Lecture-4
Language, Society and Freedom
- Language and signifying behavior in general, limits what we can say, think
and do.
- Often below the level of our consciousness
- Limiting innovation preserves the social order
- And can be hegemonic
- So how free are?
Lecture Themes
- Language varieties:
- 1. Languages, dialects, language ideologies
- 2. Social variation: accents, social dialects, registers
- Hegemony: three approaches
- 1, Manufacturing conset
- 2. Conformity and resistance
- 3. Incorporation
Language Varieties
- Language varieties: “Languages, dialects, accents”
- “Language, dialects and accents” are popular terms not scientific terms
Nation, Language, Dialect
- “Language: a dialect with an army”
- Languages: Danish, Norwegian; Russian, Ukrainian; Malay, Indonesia; Serbia,
Croatian – languages with a state
- “Dialects:” Cantonese, Fukinese, Mandarin, etc.; Tagalog, Ilokano- no state
Accents
- Why do foreign accents persist?
- Objective reasons: Critical period for learning distant languages
- 11-14 years of age?
- Subjective reasons: Foreign accent depends on both production and
reception of speech: how people speak and how we hear them.
- Accents index involuntary ethnic divisions in our community
Accent types and ethnic groups
- “East European”
- “Indian”
- Accent “classifications” reflect relations across the worl and within
community
- Why do foreign language speakers get dubbed into accented English in
American films?
Social
- Social Dialects
- “I don’t see nothin’ wrong with Hugo winnin’ and Oscar”
- Voluntary message: I think that Hugo will win an Oscar”
- Involuntary message: “I am a working class person”