From poetic resistance to multilingual organisations

- Playing the language game

Core arguments

• Language standardisation inevitably involves the promotion of one discourse at the expense of alternative variants.

• Speakers of non-standard discourses may respond to social domination by developing linguistic counter strategies.

• The language game can be defined as the negotiation of social status and power that emerges from a situation of multilingualism.

Program

• Introduction• Bourdieu’s theory of

linguistic markets• Example 1: Lowland

Scots• Example 2: corporate

English• Conclusion

Bourdieu’s theory on language

• Linguistic standardisation: the promotion of one ”legitimate” discourse at the expense of alternative variants.

• Linguistic markets: the particular field or context of social interaction.

• Social recognition: the acceptance of one’s social status and power by fellow-actors within a specific field.

Example 1: Lowland Scots

Linguistic normalisation:• Before 1560: Scots used in

written and oral discourse in Scotland.

• 1560s: the Reformation leads to the introduction of an English Bible in Scotland.

• 1603 union of the Scottish and English crowns establishes English as the preferred medium of the court.

Lowland Scots: a poet’s voice!

Hee-haw! Click-Clack! And Cock-a-doodle-doo!- Wull Gabriel in Esperanto cryOr a’ the warld’s undeemis jargons try?It’s soon’, no’ sense, that faddoms the herts o’ men,And by my sangs the rouch auld Scots I kenEén herts that ha’e nae Scots’ll dirl richt thro’As nocht else could – for here’s a language ringsWi’ datchie sesames, and names for nameless

things.(Hugh MacDiarmid 1926)

Reclaiming Lowland Scots

• Language production: poets’ and novelists’ development of Lowland Scots into a medium for artistic writing.

• Language recognition: introduction of courses on Scottish language and literature by educational institutions.

• Language institutionalisation: the political acknowledgment of Lowland Scots as the third national language for Scotland.

From the Holyrood wabpage:

The Scottish Pairlament is a law makkin bodie made up o aw 129 MSPs. It gies the MSPs fae aw pairties an independent MSPs scowth tae mak new laws, tak tent o the wark of the Scottish Executive, tae debate issues o importance tae Scotland an tae heeze or lat doon taxes. The Pairlament is accoontable til the fowk o Scotland.

(The Scottish Parliament 2007)

Example 2: corporate English

Global standardisation?

• The teaching of English has centred on learners’ ability to imitate a native-speaker norm.

• Models of world Englishes confirm the special position of standard British and American English.

• International business –a case of American expansion overseas?

• American domination within the field of intercultural communication.

Playing the language game

• Language clustering: actors’ orientation of social interaction towards the members of their own speech community.

• Linguistic localisation: using native languages whenever this is possible.

• Dilute communication: avoiding social interactions in the foreign or second language.

• Linguistic normalisation: establishment of an alternative linguistic standard (eg. Danglish).

Examples from Danish companies

What happens mostly is that people would get together and talk Danish. If you do not, then you will not be invited. . . It is both in society and work. It is the social things that are the problem. . . If you start a conversation in English, people cut you short (Italian employee).

It is not just personal stuff you miss out on but business relations too. If something is going on, if nobody directly tells you, you are not going to know. I would say yes, you can work here without speaking any Danish. You can do your job. But all the learning and what is going of around you, you would miss. (Canadian employee)

Conclusions

• The success of linguistic standardisation will always depend on its recognition among local language users.

• This means that the notion of linguistic standards is problematic since it promotes one discourse at the expense of other possible variants.

• To appreciate the social power of language, we will therefore need to study intercultural communication in context.

Thank you!