Language, Society, and Change: Overcoming Stereotypes

1. Chapter 10 Overview 1. Sexist Language 2. Loss of Linguistic Diversity 3. Sociolinguists share informed insights 4. Overcoming Attitudes and Stereotypes 5. Avoiding / decreasing intercultural misunderstandings 1/15

2. Social Goals of Applied Linguists / Sociolinguists  Promote awareness of language issues in society.  Debunk myths about language in society.  Support linguistic rights. Be sensitive to minority rights.  Be sensitive to other cultures. 2/15

3. Gender Differences and Society Greatest linguistic distinctions between men's and women's languages come from "technologically non-advanced food-gathering or nomadic communities where sex roles were much more clearly delineated." Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. ??. 3/15

4. Male Biased Terms chairman chair(person), chairwoman mailman letter carrier fireman firefighter policeman police officer waiter server waitress server stewardess flight attendant woman doctor doctor [Compare: male nurse and nurse] Mr. President Madam President First Lady ??First Gentleman?? 4/15

5. Change the Language Change Society? "Linguistic changes follow social changes very readily, but it is not always a simple matter to make them precede social changes." ALSO: "Because language and society are so closely linked, it is possible, in some cases, to encourage social change by directing attention towards linguistic reflections of aspects of society that one would like to see altered." Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 189. 5/15

6. Insights from Linguists "This sort of involvement by linguists in issues to do with language and gender is an example of the way in which many sociolinguists feel, quite rightly, that it is important for those of us who have some insight into the nature of the relationship between society and language to make those insights available to the wider community in cases where these insights can be of some value." Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 189. 6/15

7. Some Widely Held Views 1 1. A country should have only one language. 2. Lack of linguistic unity goes together with lack of political unity. 3. Minority languages should be suppressed. 4. OR Minority languages should not be promoted 7/15

8. Some Widely Held Views 2 5. Non-standard dialects should be suppressed. 6. OR Non-standard dialects should not be promoted. 7. Our language should be protected from the invasion of foreign words. 8/15

9. The Linguist's Responsibility "It is a sad but true sociolinguistic fact that language issues can bring out the worst as well as the best in human beings, and that some people who would otherwise pride themselves on being intelligent and rational can behave in the most illogical ways when it comes to language issues. One of the things that linguists in general and sociolinguists in particular have tried to do over the years is to encourage people to think in a more sensible way about language issues by providing them with more information about language. This is important for all sorts of reasons to do with fairness, equality, and even the future of humanity." Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 190. 9/15

10. Open-Mindedness Being open-minded does NOT mean you must ACCEPT the other viewpoint. It does mean, however, that you recognize that another viewpoint exists AND that there may be some reasons WHY people hold that viewpoint. AND it ought to also mean you will try to be fair-minded about it. 10/15

11. Be Open Minded FOR EXAMPLE: Maybe YOU do not care about preserving the Hakka language or Aboriginal languages, BUT, you SHOULD recognize that some people (especially if they are members of these groups) think it IS important and that there should be support from society / government to help them. 11/15

12. Language Shift over Time in France and England WHO WHAT Celtic invaders Brought Celtic—Gaulish to France Roman invaders Brought Latin to France Gaulish speakers Switchedto Latin Latin speakers Latin became French German invaders Brought German to N. France German speakers Switchedto French / Latin Vikings invade Brought Norwegian to Normandy, France Norwegian speakers Switchedto Norman French Norman invaders Took Norman French to England Norman speakers Switchedto English Trudgill, Peter. 1995. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, third edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 191. 12/15

13. Attitudes “In fact, experiments in Britain have shown that speakers using an RP-speaking guise are generally regarded as more intelligent and more educated, but less friendly and less likeable, than the same speakers using a local-accent-speaking guise.” Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, pp. 194-195. 13/15

14. Getting to Know You "This illustrates the way in which we rely on stereotypes when we first meet and interact with people (as in a train, for example) and use the way they speak to build up a picture of what sort of person we think they are. RP-speakers may be perceived, as soon as they start speaking, as haughty and unfriendly by non-RP-speakers unless and until they are able to demonstrate the contrary. They are, as it were, guilty until proved innocent." Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p 195. 13/15

15. Approaches to Dealing with Non-Standard Varieties in an Educational Setting 1. Eliminate non-standard speech 2. Take a bidialectal approach 3. Teach an appreciation / tolerance of dialect differences 4. Combination of 2 and 3 Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, pp. 200-203. 15/15