Sociolinguistics - Lecture 9

Language Ideology

attitudes, opinions, and systems of belief about language and language varieties

• often remain unspoken or unconscious

• can be linked to whole languages or micro-features

• misconceptions about languages are perpetuated by the way people talk about language

Standardization

the process in which linguistic characteristics are codified, and then promoted across social functions; and then accepted by the society

Standard Language

• associated with power and prestige

• sociolinguistic variables of standard variants

  • seen as the expected, normative, correct, proper, common-sense forms

  • gain or is ascribed prestige status (has high social value)

• using means having access ot a lot more resources, benefits, and opportunities, safety and security

Nonstandard Language(s)

• associated with less power and less prestige

• in ideological opposition to the standard

• sociolinguistic variables of nonstandard variants

  • seen as the ‘unnatural’, non-normative, improper, deviant forms

  • often stigmatized (negative evaluations)

• misconception that innovative features are inferior or a ‘threat’ to the standard language

• using may affect people’s advantages in other, more local, domains

Linguistic Prejudices

harbouring biases and ascribing negative social judgments on languages/varieties or variants of a linguistic variable

Linguistic Prejudices Real-World Consequences

• access to housing

• credibility in legal contexts

• pathologizing (linguistic) differences

Linguistic Profiling

listeners identify social characteristics based solely on linguistic cues

Indexicality

the idea that a linguistic form (an index) indexes (points to) some characteristic, trait, or identity

refers to the social meaning that often gets conveyed, or social connotations that are ideologically linked to certain generalizations or stereotypes

First Order Indexicality: Sociolinguistic Indicators

• the frequency of a variant in a person’s speech can be correlated with whether they are a member of a social group

• this correlation is noticeable among the researchers/analysts (based on linguistic data and quantitative analysis)

• crucially — this is not yet noticeable among the speakers themselves, so speakers cannot yet manipulate their frequency of use for social work

Second Order Indexicality: Sociolinguistic Markers

• when a feature becomes available to do social work

• speakers attribute social meanings to variants according to ideologies about place, class, gender, correctness, etc…

• speakers (and outsiders) start to notice this feature and how it’s linked to different social groups

• speakers can (consciously or subconsciously) shifts rates of use

Third Order Indexicality: Sociolinguistic Stereotypes

• involves explicit metalinguistic commentary — links between social meanings (of second order indexical features) and identity practices are formed

• the feature is available for commentary (positive or negative) to both in-group and out-group members

• used in reflexive (and conscious) performances of identities

• variants that have reached third order indexicality are the ones that are often recruited in comedic/satirical performances and become symbolic of a particular social group

Metalinguistic Commentary

• how people talk about language (discourses about language)

• can be found in many domains → discussion forums, social media posts and comments, casual discussions

• overt evaluations and judgements we have about language

• doesn’t apply well to things that cause largely unconscious judgements

Attitudinal Surveys

people respond to survey questions about their attitudes towards language(s)

Matched-Guise Study

• one speaker assumes multiple guises

• participants listen to ‘different’ speakers, not realizing that they are actually listening to the same speaker, who is performing two or more ‘voices’ or ‘personas’ (guises)

• speaker is disguising their linguistic identity

• listeners’ judgements towards one guise and towards another guise reflect potential implicit biases and attitudes towards or against one variety

Perceptual Dialectology

• the study of perceived regional differences in language and what people think about how people from particular places talk

• individual maps interesting, but most interesting is combining the results

• can superimpose the results on top of each other and then identify perceptual isoglosses