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Notes for
Week 17
Intro
Sociolx LG232, Univ. of Essex
by Prof.
Peter L. Patrick
This
model of how language subordination takes place was developed by Lippi-Green to
describe social practices in the US, but should be of wider relevance too. She
lays out the model in Chap 4 (see ref below), and applies it to African
American Vernacular English in Chap 9; both are relevant to this week’s topic, Applied
Sociolinguistics in African Diaspora Englishes: Do the Right Thing,
as we look at how prejudice against non-mainstream varieties (esp. AAVE) and
bias towards educated middle-class Anglo speech is ingrained in the
institutions of power: education, law, social services, etc. This follows on
from the topic of Week 16, Language Rights in
a Multilingual Society.
q Language is mystified
o
“You can never hope to
comprehend the difficulties and complexities of {your mother tongue}
without expert guidance”
q Authority is claimed
o
“Talk like us. We know
what we are doing because we have studied language/because we write well.”
q
Mis- (Dis- ?) information is generated
o
“That usage you are so attached
to is inaccurate/ugly/against common sense. The one I use is superior on
historical, aesthetic and/or logical grounds.”
q Non-mainstream language
is trivialized
o
“Look how cute! How
homey, how funny, how quaint! Your accent has a lilt/twang. Where are you from?”
q
Conformers are held up as positive examples
o
“See what you can
accomplish if you only try, see how far you can go if you see the light. Lift
yourself up like she did.”
q
Explicit promises are made
o
“Employers will take
you seriously; doors will open. You’ll have a future in Corporate America/the
City/etc.”
q
Threats are made
o
“No-one important will
take you seriously; doors will close. That way of talking will keep you in the
ghetto, with those friends of yours.”
q
Non-conformers are vilified or marginalized
o
“See how willfully
stupid, arrogant, ignorant, uneducated, deviant, unrepresentative these
speakers are!”
Slightly
adapted* from Rosina Lippi-Green 1997, English with an accent:
Language, ideology and discrimination in the United States (Chap 4: 68)
[ *
I’ve mostly added to and changed the example quotations --PLP]
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Last updated 28 February 2003