Monolingual ideologies in multilingual states
Language, hegemony and social justice in Western liberal democracies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v1i2.25Keywords:
multilingualism, hegemony, social justice, ideologyAbstract
In multilingual, heterogeneous societies language ideologies are constantly constructed and re-constructed in discursive interactions at micro and macro levels. When the dominant, majority group in a society, nation, nation-state or community considers that the ideal model of society is monolingual, monoethnic, monoreligious and monoideological (Blommaert & Verschueren, 1998a), we immediately encounter questions such as 'who is in?' and 'who is out?'. A dominant ideology of monolingualism in multilingual societies raises questions of social justice, as such an ideology potentially excludes and discriminates against those who are either unable or unwilling to fit the monoglot standard. In this paper I review recent research which has illuminated our understanding of language ideologies and social justice in multilingual states, and I offer an analysis of everyday discourse practices in Britain, including monolingual practices in a multilingual educational setting, a language ideological debate in local news media, and the liberal academic discourse of a recently-published report into the future of multi-ethnic Britain. My analysis suggests that in each of these contexts the many minority languages of Birmingham, and of Britain, are being written out of public discourse, as a monolingual ideology continues to prevail.
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Billig, M. (1995). Banal Nationalism. London: Sage.
Blackledge, A. (2000). Literacy, Power and Social Justice. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books.
Blommaert, J. (1999). “The debate is open”. In J. Blommaert (ed.), Language Ideological Debates. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1-38.
Blommaert, J. & J. Verschueren (1998a). “The role of language in European nationalist ideologies”. In B. Schieffelin, K. Woolard & P. Kroskrity (eds.), Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 189-210.
Blommaert, J. & J. Verschueren (1998b). Debating diversity. Analysing the discourse of tolerance. London & New York: Routledge.
Bokhorst-Heng, W. (1999). “Singapore’s Speak Mandarin Campaign: Language ideological debates in the imagining of the nation”. In J. Blommaert (ed.), Language Ideological Debates. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 235-66.
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1991) Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Collins, J. (1999). “The Ebonics controversy in context: Literacies, subjectivities and language ideologies in the United States”. In J. Blommaert (ed.), Language Ideological Debates. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 201-34.
Crawford, J. (1994). Hold Your Tongue: Bilingualism and the Politics of English Only. Addison-Wesley.
Department for Education and Employment (1998). The National Literacy Strategy. Framework for Teaching. London: DFEE.
Di Giacomo, S. (1999). “Language ideological debates in an Olympic city: Barcelona 1992-1996”. In J. Blommaert (ed.), Language Ideological Debates. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Dicker, S. (1996). Languages in America. A Pluralist View. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical Discourse Analysis. The Critical Study of Language. London & New York: Longman.
Gal, S. (1993). “Diversity and contestation in linguistic ideologies: German speakers in Hungary”. Language in Society 22, 337-59.
Gal, S. (1998). “Multiplicity and contention among language ideologies: A commentary”. In B. Schieffelin, K. Woolard & P. Kroskrity (eds.), Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 3-47.
Gal, S. & J. Irvine (1995). “The boundaries of language and disciplines: How ideologies construct difference”. Social Research 62(4), 967-1001.
Gal, S. & K. Woolard (1995). “Constructing languages and publics: Authority and representation”. Pragmatics 5(2), 129-38.
Gardner-Chloros, P. (1997). “Vernacular literacy in new vernacular settings in Europe”. In A. Tabouret-Keller, R. Le Page, P. Gardner-Chloros & G. Varro (eds.), Vernacular Literacy. A re-evaluation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 189-221.
Goldstein, T. (1997). Two Languages at Work: Bilingual Life on the Production Floor. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the Prison Notebooks. New York: International.
Grillo, R. (1998). Pluralism and the Politics of Difference. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Heller, M. (1995). “Language choice, social institutions and symbolic domination”. Language in Society 24, 373-405.
Heller, M. (1999). Linguistic Minorities and Modernity. A Sociolinguistic Ethnography. London & New York: Longman.
Hobsbawm, E. J. (1990). Nations and Nationalism Since 1780. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hymes, D. (1996). Ethnography, Linguistics, Narrative Inequality: Toward an Understanding of Voice. London: Taylor & Francis.
Jaffe, A. (1999). “Locating power: Corsican translators and their critics”. In J. Blommaert (ed.), Language Ideological Debates. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 39-66.
Kroskrity, P. (1998). “Arizona Tewa Kiva speech as a manifestation of a dominant language ideology”. In B. Schieffelin, K. Woolard & P. Kroskrity (eds.), Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 103-22.
Lippi-Green, R. (1994). “Accent, standard language ideology, and discriminatory pretext in the courts”. Language in society 23, 163-98.
Mertz, E. (1998). “Linguistic ideology and praxis in U.S. law school classrooms”. In B. Schieffelin, K. Woolard & P. Kroskrity (eds.), Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 149-62.
Norton, B. (2000). Identity and Language Learning. Gender, Ethnicity and Educational Change. London: Longman.
Parekh, B. (2000). The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain. The Parekh Report. London: The Runnymede Trust & Profile Books.
Philips, S. (1998). “Language ideologies in institutions of power: A commentary”. In B. Schieffelin, K. Woolard & P. Kroskrity (eds.), Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 211-22.
Piller, I. (forthcoming). “Naturalisation language testing and its basis in ideologies of national identity and citizenship”. The International Journal of Bilingualism.
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (2000). The National Curriculum. London: HMSO.
Schieffelin, B. & R.C. Doucet (1998). “The “real” Haitian Creole: Ideology, metalinguistics and orthographic choice”. In B. Schieffelin, K. Woolard & P. Kroskrity (eds.), Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 285-316.
Shannon, S. (1999). “The debate on bilingual education in the U.S.: Language ideology as reflected in the practice of bilingual teachers”. In J. Blommaert (ed.), Language Ideological Debates. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 171-200.
Silverstein, M. (1996). “Monoglot “standard” in America: Standardization and metaphors of linguistic hegemony”. In D. Brenneis & R. Macauley (eds.), The Matrix of Language: Contemporary Linguistic Anthropology. Boulder: Westview, 284-306.
Spitulnik, D. (1998). “Mediating unity and diversity: The production of language ideologies in Zambian broadcasting”. In B. Schieffelin, K. Woolard & P. Kroskrity (eds.), Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 163-88.
Stroud, C. (1999). “Portuguese as ideology and politics in Mozambique: Semiotic (re)constructions of a postcolony”. In J. Blommaert (ed.), Language Ideological Debates. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 343-80.
Watts, R. (1999). “The ideology of dialect in Switzerland”. In J. Blommaert (ed.), Language Ideological Debates. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 67-104.
Williams, R. (1977). Marxism and Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wodak, R., R. de Cillia, M. Reisigl & K. Liebhart (1999). The Discursive Construction of National Identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Woolard, K. (1985). “Language variation and cultural hegemony: toward an integration of sociolinguistic and social theory”. American Ethnologist 12, 738-48.
Woolard, K. (1998). “Introduction: Language Ideology as a Field of Inquiry”. In B. Schieffelin, K. Woolard & P. Kroskrity (eds.), Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 3-47.
Published
2000-09-01
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Section
Articles
How to Cite
Blackledge, A. (2000). Monolingual ideologies in multilingual states: Language, hegemony and social justice in Western liberal democracies. Sociolinguistic Studies, 1(2), 25-45. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v1i2.25
