Lecture 9Linguistic Imperialism

Linguistic imperialism (LI) refers to

the imposition of a language on

other languages and communities.

As in other cases of imperialism,

this is an exercise of power at the

transnational level with

geopolitical implications.

the possibility that language

doesn’t have to serve a subsidiary

role to other material and political

factors in the exercise of power;

language can play a more central

role in enabling the hegemony of a

community.

The term ‘Linguistic Imperialism’ (LI)

was initially used to refer exclusively to

the global status and role of English

and it has been applied primarily to

English language teaching.

For Phillipson, LI is a situation in which

‘the dominance of English is asserted

and maintained by the establishment

and continuous reconstitution of

structural and cultural inequalities

between English and other languages’

(1992: 47).

‘Linguistic Imperialism’

o is not a stable condition.

o the dominance of a language is a conscious process,

exerted by agents and institutions.

LI can be explored in relation to other languages in other

historical periods and regions.

o Latin hegemony in the Roman Empire around the first to the

fourth century,

o Arabic hegemony over Europe around the eighth to the

o thirteenth century,

o Japanese hegemony in the East Asian region in late nineteenth

and early twentieth century

Though English was first spread in many countries in South Asia,

Africa, and the Caribbean by the British empire, English received

a new lease on life after decolonization when the United States

gained ascendance after the Second World War.

The types of economic, cultural, and political power the USA

wields in the world today further the currency and status of

English.

In some ways, the power of English is not dependent on a

specific country anymore. It is sustained by transnational

processes and institutions.

Defining important terms: ideology

o Ideologies are ideas, assumptions, attitudes, and values that

explain the unequal status of individuals and communities in

society.

o Ideologies are not always conscious. They could be unconsciously

internalized through one’s social practices and historical

experiences.

o Moreover, ideologies don’t always serve a repressive and distorting

function.

o While ideologies can make inequalities appear natural and

acceptable, they can also illuminate them to facilitate social change.

Defining important terms: discourses

o When ideologies find expression in language, we call them

discourses.

o Discourses are genres of thinking and communicating that

have social and political functions.

o Though languages may be treated as a neutral system at

the abstract grammatical level, when they play social and

ideological functions at the level of communicative practice,

they acquire the properties of discourses.

Defining important terms: hegemony

o Hegemony is exercised when the ideologies and

discourses of a powerful community are internalized by

other social groups, to the extent that they willingly

participate in the leadership of that community.

Defining important terms: hegemony

o For example, the discourse that English is a superior

language with the capacity to express complex

philosophical, scientific, and technical information gains

ideological implications when multilingual communities

believe this discourse and learn English at the cost of

proficiency in their own languages.

o When those multilingual communities internalize this

discourse and buy into the forms of knowledge, values, and

identities that come with English, they become unwitting

participants in the power enjoyed by English and

Anglophone countries.

Defining important terms: center and periphery

o labels for distinguishing between countries that have

unequal relationships based on their language identity.

Defining important terms: expanding, outer, and inner

circles

Kachru (1986) introduced the terms:

o expanding circle (where English is used as a foreign

language for contact purposes with outsiders – i.e. Vietnam

or Angola, which were not former British colonies),

o outer circle (where English is a second language with its

own well established varieties since colonial times – i.e.

India, Nigeria),

o inner circle (where ownership of English and native

speakerhood have been traditionally claimed – i.e. the UK,

the USA, Canada, Australia).

Defining important terms: expanding, outer, and inner

circles

Linguicism

o refers to ‘Ideologies, structures, and practices which are used to

legitimate, effectuate, and reproduce an unequal division of

power and resources (both material and immaterial) between

groups which are defined on the basis of language’.

o The term is analogous to racism and sexism, and refers to a

discriminatory attitude towards language that is played out in

social practices and sustained by social institutions.

Linguicism

o leads to the promotion of certain languages and language

varieties and the stigmatization of others, as the prestigious

language becomes the norm by which other languages derive

their status.

o may be at play in gate keeping situations where only one

language or variety is recognized while others are excluded.

o is also psychologically manifested through attitudes regarding

the knowledgeableness, friendliness, and superior status of

people based on the language they speak.

Native speakerism

o The discourse of native speakerism is made of the following

assumptions: that ‘native’ speakers are the authorities on the

language and enjoy superior competence.

Native speakerism

o Several researchers point out that the superiority of the ‘native’

speaker is linguistically anachronistic as it goes against the

relativistic tradition in linguistics that postulates that there are no

status differences between languages in purely linguistic terms

(though there are extra-linguistic reasons for such inequality).

o Language change or diversification cannot be stopped by attempts

at purification.

o The English varieties of multilingual speakers are not deficient, but

different. Similarly, the treatment of ‘native’ speaker teachers as

superior ignores the view that language learning is a creative

cognitive and social process that has its own trajectory, and is not

fully dependent on the teacher (much less the teacher’s accent).

Native speakerism

o many scholars consider the term ‘native’ speaker as itself

questionable.

o The term doesn’t suit the language reality in many communities.

With the existence of localized varieties of English developed in

postcolonial communities, many multilinguals would consider

themselves ‘native’ speakers of these Englishes.

o Some in postcolonial communities acquire English simultaneously

with one or more local languages to develop multilingual

competence.

Native speakerism

o Vivian Cook (1999) argues that we should treat multilinguals as

endowed with a multicompetence that is qualitatively different from

the competence of monolingual speakers of English.

o Rampton (1990) has argued for categorizing linguistic identities

not in terms of birth, but in terms of a more diverse set of

categories such as expertise, affiliation, and inheritance.

Monolingualism

o Another discourse that facilitates LI is

monolingualism. This discourse has

implications for many subfields in applied

linguistics.

o In second language acquisition, processes of

learning treat monolingual acquisition as the

model; in language planning, multilingualism is

treated as a problem for social progress; in

sociolinguistics, identities and communities are

defined in terms of homogeneity.

o To focus more closely on teaching, according

to this discourse English is best taught

monolingually.

Monolingualism

o Other languages are considered to negatively interfere with the

acquisition and internalization of English.

o This discourse gains strength in the light of a reaction against

grammar translation methods, a shift in emphasis in language

pedagogy from writing to speaking, and a belief in ‘natural’ L2

language acquisition.

o ‘English only’ is institutionalized in many states of the USA, such

as Arizona, where other languages are not permitted to be used

in classrooms.

Monolingualism

o However, there are several factors that make the monolingualist

discourse a fallacy.

o Phillipson (1992) argues that ‘when the mother tongue is

banned from the classroom, the teaching leads to the alienation

of the learners, deprives them of their cultural identity, and leads

to acculturation rather than increased intercultural

communicative competence’ (1992: 193).

o Furthermore, the use of first language (L1) can help students

bridge home knowledge and school knowledge more effectively

(see Faltis and Hudelson 1994).

o Auerbach has pointed out that the use of students’ first language

can increase their openness to learning English by reducing the

degree of language and culture shock (1993: 16).

1. Ambiguities and ironies in the spread of English

2. Linguistic resistance and appropriation

3. Linguistic accommodation and multilingualism

1. Ambiguities and ironies in the spread of English

o the paradoxes and ironies in the status and functions of

English in the periphery.

o acknowledging greater tension in the roles of English and the

vernacular.

o the ‘critical ambivalences’ in which English is caught up,

embodying conflicting attitudes and values.

o Surveying the role of English in the colonial period under the

discourses of Orientalism (i.e. made up of ‘policies in favor of

education in local languages for both the colonized and the

colonizers’) and Anglicism (i.e. made up of ‘policies in favor of

education in English’)

2. Linguistic resistance and appropriation

o LI holds that subjects are passive and lack agency to manage

their linguistic and ideological conflicts to their advantage; that

the sole function of language is to spread and sustain the

interests of the dominant groups; that languages are

monolithic, abstract structures that come with a homogeneous

set of ideologies that serve the interests of a single community.

o Although language may suppress people, it also has the

liberatory potential of facilitating critical thinking, and enabling

subjects to rise above domination;

2. Linguistic resistance and appropriation

o the new varieties of English in postcolonial contexts might be a

way for local communities to bring in their own values,

discourses, and interests into the English language.

o Therefore, these new varieties have ideological implications.

They democratize the language by accommodating values

from diverse communities, indicating ownership over the

language by those outside the center.

3. Linguistic accommodation and multilingualism

o for local people who are proficient in diverse languages, and

enjoy a culture of plurilingualism, learning and using one more

language doesn’t pose any problems.

o English became accommodated into their repertoire of codes

spoken in the local context during colonization.

1. Transnational flows

2. Internet

3. English as a lingua franca (ELF)

4. Globalization from below

5. Spread and decline of the English language

1. Transnational flows

o The modernist globalization that accompanied colonization was

motivated by the desire of the dominant Western European

communities to spread their values everywhere.

o It was believed that the values of Enlightenment progress were

relevant for all communities.

o This movement set up a geopolitical relationship that was

centrifugal and hierarchical, involving a unilateral flow of power from

the center to the periphery.

1. Transnational flows

o In addition to shaping social life, this mode of globalization had its

effects on language relationships.

o In many cases, the modernist project involved suppressing or

obliterating any traces of local culture or language.

o In some cases, a hierarchical relationship was set up between the

center and the periphery, with the local treating the global as the

norm and modeling itself after it.

1. Transnational flows

o In fact, the very success of modernist globalization laid the

groundwork for a revision in the patterns of globalization.

o As all the communities were gradually integrated into a tightly

networked system, the local was not suppressed, but received

increased visibility.

o The local propagated itself beyond its narrow bounds through more

advanced forms of travel, production relations, business

enterprises, and media communication.

o these changes forced dominant communities to drop the idea of

suppressing the local and attempt to work with it to carry out their

interests.

1. Transnational flows

o English is getting deterritorialized. It is losing its identity as

belonging to certain traditional ‘homes’ (the UK or USA, for

example).

o More importantly, it is losing its identity as a language belonging to

the inner circle.

2. Internet

o A powerful medium for transnational flows is the new digital

technology and the emergent conventions of communication

on the Internet.

o They have created new resources for multilinguals to engage

with each other and to negotiate their differences in English.

o Through such process of negotiation, some users can go on

to create new hybrid discourses.

3. English as a lingua franca (ELF)

o ELF is defined as a cultureneutral variety that is

commonly owned by multilinguals.

o Rather than teaching ‘native’ forms of English, they find it

more profitable to teach the lingua-franca core that

perhaps wouldn’t raise the same animosity or identity

conflicts for local people.

3. English as a lingua franca (ELF)

o English for identification means using a language for

purposes of affiliation but also for ‘affective’ and

‘identificatory’ ends.

o English in this case is perceived as an auxiliary language

and does not have implications for values or identities.

4. Globalization from below

o Another development that complicates LI is that different

social groups are making efforts at the local level to

acquire/use English to suit their own interests and

identities, by mixing it with local languages.

o local languages are mixed with English in many subtle

ways to negotiate desired values, identities, and interests.

o Therefore, many scholars are challenging the stigmatized

status given to mixed varieties of English, proposing that

they be given a place in education and other institutional

contexts and acknowledged in scholarly literature.

5. Spread and decline of the English language

o impressive statistics to suggest the decline of English in

various social domains.

o For example, the number of Internet users for whom

English is a first language is quickly declining.

o English is being overtaken by the Chinese language in

terms of number of speakers.

o A similar decline of English is projected in the domain

of news media. Other world languages are adopted

more by the mainstream press.

o in many Asian countries, Europe and the USA,

Mandarin has emerged as the coveted language.