Language and Identity

This page intentionally left blank Language and Identity The language we use forms an important part of our sense of who we are – of our identity. This book outlines the relationship between our identity as members of groups – ethnic, national, religious and gender – and the language varieties important to each group. What is a language? What is a dialect? Are there such things as language ‘rights’? Must every national group have its own unique language? How have languages, large and small, been used to spread religious ideas? Why have particular religious and linguistic ‘markers’ been so central, singly or in combination, to the ways in which we think about ourselves and others? Using a rich variety of examples, the book highlights the linkages among languages, dialects and identities, with special attention given to religious, ethnic and national allegiances. john edwards is Professor of Psychology at St Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia. His previous publications include Lan- guage in Canada (Cambridge, 1998). KEY TOPICS IN SOCIOLINGUISTICS Series editor: Rajend Mesthrie This new series focuses on the main topics of study in sociolinguistics today. It consists of accessible yet challenging accounts of the most important issues to consider when examining the relationship between language and society. Some topics have been the subject of sociolinguistic study for many years, and are here re-examined in the light of new developments in the field; others are issues of growing importance that have not so far been given a sustained treatment. Written by leading experts, the books in the series are designed to be used on courses and in seminars, and include useful suggestions for further reading and a helpful glossary. Already published in the series: Politeness by Richard J. Watts Language Policy by Bernard Spolsky Discourse by Jan Blommaert Analyzing Sociolinguistic Variation by Sali A. Tagliamonte Language and Ethnicity by Carmen Fought Style by Nikolas Coupland World Englishes by Rajend Mesthrie and Rakesh M. Bhatt Forthcoming titles: Bilingual Talk by Peter Auer Sociolinguistics and Social Theory by Nikolas Coupland Language and Identity An Introduction JOHN EDWARDS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521873819 © John Edwards 2009 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2009 ISBN-13 978-0-511-65201-1 eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-13 978-0-521-87381-9 Hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-69602-9 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. To Suzanne Contents 1Introduction 1 1.1 An introductory note 1 1.2 Chapters and topics 2 1.3 A concluding note 13 2 Identity, the individual and the group 15 2.1 Introduction 15 2.2 Identity: personal and social 19 2.3 The construction and maintenance of groupness 25 2.4 Language and circumstance 27 3 Identifying ourselves 34 3.1 Personal names 34 3.2 Names for groups 36 3.3 The appropriation of names and narratives 39 3.4 Cultural voices and scholarly research 42 3.5 Ethnocentrism and relativism 48 4 Language, dialect and identity 53 4.1 Language 53 4.2 Dialect 63 5 Dialect and identity: beyond standard and nonstandard 73 5.1 The ‘logic’ of dialect 73 5.2 Ebonics 75 5.3 Further work on dialect evaluation 82 6 Language, religion and identity 99 6.1 Introduction 99 6.2 Linking language and religion 100 6.3 God’s language – and ours 103 6.4 Modern times 110 6.5 Missionaries 118 7 Language, gender and identity 126 7.1 Introduction 126 7.2 Stereotyping sex and gender 127 7.3 Gender variations in speech 132 7.4 Concluding remarks 146 vii viii Contents 8 Ethnicity and nationalism 151 8.1 Introduction 151 8.2 Ethnic identity 153 8.3 Nationalism 162 9 Assessments of nationalism 175 9.1 Civic nationalism 175 9.2 Evaluating nationalism 185 10 Language and nationalism 205 10.1 The basic link 205 10.2 Language purism and prescriptivism 212 11 Language planning and language ecology 225 11.1 Language planning 225 11.2 The ecology of language 230 11.3 The consequences of Babel 245 11.4 Bilingualism and identity 247 Glossary 257 Notes 261 References 271 Index 310 1 Introduction 1.1 AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE In an earlier book in this series, Spolsky (2004) began by observing that studies of the social life of language are often too ‘language-centred’. Any investigation of language that considers only language will be deficient, and inappropriate limitations and restrictions can cripple insights. This is not a problem for this area alone, of course, but it is especially signifi- cant in a context where the hope of application fuels much of the effort. Nonetheless, any cursory examination of, say, the language-planning lit- erature or work in the social psychology of language will quickly reveal an undesirable narrowness of perspective. Studies of ‘endangered languages’ and ‘language revival’ seem particularly prone to tunnel vision, to the curious notion that these phenomena can be understood and then ameliorated in more or less isolated fashion. Except in the conceits of ‘pure’ linguistics, no analysis of language can rationally proceed from a ‘stand-alone’ perspective. Spolsky writes that while many scholars are now beginning to recognize the interaction of economic and political and other factors with language, it is easy and tempting to ignore them when we concentrate on language matters. (pp. ix–x) In fact, while one still reads too many disembodied, decontextualised and, therefore, essentially useless studies, the observation here is not quite accurate. For some writers – more nowadays than in the past, I would guess – ‘temptation’ is not an apt term at all, for the simple reason that a more extensive purview seems simply beyond them. For most of those who do have a sense of the disembodied nature of much of the work, the temptation is of course powerful. It is often reinforced by the intertwined influence of career imperatives of the ‘publish or perish’ sort, and of the relative ease of committing incomplete theses to print. The best scholarship has always paid attention to the bigger social picture, however, and has always resisted the temptation to narrowness. 1 2 language and identity In this book, as in previous work, I have tried to present something of the bigger picture of which language is an important but not unique element. I have tried to make my points and draw my illustrations from what seem the most interesting and compelling settings, and I have not hesitated to stray from the most well-trodden pathways in the sociology of language. The incentive here derives, in part, from Spolsky’s cau- tionary note, but also from the particular thematic thread that under- pins all the specific points that I touch upon in this book. The intent throughout is to illustrate the connections between language and identity, and this implies a stronger focus upon the symbolic and ‘marking’ functions of language than upon the communicative ones. This, in turn, necessitates attention to the social and political settings without which that symbolism, that group ‘marking’, would be empty. So, in this case at least, contextualisation is not something whose absence would merely be regrettable; rather, its absence would vitiate the whole enterprise. 1.2 CHAPTERS AND TOPICS Chapter 2 presents a brief discussion of the way in which ‘identity’ has become a very popular topic; indeed, the currency here has become con- siderably cheapened. Fashion aside, however, it is clear that identity is at the heart of the person, and the group, and the connective tissue that links them. People need psychosocial ‘anchors’: it is as simple as that. It is also clear that identities very rarely exist singly: on the contrary, we all possess a number of identities – or facets of one overarching identity, if you prefer – the salience of which can be expected to wax and wane according to circumstance and context. While my emphasis in this book is upon the identity markers and attributes of ‘groupness’, I begin by arguing that personal and group identities embrace one another. The elements of individual identity are not unique but, rather, are drawn from some common social pool; there is uniqueness at the level of personal- ity, to be sure, but it comes about through the particular combinations and weightings of those broadly shared elements. On the other hand, the social store in which these elements are found is an assembly of personalities. Limitations of time and space prevent further discussion here – of, for instance, the very old notion that the assembly is more than the collection of individuals, that the societal whole is greater than the sum of the personal parts, that there is a sort of Gestalt that summarises but goes beyond specific components. This speculation has fuelled discussions of ‘crowd psychology’, from the Greek golden age, Introduction 3 to the reactionary impulses of nineteenth-century commentators wor- ried about revolutionary upheavals in the wake of Quatre-vingt-neuf,to contemporary social-psychological investigations. The second chapter further sets the scene by noting some restrictions on the sort of groups that will receive the greatest attention here: those that, if not always completely involuntary in nature, are of the broadest general significance.

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