De Hegemonizing Language Standards

Here, an examination of so-called uneducated and otherwise non-standard usage in the Sri Lankan context, including popular cultural and protest writing and speech, shows that Sri Lankans communicate powerfully and creatively in this medium. The legitimization of this practice on the margins leads to a de-hegemonizing of language standards. What can be seen in the Sri Lankan context is not specific to it, but shown to be typical of all languages in use, and, in an analogous argument, the claim is extended from the narrowly linguistic sphere to the much broader field of discursive practice in general.

This study first establishes the discriminatroy and elitist nature of standard languages and standardisation itself, considering as counter-example the case of Sri Lankan English as symptomatic of the 'other' or postcolonial Englishes. On the basis of this understanding of the standard, while at the same time, accepting the necessity of standards, however attenuated, the writer argues for the active broadening of the standard to include the greatest variety possible - privileging 'meaning' over other rules - and holds that this would in fact work towards extending the bounds of linguistic tolerance.

This book examines how language ideologies are manifested in newspaper media. Using the Spanish press as a case study it considers how media discourse both from and about the Real Academia Española constitutes a set of 'language ideological debates' in which the institution represents a vision of what the Spanish language is and what it should be like. Paffey adopts a Critical Discourse Analysis approach to a large corpus of texts from Spain's best-selling daily newspapers, El País and ABC. More generally, the book sheds light on how institutions produce and maintain visions of 'standard language' in the contemporary context. A global language, such as Spanish, is by nature more widely used outside of the nation state in question than in it. The book covers recent research on language ideologies, standardization and CDA and considers the application of these to three core discursive themes: language unity and a concept of a 'panhispanic' speech community; the RAE's construction of its authority; and institutional ideologies and management of language on a global scale.

The notion of a 'standard' variety of English has been the subject of a considerable body of research. Studies have tended to focus on the standard features of British and American English. However, more recently interest has turned to the other varieties of English that have developed around the world and the ways in which these have also been standardised. This volume provides the first book-length exploration of 'standard Englishes', with chapters on areas as diverse as Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. This is a timely and important topic, edited by a well-known scholar in the field, with contributions by the leading experts on each major variety of English discussed. The book presents in full the criteria for defining a standard variety, and each chapter compares standards in both spoken and written English and explores the notion of register within standard varieties.

Language standardization is an ongoing process based on the notions of linguistic correctness and models. This manual contains thirty-six chapters that deal with the theories of linguistic norms and give a comprehensive up-to-date description and analysis of the standardization processes in the Romance languages. The first section presents the essential approaches to the concept of linguistic norm ranging from antiquity to the present, and includes individual chapters on the notion of linguistic norms and correctness in classical grammar and rhetoric, in the Prague School, in the linguistic theory of Eugenio Coseriu, in sociolinguistics as well as in pragmatics, cognitive and discourse linguistics. The second section focuses on the application of these notions with respect to the Romance languages. It examines in detail the normative grammar and the normative dictionary as the reference tools for language codification and modernization of those languages that have a long and well-established written tradition, i.e. Romanian, Italian, French, Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese. Furthermore, the volume offers a discussion of the key issues regarding the standardization of the ‘minor’ Romance languages as well as Creoles.

Taking a sociocultural and educational approach, Language and Linguistics in Context: Readings and Applications for Teachers: *introduces basic linguistic concepts and current perspectives on language acquisition; *considers the role of linguistic change (especially in English) in the politics of language; *acknowledges the role of linguists in current policies involving language; *offers insights into the relationship between the structure of language systems and first- and second-language acquisition; the study of language across culture, class, race, gender, and ethnicity; and between language study and literacy and education; and *provides readers with a basis for understanding current educational debates about bilingual education, non-standard dialects, English only movements, literacy methodologies, and generally the importance to teaching of the study of language. The text is organized into three thematic units – "What is Language and How is It Acquired?"; "How Does Language Change?"; and "What is Literacy?". To achieve both breadth and depth – that is, to provide a “big picture” view of basic linguistics and at the same time make it specific enough for the beginner – a selection of readings, including personal language narratives, is provided to both introduce and clarify linguistic concepts. The readings, by well-known theoretical and applied linguists and researchers from various disciplines, are diverse in level and range of topics and vary in level of linguistic formalism. Pedagogical features: This text is designed for a range of courses in English and language arts, bilingualism, applied linguistics, and ESL courses in teacher education programs. Each unit contains a substantive introduction to the topic, followed by the readings. Each reading concludes with Questions to Think About including one Extending Your Understanding question, and a short list of Terms to Define. Each unit ends with additional Extending Your Understanding and Making Connections activities that engage readers in applying what they have read to teaching and suggested projects and a bibliography of Print and Web Resources. The readings and apparatus are arranged so that the material can be modified to fit many course plans and schemes of presentation. To help individual instructors make the most effective use of the text in specific classes, a set of matrixes is provided suggesting configurations of readings for different types of linguistics and education classes.

If, as we believe, the history of languages is the history of the construction of an ideal artefact that permits a specific interpretation of the linguistic reality and helps to approve and assimilate a certain zone of diversity, enabling the accumulation of collective historical knowledge and making us identify it with a social community and a territory, then it must be agreed that languages are extremely complex entities. The new linguistic diversity that cultural globalisation and recent population movements have installed in most traditional linguistic territories has probably put the ideology of the national language into a state of crisis and, as a consequence, has made the ancient, intrinsic diversity of all languages visible, at least to the extent that this is still possible. Nowadays, then, the old linguistic diversity of dialects, of parlances, of local lexicons and the cultural forms that are reflected in these, of varieties and previously unsuccessful linguistic entities has been given a new opportunity in a world where the cohesion of societies and the welfare of citizens must be guaranteed using all available means. Looked at this way, the intricacy of languages may even open up an opportunity for local economic and social development.

This volume describes the development of Standard English from Middle English onwards.