Speech community theory and the language / dialect debate

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daming Xu
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Linguistic Identity ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Community Theory ◽  
Linguistic Classification ◽  
Linguistic Approach

Much research has been done addressing the issue of language and dialect and has attracted much interest in the Sinophone world. In this paper, the issue is approached from the perspective of Speech Community Theory (SCT) with discussion of the identification of Chinese varieties. There are mainly two approaches in previous research: linguistic and sociolinguistic. In the linguistic approach, the classification of languages and dialects is through comparison of linguistic descriptions and intelligibility. In the sociolinguistic approach, actual language use and attitudes of the speakers are investigated and ethnic and political factors are considered. The two approaches tend to result in different classifications. The purely linguistic classification tends to be narrower than the classification invoking attitudinal, cultural and political factors, resulting in a larger number of languages than the sociolinguistic approach. The different approaches are traced to divergent understandings of what a language is. A language is often understood purely as a tool of communication or, alternatively, it is regarded primarily as an identity device. Applying SCT, we analyze the connection between communication and identity formation, taking the example of Cantonese speakers. That case shows a correlation of linguistic contact with linguistic identity among native speakers. Consequently, the relevance of cultural and socio-political factors is explained through their impact on communication rather than directly on a linguistic identity.

scholarly journals Diglossia

Pragmatics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-216
Author(s):  
Helge Daniëls
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Ideological Attitudes

Abstract Diglossia is, as far as the Arabic language is concerned, a concept that has been taken for granted, as much as it has been criticized. First, based on Ferguson’s article on diglossia and subsequent interpretations and ramifications of the concept and with a special focus on how language variability is discursively deployed and how it is perceived in the Arab speech community, I will argue that diglossia does not so much describe actual language use, but rather how language variability is ‘read’ in the Arab world. In the second part of the article, an analysis of labeling in a 19th century debate will show how the dichotomy between fuṣḥā and non-fuṣḥā varieties (ʿāmmīya),1 which is the basis of diglossia, was already taken for granted long before the concept and the term existed, and even before fuṣḥā and ʿāmmīya were used as independent lexical items. The analysis in both parts of the article shows how much diglossia is taken for granted by most native speakers of Arabic, even if it defies linguistic descriptions of actual language use. It is exactly this ‘common-sense-ness’ that suggests that diglossia is a useful tool to describe language ideological attitudes.

Modernization and the restructuring of the Shanghai speech community

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marinus van den Berg
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Base Line ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Department Stores ◽  
Lower Middle Class ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
Community Theory ◽  
Base Line Data

This paper reports the results of direct observations of language use in two shopping areas in Shanghai, Nanjing East Road and Xujiahui. The data reported in this paper were collected in 2007. In Nanjing East Road, four traditional stores provided a base line for the use of Shanghainese. That base line (60 percent) was compared to a hierarchy of department stores in Xujiahui. The results showed that the store that best matched the base-line data attracted customers representing upper-working class / lower middle class customers. The remaining two stores attracted middle class and upper class customers. In the latter setting, it was found that a certain segment of the customers switched from Shanghainese to Putonghua for the business transaction, an effect we associated with the presence of young urban professionals of all backgrounds. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of speech community theory, and network density, which allows predictions of changes taking place within the dominant language of the Shanghainese speech community.

The Esperanto denaskulo

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Fiedler
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
International Communication ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Ethnic Language ◽  
The Status ◽  
Family Language

Native speakers traditionally occupy a special position in foreign language teaching and learning because their language use is norm-providing. In linguistic studies they are crucial as informants because they decide whether an utterance is correct or incorrect. Although Esperanto as a planned language aims at facilitating international communication by means of a common second language, there are also people who speak this language as a mother tongue, a fact that has recently received growing attention both within and beyond the Esperanto-speaking community. The phenomenon deserves attention because it throws light on the character of the speech community, and especially on questions of language loyalty and speaker identity. In addition, the use of Esperanto as a family language stimulates the development of the language. However, the status of Esperanto native speakers cannot be equated with the status of native speakers of an ethnic language both because of their limited number and also because Esperanto is only one of their mother tongues among several. Above all, native Esperanto speakers do not decide on the standard of the planned language.

scholarly journals Idiomatic variation in Nigerian English : implications for standarization in the context of globalization

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dele Adeyanju
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
International Communication ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Communicative Performance ◽  
The Subject

A global phenomenon that involves language use, which has not been given sufficient attention by researchers, is idiomatic variation. In this study, we provide a classification of idioms in Nigerian English based on factors of stability in both formal and colloquial usage, length of usage, and international intelligibility. We also examine the implications of idiomatic variation for standardization in the context of globalization. Against the backdrop of the debate on whether or not the native speakers’ English should be the sole medium of international communication, this study attempts to explain the reasons why different varieties of English should be accorded recognition and allowed to function as media of international communication provided they meet the condition of international intelligibility. In addition to a general discussion of idiomatic variation in Nigerian English, the study provides real examples of idioms in different contexts of communicative performance targeted at global/transnational audience with a view to addressing the subject of “contending with globalization in World Englishes”.

scholarly journals The Emergence of an “Intersecting Circle” in Kachru’s Three Concentric Circles of World Englishes: A Case of Ethno-linguistic Neutrality in Central Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Peter Ochefu Okpeh ◽  
James Udaa
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Linguistic Identity ◽  
Childhood Exposure ◽  
English Usage ◽  
Concentric Circles ◽  
Inner Circle

There is evidence that contemporary Nigeria is drifting towards a society of monolingual English users a component of which could be defined as lacking in ethno-linguistic identity. This trend is found among a generation of young Nigerian urban dwellers (between the age bracket of (12 and 25) who can neither communicate in their parents’ native language(s) nor indeed in any other Nigerian indigenous language; their only medium of communication is English. Although based on their childhood exposure to the English language and their relative competence in it, English can be described as their ‘‘mother tongue’’ but the fact that they are not native speakers given the socio-geographical circumstances of their birth excludes them from Kachru’s (1988) Inner Circle classification of native speakers. Consequently, these Nigerians are left without a clearly defined ethno-linguistic affiliation. This paper interrogates this emerging sociolinguistic phenomenon in especially Central Nigeria, with the aim of stimulating scholarly consciousness on the ethno-linguistic identity of this category of Nigerians, and its implications for English usage among them. The submission of the paper is that another circle, “the intersecting circle”, be created for them since they bestride both the inner circle in having English as their “mother tongue” and yet they are not native speakers of the language

scholarly journals ILM AL LUGHAH AL IJTIMAI WA TALIM AL LUGHAH AL ARABIYYAH LI AL NATHIQINA BI GHAIRIHA

ALSINATUNA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 186
Author(s):  
Ahmad Ubaedillah Fathuddin
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

Language learning cannot work without integrating other fields of knowledge such as psychology, anthropology, sociolinguistics, etc. Sociolinguistics is a branch of linguistics which discusses about language due to social factors. It has an important role in language learning especially in making it easily understandable for the language learners by understanding the language use of the native speakers. The contribution of sociolinguistics in Arabic language learning for foreign language learners can be seen from the relationship between language and social environment. In this case, it does not only learn about the elements or internal systems of Arabic language such as phonology, syntax, and morphology, but also the social context such as speech community, social class, language use and culture. It means sociolinguistics gives information about the definition and use of Arabic language based on the social context.

scholarly journals GENDER DIFFERENCE IN LANGUAGE USE AND LANGUAGE ATTITUDES IN ONLINE FACEBOOK POSTS OF UKRAINIAN MIGRANTS IN GERMANY

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasiia Kuznietsova
Keyword(s):  
Gender Difference ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Linguistic Identity ◽  
Online Activity ◽  
Migrant Communities ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
Discursive Constructions

This article studies the gender difference in language use and language attitudes of Ukrainian communities in Germany in online social media. Since 2014, the conflict in the East of Ukraine has led to a remarkably intense flow of Ukrainian migrants to Western Europe giving rise to longstanding issues of identity formation, language use, and attitudes both within Ukraine and inside Ukrainian diaspora communities. This article will examine the Ukrainian diaspora in Germany on the subject of language ideologies, language use, and attitudes by analyzing its linguistic online activity. To do so, our analysis will draw on a range of interdisciplinary methodologies, including studies of linguistic identity positioning, gender in migration, imagined migrant communities, and studies of discursive constructions of nationhood, which explore language indexing in relation to national identity.

Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian: Inherent Translanguaging in the Linguistic Landscape of Sarajevo

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Tankosić ◽  
Jason Litzenberg
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Common Core ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Primary Language ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
Linguistic Identity ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
Town Center

Abstract Language in the Balkan region of Southeastern Europe has a complex and turbulent history, acutely embodied in the tripartite and trilingual state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in which Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs all make claim to their own mutually-intelligible varieties of local “languages”. This study utilizes a linguistic landscape methodology to consider language use in Sarajevo, the capital of BiH, approximately 20 years after a brutal war that led to the establishment of the country. Data originate from three municipalities within the Sarajevo Canton – namely, Old Town, Center, and Ilidža – because of their representation of the region’s diversity and history. Signs were classified according to the three primary language varieties, i.e., Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian; BCS, representing a common core among the three varieties, as well as English, other languages, and mixed languages. The application of BCS uniquely positions the present research in comparison to other studies of language use in the region and allows for a more nuanced, less politically and ethnolinguistically fraught analysis of the communicative tendencies of users. More specifically, data indicate that actors in the linguistic landscape transcend the boundaries of their national, ethnic, and religious identities by tending towards the more neutral BCS, suggesting an orientation towards more translingual dispositions than previous variety-bound approaches have indicated. Thus, instead of the divisiveness of linguistic identity politics, the linguistic landscape of Sarajevo indicates a tendency toward inclusion and linguistic egalitarianism.

English language schooling, linguistic realities, and the native speaker of English in Hong Kong

Multilingua ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jette G. Hansen Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Government School ◽  
The Impact ◽  
At Home

AbstractThe study employs a case study approach to examine the impact of educational backgrounds on nine Hong Kong tertiary students’ English and Cantonese language practices and identifications as native speakers of English and Cantonese. The study employed both survey and interview data to probe the participants’ English and Cantonese language use at home, school, and with peers/friends. Leung, Harris, and Rampton’s (1997, The idealized native speaker, reified ethnicities, and classroom realities.TESOL Quarterly 31(3). 543–560) framework of language affiliation, language expertise, and inheritance was used to examine the construction of a native language identity in a multilingual setting. The study found that educational background – and particularly international school experience in contrast to local government school education – had an impact on the participants’ English language usage at home and with peers, and also affected their language expertise in Cantonese. English language use at school also impacted their identifications as native speakers of both Cantonese and English, with Cantonese being viewed largely as native language based on inheritance while English was being defined as native based on their language expertise, affiliation and use, particularly in contrast to their expertise in, affiliation with, and use of Cantonese.

scholarly journals A Bridge to Portugal: Language and Identity in Bridgeport, CT

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-140
Author(s):  
Fabio Scetti
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
American English ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Language And Identity ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Status

Here I present the results of BridgePORT, an ethnographic study I carried out in 2018 within the Portuguese community of Bridgeport, CT (USA). I describe language use and representation among Portuguese speakers within the community, and I investigate the integration of these speakers into the dominant American English speech community. Through my fieldwork, I observe mixing practices in day-to-day interaction, while I also consider the evolution of the Portuguese language in light of language contact and speakers’ discourse as this relates to ideologies about the status of Portuguese within the community. My findings rely on questionnaires, participant observation of verbal interaction, and semi-structured interviews. My aim is to show how verbal practice shapes the process of identity construction and how ideas of linguistic “purity” mediate the maintenance of a link to Portugal and Portuguese identity.

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