Handbook of Language Ethnic Identity ch 11 Sociolinguistics

Handbook of Language & Ethnic Identity, ch. 11 Sociolinguistics Joshua Fishman

Sociolinguistic perspective • Sociolinguistic includes “the more sociological and the more linguistic aspects of a growing awareness that language use and language behaviors (including both language structure and a variety of behaviors toward languages) vary in accord with the social contexts in which they transpire. ”

How many kinds of French? • There is not just one French, but many, sometimes within the repertoire of a single speaker, modulated according to: – Context of use – Social class – Education • This is true of all languages, but variation within a language is harder to monitor than variation between languages

Variation in Ethnolinguistic Saliency • An individual may belong to many groups • An individual’s ethnic identity may be more salient in some contexts than in others • The salience of using a specific language may also depend on context – when more than one language may be used, what prompts speakers to choose one over the other? • When salience is high, speakers are more likely to promote their identity and language

Variation in Language Attitudes and Language Functions • Attitudes are not always logically linked to functionality – e. g. English which enjoys huge functionality but is still perceived by the “Englishonly” factions as being threatened… • There is a great growth in standardization and literacy in lesser languages, and literacy is now supported in over ¼ of the world’s languages. What about the other three-fourths?

What is Diglossia? VS. • When a language community uses two languages for two distinctive purposes (e. g. , speech vs. writing) • Accepting diglossia (with English or another major language) may help many smaller languages to survive

Summary so far: • Contextual variation – grievance and contrast heighten ethnolinguistic saliency • Functionality – advantageous functions heighten ethnolinguistic saliency • Attitudinal-functional mismatch – attitudes toward languages are often irrational, not informed by actual functionality

Variation in language policies • Policies are adopted to foster (or hamper) and to modernize (or archaize) one or more languages of a community’s repertoire • Can you name some examples of language planning?

Examples of language planning: • Noah Webster and a distinctively American Federal English • French protected in France and Quebec • Academies and gov’t agencies that protect latemodernizing and minority languages – Corpus planning: lexicons, orthographies, grammars, phonologies – Status planning: acquisition of power-related functions • 2/3 of world’s languages are endangered, but it seems that most are trying to survive

Variations in Language Policy • The need for economic survival is ultimately the most important factor, forcing many groups to become diglossic in order to survive • Basques, for example, eschew diglossia, but seek universal bilingualism – so everything inside Basque country will be in Basque, but Spanish/French will be used to communicate outside the community

“Outside” – “Inside” • Insiders experience the link between language and ethnicity positively, as something romantic and essential • This energy can also be genocidal

Conclusions • The language and ethnicity link is strongest when – there are collective grievances – It rewards competitive late modernizers – It is fostered by language policies that pursue status or corpus planning • Cf. ethnic revivals in 1960 s-70 s in W. Europe and US

Conclusions, cont’d. • Two seemingly contradictory trends: – A few mega-languages are spreading – Small local languages are gaining status • Why isn’t this a contradiction?

Conclusions, cont’d. • Two seemingly contradictory trends: – A few mega-languages are spreading – Small local languages are gaining status • Why isn’t this a contradiction? – Because bi- and multi-lingualism make it advantageous for many people to promote a local language and at the same time use another language for economic and political purposes