Language & Identity in Multilingual Environments
Adapted from Representations & Self-Representations
Laura A. Janda
Overview
⢠National identity linked to languageâ History of nationalism
⢠What is a language? â Why is it a core factor of identity?â How many languages & countries are there?
⢠Matrix vs. embedded languagesâ Colonialism & post-colonialismâ Group vs. individual interests
Nation, Nationality, and Nationalism
⢠Are innovative, recent concepts, artifacts created in late 18th century in W. Europe (Anderson 1991)
⢠Prior to the advent of nationality, and in the absence of technologies such as print, railroads, automobiles, how were human societies organized?
Local Community⢠Defined by place â people who are close
enough for face-to-face contact⢠Can be multilingualReligious Community⢠Defined by faith, but could potentially reach all
mankind⢠Often used a sacred language, âsuperiorâ to
vernacularsDynastic Realm⢠Defined by loyalty to royal leader⢠Eventually took on nationalist features in W.
Europe
Nationalism â A product of W. European Romanticism
⢠Three German philosophers:
Johann Gottfried Herder
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Nationalism â A product of W. European Romanticism
⢠Three German philosophers:
Johann Gottfried Herder
âHas a nation anything more precious than the language of its fathers?â
Nationalism â A product of W. European Romanticism
⢠Three German philosophers:
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Language is the âspiritual exhalationâ of the nation
Nationalism â A product of West European Romanticism
⢠Three German philosophers:
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
âMen are formed by language far more than language is formed by menâGerman nation and language are superior
A modern definition of nation (Anderson 1991)
⢠An imagined political community that is both limited and sovereign
⢠Imagined because members cannot all know each other
⢠Limited because no nation encompasses all of mankind, nor even aspires to
⢠Sovereign because nations came into being during Enlightenment and strive for freedom
⢠Community because a nation is conceived of as a horizontal comradeship of equals
What do the people of a nation share?
⢠A name⢠A language⢠A territory⢠Myths & memories⢠A culture⢠An economy⢠Rights and duties
Q: Which are necessary? Which are un/chosen? Which are objective/discrete?
An âidealâ nation-state assumes ONE nation = ONE state
Language (Andersen 1991)
⢠A language is a powerful means to root a nation to a past because a language looms up from the past without any birthdate of its own, and suggests a community between a contemporary society and its dead ancestors
⢠Poetry, songs, national anthems create a simultaneous community of selfless voices
Why is language a key factor in identity? (Janda forthc)
⢠Vehicle for culture (both âCâ and âcâ)⢠Vehicle of transmission for âwordlessâ
media (dance, cuisine, handicrafts)⢠If language is lost, access to culture is also
lost⢠Cultural concepts are embedded in
language⢠Language and culture co-evolve, are
continuously tailored to each other
What is a language? A dialect?⢠Mutual comprehensibility?
â This works for some situations, but are there counterexamples?
⢠It doesnât work for :â German (incomprehensible
dialects)â Norwegian,Swedish,Danish
(comprehensible)â Slavic (both situations)â Chinese
Q: Whatâs going on?
A: IMAGINATION
Problem with the âidealâ nation-state
⢠Q: How many countries are there in the world?
⢠A: 192.⢠Q: How many
languages are there in the world?
⢠A: At least 6912.
Why are languages important? (Harrison 2006, Janda forthc)
⢠They contain information about culture and human interaction
⢠They contain information about sustainable use of niche environments
⢠They contain information about the human brain
Most languages of the world belong to indigenous nations
Languages are repositories of human knowledge
Most of human knowledge is in the hands/mouths of indigenous peoples
Matrix and Embedded Languages
⢠Matrix â a language that is connected to political structures, that serves purposes of national or regional communication
⢠Embedded â a language that is used within a single ethnic group, that is under pressure from a matrix language
Nearly all indigenous languages are embedded languages
Colonialism & Post-Colonialism
⢠Colonialism has â Created ânewâ boundaries and identities that
persist in post-colonial eraâ Treated indigenous peoples and their
languages in different waysâ Sometimes shifted the identity of languages
as matrix vs. embedded
Group vs. Individual Interests for Indigenous Languages
⢠Group Interestsâ Preserve indigenous languageâ Have monolingual speakers, transmission to
young generationâ Have education in native language
⢠Individual Interestsâ Social and economic upward mobilityâ Fluency in (one or more) matrix language
Language and Identity
Culture embodies those moral, ethical and aesthetic values, the set of spiritual
eyeglasses, through which (people) come to view themselves and their place in the
universe. Values are the basis of a peopleâs identity, their sense of particularity as members of the human race (Ngugi wa
Thiongâo).
The story so far
⢠We classify people in terms of general âperson-typesââ E.g. Man, Brit, Londoner, Educated
⢠We apply the same classification to ourselves as we search for a social identity.
⢠Our identity varies according to:â Who we are interacting withâ The situation (e.g. formal/casual)
Who am I?
P e r s o n
F e m al e M al e Se ni o r J uni o r B r i t L o ndo ne r E duc ate d
M e
1 0 0 % 1 0 0 %6 0 % 4 0 % 7 0 % ? %
Variable is a
⢠Membership of a category is usually a matter of degree,â E.g. a chair is a âbetterâ item of furniture than
an ash-tray.
⢠Similarly for our social self-classification,â E.g. my daughters are âbetterâ Londoners than
I am.
⢠Degrees of membership can be shown as percentages.
Language
⢠We signal our social identity in various ways, e.g. clothing, behaviour.
⢠Perhaps the most important signal is language because:â Itâs learned socially.â It allows many distinctions (e.g. one per
phoneme).â Each token (instance) can be chosen
independently, which allows fine-tuning.
Acts of identity
⢠Every word is an âact of identity in a multi-dimensional social spaceâ (Le Page).
⢠This is different from (simple) accommodation because weâre followingâ Abstract social prototypes (âperson-typesâ)â Not the people in front of us.
⢠Acts of identity fine-tune our face (= âpublic self-imageâ)
New York
⢠How do you study âthe languageâ of a complex city such as New York?
⢠William Labovâs answer (PhD, 1962-66): study sociolinguistic variables.
⢠E.g. (r): [r] ~ Ă (e.g. car = [kÉ:r] ~ [kÉ:])⢠He tested this idea with a brilliant
pilot study.
Background
⢠Labov (a New Yorker) observed that (r) was variable.
⢠The old standard in NYC was (r):Ă.
⢠The new educated standard seemed to be (r):[r]
⢠For example,
Hypotheses
⢠Use of (r) varies with social class and age.
⢠Maybe sex matters too.
⢠And âstyleâ (attention to language).
⢠And phonological context (before C or word-final).
Method: speaker selection
⢠Select an easy measure of âeducationâ:â wealth.
⢠Select places which cater for people of differing wealth:â department stores.
⢠Three stores qualified:â Saks: for the very richâ Macyâs: for the comfortably offâ Klein: for the poor
Method: choice of words
⢠Select some words containing (r), e.g. fourth, floor.
⢠Get assistants in those places to say those words:â Ask where to find some item known to be on
the fourth floor.â Then pretend not to have heard the answer.
⢠Record their answers out of sight.
Results
⢠In this way he collected data from 264 subjects in just over six hours.
⢠He counted (r):[r] as % of all (r).
⢠He distinguished:â Saks, Macyâs, Kleinâ First and second utteranceâ Fourth and floor
So âŚ
Use of (r) does indeed vary with:
⢠Education/wealth/social class â Evidence: differences among stores
⢠Style/attention to languageâ Evidence: first versus second utteranceâ But less so in Saks
⢠Phonological contextâ Evidence: fourth versus floor
Main findings
⢠Different sociolinguistic variables are sensitive to different social variables.
⢠Variable scores show variable allegiance to alternative person-types.
⢠Education is always important:â education/social class is always relevant (in America
as much as in UK).â Women are always more âstandardâ than men
(provided they have access to education).â Formal speech (e.g. reading lists) is always more
âstandardâ (as defined by education) than casual.
Bibliography
⢠Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities. London/New York: Verso.
⢠Edwards, John. 1985. Language, Society and Identity. Oxford: Blackwell.
⢠Harrison, K. David. 2006. When Languages Die: The extinction of the world's languagesand the erosion of human knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
⢠Janda, Laura A. Forthcoming. "From Cognitive Linguistics to Cultural Linguistics", to appear in Slovo a smysl/Word and Sense.