Standardization, ideology and linguistics / Nigel Armstrong, Ian E. Mackenzie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Armstrong, Nigel.

Contributor:

Mackenzie, I. E. (Ian E.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Standard language.

Language and languages--Variation.

Linguistic analysis (Linguistics).

Physical Description:

xi, 253 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke ; New York, NY : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Summary:

This book explores some of the ways in which standardization, ideology and linguistics are connected, by examining the central role that ideology plays both in linguistic analysis and in language variation and change. Standardization is driven by an elitist ideology which puts pressure on ordinary speakers to strive for the 'best' language. This causes anxiety, and in the effort to produce good language, speakers sometimes produce forms that are 'hypercorrect' - so correct that they are wrong, paradoxically. This topic, as well as the very notion of grammatical correctness, is examined in depth. But standardization influences linguists as well as non-specialists, and another theme considered here is how one idealized aspect of standard languages-their invariance-has led to the construction of false problems such as the so-called paradox of change. A third, related, theme is linguistic levelling, which results in fewer differences between social and regional accents and diminishes the prestige of the standard language. This is examined here as the counterpart of the elitist ideology behind standardization. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The nature of the standard 5

1.1 The standard as an ideology 5

1.2 The socially dominant variety 12

1.3 The synecdochic variety 16

1.4 The standard overlying the vernacular 18

1.5 The standard as supralocal 21

1.6 Folk-linguistic judgments 22

1.7 The role of ideology 23

1.8 Conclusion 26

Notes to Chapter 1 27

2 Grammaticality 28

2.1 Introduction 28

2.2 Grammaticality by fiat 29

2.3 Case study 1: impersonal se/si in Romance 35

2.4 Case study 2: long wh extraction 42

2.5 Conclusion 54

Notes to Chapter 2 55

3 Prestige speech patterns 58

3.1 Introduction 58

3.2 Hypercorrection in pronunciation 59

3.3 Grammatical viruses 65

3.3.1 Introduction 65

3.3.2 Anatomy of a virus 67

3.3.3 Viral case studies 72

3.4 Conclusion: viruses and ideology 98

Notes to Chapter 3 102

4 Language change 106

4.1 Introduction 106

4.2 Two dogmas of standardization 107

4.3 The illusion of systemic change 111

4.4 Motivations of linguistic change 123

4.4.1 Introduction 123

4.4.2 Mechanisms governing the construction of social identity 126

4.4.3 Acts of identity, prestige 133

4.4.4 Conclusion to Section 4.4 138

4.5 Case studies in language change 138

4.5.1 /o/-fronting in French 138

4.5.2 Variable negation 142

4.5.3 Variable wh interrogatives 149

4.6 Conclusion 155

Notes to Chapter 4 156

5 Social levelling, or anti-standardization 161

5.1 Introduction 161

5.2 Contextualizing the debate 162

5.2.1 Methodological limitations 162

5.2.2 Postmodernism and the cultural turn 166

5.3 Levelling as a social phenomenon 169

5.3.1 Studies of social levelling 169

5.3.2 The timescale of social levelling 177

5.3.3 Economic influences on socio-cultural behaviour: real or symbolic levelling? 180

5.3.4 Other expressions of social levelling 190

5.3.5 Conclusion to Section 5.3 192

5.4 Linguistic manifestations: the erosion of the standard 194

5.4.1 Horizontal dialect levelling in UK English 195

5.4.2 Vertical dialect levelling in UK English 201

5.5 Conclusion 206

Notes to Chapter 5 207

6 Away from the Anglo-Saxon model: the case of French 208

6.1 Introduction 208

6.2 Cultural conservatism 208

6.3 The ideology of French 217

6.3.1 Introduction 217

6.3.2 Homogenization in French pronunciation 219

6.3.3 Variation in French grammar 222

6.3.4 Style variation in French 223

6.3.5 Diversity in French 226

6.4 Conclusion 227

Notes to Chapter 6 228.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-242) and index.

ISBN:

9780230296756

0230296750

OCLC:

822525698