ethnicity Flashcards
why is ethnicty important?
Ethnicity is important as it can influence out language choices. Ethnicity is apart of out identity therefore sometimes we use language to express our ethnicity and identity
what is ethnicity?
Ethnicity refers to our social identity, involving factors such as cultural practices, nationality, language, religious beliefs, and familial bonds.
whats an ethnic group?
When a group of people shares a common culture,
what the difference between an ethnolect and an idiolect?
An ethnolect refers to a language variety that is specific to an ethnic group where as an idiolect is refers to an individual’s unique use of language. Our idiolect is influenced by many aspects of our lives such as where we live, our education, friendship groups, hobbies, and so on.
give an example of ethnolect
An example of an ethnolect is African American Vernacular English (AAVE).
African American Vernacular English (AAVE for short) is a variety of English (or ‘ethnolect’) linked to African American speakers. It is a non-standard dialect spoken predominantly by black Americans and has its own features in terms of grammar, accent, lexis, etc. For example, contractions (e.g. ‘y’all’) and double negatives (e.g. ‘I ain’t gonna do that’).
what is language contact and how does it link to ethnicity
Language contact refers to the interaction between two or more languages that mix and influence each other. Language contact happened amongst people from different ethnic groups due to various factors such as migration and trade relations.
what does language contact lead to overtime
the creation of pidgins and creoles
what influences does migrtion/mmigration have on language
The children of migrants/immigrants are often raised speaking both the language of their own birthplace and the language of their parents’ birthplace. This means that, if a child is born in the UK, they have access to multiple forms of language including regional variants of English, Standard English, and the variant spoken by their parents.
what has the influence of migration led to
code switching
whats code switching
when a person changes between two different languages or language varieties
why does code switching occur
The language that a person chooses to use may depend on the ethnic identity that they wish to express to other people, therefore they may code switch
what can code swtiching show
Code-switching may be used to show a sense of community and belonging within a social group but we may also code-switch to create distance from others and show that they do not belong to our social group
what did Holmes 2017 state
Holmes stated that code switching allows a speaker to convey emotion effectively by drawing the most appropriate vocabulary from other languages or linguistic varieties.
Holmes also observed that a person can still express their ethnic identity using their second language, even if they do not speak it to a native level of fluency. She found that second and third-generation immigrants in the UK, who were not able to speak the language of their community fluently, would still code-switch between English and another language to define a separate ethnic identity
what did kerswill 2008 find
Kerswill conducted a study on a variant of English called Multicultural London English, or ‘MLE’ for short
The MLE accent and dialect originate from immigrants and are typically used by young, working-class people living in London. He found that despite features of MLE being seen in people from all ethnic backgrounds, it is particularly common in people who are part of a multi-ethnic social network.
what did gary ives find 2014 (bradford study)
Gary Ives’ interviewed students from a school in Bradford which had a strong Pakistani influence. He asked eight teenage boys from a Pakistani background about their language use and code-switching. Their responses suggested that they found it was ‘natural’ and due to where they were born/live.
However, Ives found that code-switching between Punjabi and English was a conscious choice made by the British Asian boys (born in the UK with Pakistani origins) as a way to distinguish themselves from the ‘freshies’ (born in Pakistan and moved to the UK). Certain slang words like ‘heavy’ and ‘bare’, as well as Punjabi swear words, were typical of their language.3
Code-switching was therefore a way to emphasise group identity and exclude people from other ethnicities who wouldn’t understand the language.
what di ives find in his 2014 london study
He interviewed students from various ethnic backgrounds, asking what words/phrases they felt set them apart from other areas of the country.
Ives identified key vocabulary such as ‘bare’, ‘calm’, and ‘hype’, which makes up a variety of language called Multicultural London English (or MLE for short). MLE was used by students from all ethnic backgrounds, including teenagers from a White British background who also used lexis with Jamaican/Afro-Caribbean origins.3
Ives London study, therefore, showed that language use didn’t hugely depend on ethnicity but rather where you live and your group identity.
what did drummond find in 2012
DRummond studied the language of Polish immigrants.4 There were two sub-groups: those that had settled in the UK and intended to stay, and those who intended to return to Poland.
The Polish immigrants who wanted to stay in the UK and had positive attitudes toward their new community tended to adopt the local accent in an attempt to sound more like the local teenagers. However, those who intended to return to Poland tended to adopt non-standard features such as the ‘-ink’ pronunciation instead of ‘-ing’ that distinguished them from the locals.
Drummond concluded langage choice can be used to portray identity as the people intending to return to Poland used more Polish pronunciation in English in order to assert their Polish identity than those who intended to remain in Britain
