexes stereotypes: Direct = fun, Indirect = laziness, backwardness.

Multilingualism in Kenya

Texting in English/Kiswahili seen as global; Local ideologies reinterpret global styles to express modernity.

Tamil Blunder Memes

Used by Sri Lankan Tamils to satirize grammar errors; Reflect anxiety over marginality while critiquing linguistic hierarchies.