Reflections on the role and place of ethnographic and qualitative enquiry in sociolinguistics

Grounded in experience from being a student a different academic institutions, and since then my own studies into contemporary Norwegian Nynorsk language activism involving linguistic ethnography and discourse-oriented research methods, in this piece I discuss how ‘mainstream’ approaches to sociolinguistics remain to appear largely tied to quantitative and statistical methods without a consolidated interface with other, less internationally dominant quantitative, ethnographic and critical approaches to studying language in a societal context. Through an open discussion of social scientific theory and recent work in sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, I underline the case for a more inclusive ‘mainstream’ sociolinguistics that both accommodates interdisciplinary and descriptive research methods alongside traditional variationist practice, and is also open to a critical re-evaluation of the scope of the discipline which is able to encompass language user agency and socio-political discourse as part of a ‘socially-constituted’ approach to sociolinguistics across the board.

The female quest for the Celtic tongues of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales

This chapter highlights the female contribution to Celtic studies. It begins by expounding the context of the discipline in relation to nineteenth-century nationalism, surveying the predominantly male contributions during its formative period from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. It then examines the four main fields in which female scholars have made significant contributions, namely the collection of oral material, the publication of editions and translations, language activism including the production of grammars and textbooks, and linguistic studies of modern dialects and historical texts. The chapter concludes by discussing the social, political, religious, and educational reasons both for the comparatively small percentage of female scholars within the Celtic-speaking countries in general and for their comparatively high percentage in Irish studies. The chapter concludes by suggesting ways in which archival research might improve our understanding and appreciation of the female contribution to Celtic studies.

Regimes of linguistic entrepreneurship: neoliberalism, the entanglement of language ideologies and affective regime in language education policy

This article explores how the ideologies of neoliberal linguistic entrepreneurship have created ethical tensions and contentious affects among Indigenous communities in promoting multilingualism and multilingual education. Taking the case of Nepal, our goal is to show how imperatives and characteristics that are articulated as key parts of neoliberalism are systematically perpetuated and appropriated in language education policies and discourses. We draw our data from interviews, ethnographic observation and instructional practices in the classroom. The article makes two major claims regarding how the neoliberal ideology of linguistic entrepreneurship has shaped the perceptions and practices of Indigenous peoples in a rapidly transforming society. First, it shows that the promotion of the English language in education should be understood as a key element of neoliberal educational entrepreneurship that considers education as a profit-making entity. And, second, the ideology of linguistic entrepreneurship is an embodiment of a broader neoliberal atmosphere to create an affective regime by which the feelings of collective identity and Indigenous language activism are trivialized and the affects that are perceived to empower a neoliberal subject are promoted. The new affective regime eventually contributes to translating the global dominance of English into a medium of instruction policy at the local level and supports English medium education as a market commodity.

Tibetan Language Rights and Civil Society in the People’s Republic of China: Challenges of and for Rights

One of the hallmarks of the Xi Jinping era in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been a sustained attack on civil society, coupled with discursive shifts that attempt to undermine the universality of human rights. This article examines Tibetan language activism in this context, looking at challenges both for and of rights. I argue that the challenge for rights – namely, the state’s increasing hostility – is offset somewhat by the slow growth, transnational nature and ample resourcing of the emerging discourse of language rights among Tibetans. On the other hand, I argue that challenges of rights – namely, the differential distribution of the “right to have rights” – present a more intractable problem. I demonstrate this by showing how current discourses among Tibetans in the PRC claim rights for some languages but not others, effectively erasing the “right to have rights” of certain Tibetan populations.

Affective Technologies

The ways Amazonian Kichwa (Quichua) women produce, circulate, and engage with other women’s songs demonstrates that both music and radio media are significant methods for linguistic and cultural activism in the province of Napo, Ecuador. Indigenous engagements with aural mediation and media, particularly those of Indigenous women, allow for new insights within both studies of media and cultural revitalization. Media technologies alone may not be enough to return a language to daily use, but they are an important support for language activism and site of soundwork for Indigenous peoples. Focused on the convergence of new radio forms and screen-based technologies, speech has been taken as the primary dimension of soundwork, with noise and music as secondary aspects. Kichwa radio media reveals that music can also comprise a primary dimension of soundwork, which produces affective and interpersonal experiences for listeners through aural engagements that encourage the vitality of shifting languages.

Sylvia Pankhurst and the international auxiliary language

Sylvia Pankhurst was a pioneering figure of socialist feminism who advocated for universal suffrage and against war. Less well-known is her involvement in the movement for an international auxiliary language. In 1927, Pankhurst published a booklet, Delphos. The Future of International Language, where she described the growing need for a world auxiliary language and her support for Interlingua (Latino sine flexione). A biographically informed study of Delphos shows the modernist, cosmopolitan and democratic vocation of the international auxiliary language movement in the early 20th century. Pankhurst’s views on the motivation and principles of an interlanguage-to-come were widely shared by the international auxiliary language community. We present her support for Interlingua as an example of the scientific humanism that dominated the beginnings of interlinguistics, and relate her language activism to her socialist and pacifist stands.