Language Ideology
Language ideologies are the culturally shared, often implicit beliefs about language that link linguistic forms to social identities, morality, and power, mediating between grammar and social life.
Definition
Language ideology is the topic concerned with culturally and socially situated systems of belief about language, its uses, and its speakers, and with how these beliefs mediate between linguistic forms and social structures.
Scope
This topic covers the concept of language ideology, its role in connecting linguistic structure to social meaning, and the semiotic processes by which differences in language are read as differences between groups. It includes iconization (or rhematization), fractal recursivity, and erasure as the processes through which ideologies shape perception of linguistic difference. Individual attitude measurement and standard-language ideology are treated in neighboring topics.
Core questions
- What are language ideologies, and how do they connect linguistic form to social meaning?
- How do ideologies make some linguistic differences socially significant and erase others?
- What semiotic processes underlie the mapping of language onto social groups?
- How do language ideologies serve the interests of particular groups?
Key concepts
- Language ideology
- Indexicality and social meaning
- Iconization (rhematization)
- Fractal recursivity
- Erasure
Key theories
- Ideology as mediation
- Silverstein argued that language ideologies are speakers' rationalizations of language that mediate between linguistic structure and social use, so that perception of variation is always ideologically shaped.
- Semiotic processes of differentiation
- Irvine and Gal identified iconization, fractal recursivity, and erasure as the processes by which language ideologies transform linguistic differences into representations of social groups.
History
The concept crystallized in linguistic anthropology in the late 1970s through Silverstein's work, was consolidated in the 1998 Language Ideologies volume, and was given an influential semiotic framework by Irvine and Gal in 2000.
Debates
- Scope of the ideology concept
- Researchers debate how broadly language ideology should be defined and whether it primarily concerns explicit beliefs or also implicit, taken-for-granted assumptions embedded in practice.
Key figures
- Michael Silverstein
- Judith Irvine
- Susan Gal
Related topics
Seminal works
- silverstein1979
- schieffelin1998
- irvine2000
Frequently asked questions
- Are language ideologies the same as opinions about grammar?
- They are broader: a language ideology is a structured, culturally shared system of beliefs linking language to identity and power, which underlies and explains particular opinions about correctness or the value of varieties.