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Ideology
Language
His thought is redneck, Ideology
yours is doctrinal ANTH 315: Language in Culture & Society
April 22nd, 2013
and mine is deliciously supple

Terry Eagleton. 1991. Ideology: An Introduction. London, Verso.

Blommaert, Jan and Jef Verschueren. 1998. The Role of Language in
European Nationalist Ideologies. Schieffelin, Woolard and Kroskrity, Eds.,
Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory. New York: OUP, 189-210.

What is ideology? Some ideas Language ideology

A body of ideas characteristic of a particular social
group or class

Ideas which help to legitimate a dominant political

power
Forms of thought motivated by social interests
Marx: the production of images of social reality;
Engels: false consciousness
Language ideology includes ideas about and attitudes
towards language, including evaluations of language
use and ideas about what language represents or does
for people.

Althusser: the imaginary relationship of individuals

to their real conditions of existence

Examples of language ideologies :

Where is ideology?
There is a right way and a wrong way to speak a language
(ideology about language use/intent)
Speakers of non-standard dialects are lazy and dont
try to speak right (ideology about users) Everywhere!

Some languages are more appropriate for some things (like In self-help magazines, on TV, in everyday jokes and
running the government, or prayer) than for others discussions with friends
(ideologies about language use)
A written promise is more binding than a spoken promise Language ideology is in how a professor corrects your
(ideologies about written and spoken language) text or your parents correct your speech
If someone says bad things about you, it can make you
sick (ideology about the power of language to act in the
world)

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There isnt ONE language ideology
Language ideology is a concept that describes how our
ideas about language influence how we use language and
interpret language use
Although everyone might have their own ideas about
language, certain language ideologies, such as the idea in
the US that only one language can represent a country, are
more widespread and influential than others
Language & Nationalism
Nationalist language ideologies make several assumptions:
That a distinct language marks a distinct cultural, ethnic,
national identity
That clusters of features (language, culture, territory,
livelihood, nation) are natural, so that the presence of one
indicates the presence of the rest (and the absence of one
indicates an absence of the rest in some sense)
That a functioning society is characterized by homogeneism:
differences are seen as dangerous and centrifugal; the best
society lacks intergroup differences. But, homogeneism is a
problematic assumption because it flattens out differences
within societies (socio-economic status, age, gender, race, etc.)
Standard Language
A standard language is a WRITTEN variety
of a language whose features have been
formalized. This form of the language is used
in print.
A standard language ideology says that the
written standard is also the standard to which
speech should be compared to determine if it
is correct or not.
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Social difference and ideology
Language ideologies help link particular linguistic
characteristics to other stereotypical characteristics of
speakers
For example, if your dialect sounds slow and drawn
out, are you lazy?
If your dialect sounds informal in a certain context,
are you uneducated?
If you speak English with a Spanish accent, are you
not a US citizen?
Language & Nationalism
In many nationalist language ideologies, multilingualism is
seen as a problem rather than a state of affairs, which is
why it tends to not be supported:
Integration assumption: the assumption that multilingualism
is an obstacle for societal and national integration into a
coherent nation-state
Efficiency assumption: the assumption that efficient
government, as well as economic growth and development,
are hampered by multilingualism
Scale and multilingualism:
Individual multilingualism is encouraged;
Intrasocietal multilingualism is discouraged;
International multilingualism is defended/encouraged?
Standard language ideology
The belief that there is one and only one correct
spoken form of the language, modeled on a
single correct written form.
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Social Stratification and Power
What determines which dialect is the most prestigious?
The people who have the most power also have the most
correct language.
There is no linguistic way to determine which dialect is
best, this is purely a social determination based on who
speaks which language, and what language ideologies are
applied when judging languages or varieties.
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Explicit & Implicit Language Ideologies
Explicit Language Ideology
Monoglot Standard
Implicit Language Ideology
Personalism: the most important part of linguistic
meaning comes from the beliefs and intentions of the
speaker
Referentialism: e.g., the baptismal ideology of
meaning, which holds that there is a single correct
meaning of a word (that can be found by tracing its
history to an authoritative original source)