Offering a uniquely broad-based overview of the role of language choice in the construction of national, ethnic and religious identity, this textbook examines a wide range of specific cases from various parts of the world in order to arrive at some general principles concerning the links between language and identity. It will benefit students and researchers in a wide range of fields where identity is an important issue and who currently lack a single source to turn to for an overview of sociolinguistics.
Autorentext
JOHN E.JOSEPH is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. He previously taught at the University of Maryland at College Park and at the University of Hong Kong. His books include Eloquence and Power, Ideologies of Language (with T.J.Taylor), Limiting the Arbitrary and From Whitney to Chomsky.
Zusammenfassung
This book examines the complex link between the national or ethnic identity of a people and the language they speak. It considers how identity functions for both groups and individuals, with particular attention to how we interpret the identities of others based on the way they speak. It looks too at how our ideas concerning particular languages such as English, including notions of what is 'good' and 'bad' English, are bound up with views of who the language 'belongs' to. Language and identity is a current focus of research in a broad range of academic disciplines. This book tries to lay out the central issues, offering an original approach to the subject that treats identity as fundamentally a linguistic concept, and re-focuses attention from its production to its interpretation. It includes case studies on situations across the world, including Hong Kong, Lebanon, Scotland and Singapore. It considers too how identity interacts with language change and language shift, including the impact that the worldwide spread of English is having on other languages and their speakers.
Inhalt
Preface Introduction Linguistic Identity and the Function and Evolution of Language Approaching Identity in Traditional Linguistic Analysis Integrating Perspectives from Adjacent Disciplines Language in National Identities Case Study 1 - The New Quasi-Nation of Hong Kong Language in Ethnic/Racial and Religious/Sectarian Identities Case Study 2 - Christian and Muslim Identities in Lebanon Afterword: Identity and the Study of Language Bibliography Index