Global English: Class 8 Standard English Ideology

Global English
Class 8
Standard English ideology
1
Ideology – Lippi-Green’s working

definition:
Promotion of the needs and interests of
a dominant group or class at the expense of
marginalized groups, by means of
disinformation and misrepresentation of
those non-dominant groups.
2
Standard Language Ideology - a working

definition: a bias toward an abstracted,
idealized, homogenous spoken language
which is imposed and maintained by
dominant block institutions and which
names as its model the written language,
but which is drawn primarily from the
spoken language of the upper middle
class.
3
Important aspects of Standard Language

Ideology: language change equals
language decay; variation is ‘bad’ and
‘inadequate’.
4
Another aspect of SLI: promoting one

correct variety (Standard English) is seen
as ‘common sense’; open debate is seen
as unnecessary; there is nothing to talk
about.
The belief in the legitimacy of one

‘correct’ standard English variety is for
most people a ‘gut feeling’.
5
Powerful social groups want to impose

their speech patterns on the non-
powerful (non-mainstream) ones – easy
to understand!
6
Non-dominant groups co-operate,

behave in ways that are against their
own interests – difficult to understand!
7
‘Sloppy and lazy speech is produced by

sloppy and lazy speakers’.
8
Britain:
– 16th century – The English of the royal court
= best English (cf. Queen’s English, King’s
English)
– 17th century – the English of London,
Oxford and Cambridge = best English
(Oxford English)
– 1870s – the emergence of British public
schools and RP
9
RP accent was a very important factor of social

advancement until very recently. Wyld argued
that RP was intrinsically (inherently) the best
English.
British radio and TV – until 1960s all had to be RP

speakers
Beginning of the 20th century: British proletariat (the

lowest working class) was described as ‘barbarians
at our gates’, ‘emerging like rats from a drain’, ‘weird
and uncanny people’.
10
Class conflict was strong; trade union

movement gathered strength.
Some language varieties have been associated with

feared and stigmatized social classes.
Currently the lowest (most stigmatized) urban

varieties in Britain: Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool
(Scouse) and London (Cockney)
11
Race and language ideology
AAVE – the most stigmatized linguistic variety

in the USA
Slavery in the USA
Thomas Jefferson – early 19th century -

African Americans considered to be
intellectually inferior
12
The position (social status) of the Black

people in Britain has always been
different. In Britain, the black population
was free and sometimes literate. The
British authorities didn’t control them;
they were perceived as relatively
unthreatening. Black people in Britain
have never made a distinct underclass.
13
Jamaican creole is not LIKED by the

general public and it is stigmatized to
some extent in Britain. AAVE, however,
is despised in the USA by the general
public. Contemporary articles about it are
often clearly racist.
14
Statements about urban working class British

English:
‘sub-world speech, hellish, slow-spreading universal
yob-tongue’
Statements about AAVE:

‘they go against all accepted classical and modern
grammars and are the product not of a language
with roots in history but of ignorance of how
language works’
15
A model of the language subordination process:

• 1.Language is mystified
You can never hope to comprehend the
difficulties and complexities of your mother
tongue without expert guidance.
• 2.Authority is claimed
Talk like me/us. We know what we are doing
because we have studied language, because
we write well.
• 3.Misinformation is generated
That usage you are so attached to is
inaccurate. The variant I prefer is superior on
historical, aesthetic, or logical grounds.
16
• 4. Non-mainstream language is trivialized

Look how cute, how homey, how funny.
• 5. Conformers are held up as positive examples
See what you can accomplish if you only try, how far
you can get if you see the light.
• 6. Explicit promises are made
Employers will take you seriously, doors will open.
• 7. Threats are made
No one important will take you seriously; doors will
close.
• 8. Non-conformers are vilified or marginalized
See how willfully stupid, arrogant, unknowing,
uninformed, and/or deviant and unrepresentative these
speakers are.
17
Institutions supporting and implementing

this model of the language subordination:
mainly education, broadcast, print media,
entertainment industry, corporate sector,
judicial system.
18
The most common argument for

discrimination against non-mainstream
accents and languages concerns
communication: people claim they do
not understand non-mainstream accents
(cf. the situation in Norway).
19
Understanding is a matter of degree. We

tend to claim that we don’t understand
the people that we don’t like for reasons
other than linguistic.
Listeners and speakers will work toward

understanding each other if they want to
do so, if they are motivated in some way.
20
• Accent may sometimes be a communication

problem, especially with non-native speakers.
• Attitudes to accents correlate with attitudes to

people. We differ in how negative, positive, or
neutral our attitudes are toward the various
people/accents (French, Asian, German,
African American, etc.).
21
Institutionalized language ideology
The educational system
22
The educational system
A major goal of American schools: the

acquisition of literacy (through school) and
Standard US English.
Through the requirement of Standard English,

the educational system perpetuates inequality
and disadvantage.
23
Languages and varieties spoken by socially

marginalized groups are rejected in the
educational setting.
24
Local, non-standard varieties/languages have

recently been acknowledged but relegated to
the non-educational contexts (home,
neighborhoods, play, informal situations,
telling folktales, of little interest to a wider
audience).
25
Educators believe: children must be given

what they don’t have and what they need –
Standard English. This stance automatically
devalues the children’s vernacular language
which they bring to school.
26
Quite a few educators think that speakers of

non-standard English cannot think or reason
properly (cf. Labov’s ‘Logic of non-standard
English’)
Teachers discriminate against AAVE and

other non-standard Englishes. This fact can
hardly be denied.
No student can do well in school if his/her

language is seen as bad.
27
The teachers discriminate because the

employer does. But, they usually also believe
that the employer is right in doing so. Both the
employers and the teachers are very
successful in promoting their point of view.
28
Teacher talk
Teachers are supposed to demonstrate:

‘excellent skills of pronunciation and grammar’
and should be able to ‘carry out instruction in
content areas of the curriculum using a
standard variety of the native language’
29
Teachers of subjects such as physics and

chemistry are not treated so harshly as these of
English.
30
1992 – in a school in Westfield, Mass. – a

petition signed by 403 residents: no teacher
without standard grammar and pronunciation
should be given a job in the school. The
parents were afraid that the kids would pick
up the teacher’s accent.
There is no linguistic foundation for this fear.

Children pick up their accent from their
families and peers, and that process is largely
completed by the time they go to school.
31
Parents are afraid that ‘bad’ accent will be

transmitted from the teachers to the children
(like a virus!).
32
In the US, there is a strong resistance to

university teachers with a strong accent.
Students write letters of complaint. This is a
big issue at many campuses.
33
Most of the complaints express stereotypes

and bias; real communication problems are
rare.
Matched-guise technique tests indicate that

perceived ethnicity has an influence on how
students evaluate the language of the
teacher. For instance, looking at a picture of
an Asian face and hearing a native speaker
recording, the students perceived the speaker
as a non-native.
34
When the students believed the teacher was

Asian they scored worse on comprehension
tests compared to when they believed the
teacher was an American.
35
Non-native speakers of English

(predominantly Asian, African and South
American) are usually perceived as worse
teachers/communicators.
36
Conclusion:
Most teachers want to enforce Standard

English Ideology. There are some exceptions;
these latter teachers usually lose out.
37
Teaching children how to discriminate. What

we learn from the Big Bad Wolf.
38
Three Little Pigs (Disney film) – original version - the wolf is dressed as a
Jewish peddler, has a hook nose, wears side locks and a dark broad-
rimmed hat, and speaks English with a Yiddish accent.
39
In the1948 version – only the visual aspects

were changed.
The Yiddish accent was changed much later.
40
60 years later – Disney’s movie Aladdin – some dialogue (which was

considered to be anti Arab) was changed, but the accent wasn’t.
People with heavy accents are presented as bad.
41
Children’s films and the learning of language

attitudes.
Children learn not only variation but also

about what sort of accents to associate with
what kinds of people (bad, foreign, young, old,
etc.)
Some stereotyping (generalization) is

inevitable.
42
A hypothesis:
Animated films entertain, but they are also a

way to teach children to associate specific
characteristics and life styles with specific
social groups, by means of language
variation.
371 characters in all the full-length animated

Disney films (38) were analyzed.
43
Female characters are almost never shown at

work outside the home and family. When at
work – they are waitresses, nurses, nannies,
housekeepers.
44
Men are doctors, waiters, thieves, hunters,

servants, detectives, pilots.
45
Advisors to kings
46
Disney films usually portray the world in terms

of good and evil.
People with a foreign accent are presented as

negative characters much more often than
those with an American or British accent.
47
In Beauty and the Beast – all AAVE speakers

appear in animal rather than in human form.
48
All characters speaking southern English

appear in animal form.
The characters speaking AAVE are presented

as unemployed showing no purpose in life
(only make music and try to please
themselves)
49
Lovers and mothers:
Male characters with non-native accents: they need

care and attention from women who speak Standard
English.
There are no male romantic characters speaking with

a foreign accent.
Sexually attractive characters sound like white, middle

class Americans or British people.
50
Mothers and fathers usually have standard

US or British accent, although sometimes it
follows from the story that the character’s
accent should be foreign.
Mothers are usually presented without a hint

of ethnicity, regional affiliation, color.
Fathers are allowed slightly more variation.
51
Conclusion:
Characters with strongly positive associations

usually speak native standard English
Characters with strongly negative

associations usually speak with a foreign
accent, or the variety of native English that
they speak can be linked to specific
geographical regions or marginalized social
groups.
52
Institutionalized language ideology continued
The information industry
The media provide a lot of propaganda about language.

They promote homogeneity, overtly or covertly. They
promote many misconceptions about language.
Standard English is presented as a naturally correct

variety, necessary and positive for the greater social
good.
The broadcast news industry promotes its own language

as the only variety appropriate for educated people.
53
The function of the fear factor.
54
Most important points about SE and the media:
1. The media have enormous power.

2. Language standardization is implicitly and
explicitly supported by the media.
3. The media often claim authority on
linguistic matters.
4. Viewers tend to believe what the media
say about language. The media are not
challenged on linguistic matters, as
opposed to other matters, eg political.
55
General Conclusions:
1. Standard language enhances social

domination.
2. The cooperation between the school, the

media and the employers promotes the
standard language ideology.
3. Linguists’ knowledge is available, but not

sought, or ignored. It is often resented.
56
Linguists’ knowledge is not respected
because the standard language ideology is
extremely strong and ubiquitous. For
instance, judges are unable to free
themselves from their personal reactions to
linguistic matters; they are able to do so with
relation to other matters, eg, health
57
Linguists should be more forthcoming.
The standard language ideology is really harmful to a

lot of people.
We should work toward raising people’s awareness

about the standard language ideology. Winning the
case may be very difficult, but raising people’s
awareness is the first step.
58
Standard English and the complaint tradition
END OF PRESENTATION
59

Global English: Class 8 Standard English Ideology

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Global English

Standard English ideology

Ideology – Lippi-Green’s working

Standard Language Ideology - a working

Important aspects of Standard Language

Another aspect of SLI: promoting one

The belief in the legitimacy of one

Powerful social groups want to impose

Non-dominant groups co-operate,

‘Sloppy and lazy speech is produced by

RP accent was a very important factor of social

British radio and TV – until 1960s all had to be RP

Beginning of the 20th century: British proletariat (the

Class conflict was strong; trade union

Some language varieties have been associated with

Currently the lowest (most stigmatized) urban

Race and language ideology

AAVE – the most stigmatized linguistic variety

Slavery in the USA

Thomas Jefferson – early 19th century -

The position (social status) of the Black

Jamaican creole is not LIKED by the

Statements about urban working class British

Statements about AAVE:

A model of the language subordination process:

• 4. Non-mainstream language is trivialized

Institutions supporting and implementing

The most common argument for

Understanding is a matter of degree. We

Listeners and speakers will work toward

• Accent may sometimes be a communication

• Attitudes to accents correlate with attitudes to

The educational system

The educational system

A major goal of American schools: the

Through the requirement of Standard English,

Languages and varieties spoken by socially

Local, non-standard varieties/languages have

Educators believe: children must be given

Quite a few educators think that speakers of

Teachers discriminate against AAVE and

No student can do well in school if his/her

The teachers discriminate because the

Teachers are supposed to demonstrate:

Teachers of subjects such as physics and

1992 – in a school in Westfield, Mass. – a

There is no linguistic foundation for this fear.

Parents are afraid that ‘bad’ accent will be

In the US, there is a strong resistance to

Most of the complaints express stereotypes

Matched-guise technique tests indicate that

When the students believed the teacher was

Non-native speakers of English

Most teachers want to enforce Standard

Teaching children how to discriminate. What

In the1948 version – only the visual aspects

The Yiddish accent was changed much later.

60 years later – Disney’s movie Aladdin – some dialogue (which was

Children’s films and the learning of language

Children learn not only variation but also

Some stereotyping (generalization) is

Animated films entertain, but they are also a