Language and identity Flashcards
Define Ethnicity
A shared social identity consisting of cultural practices, language, beliefs and history; can be constructed through performativity
Define race
Perceived physical similarities and differences considered socially significant
Ethnolect:
A variety of language associated with a particular ethnic group
Multiethnolect:
A variety combining features from a range of languages within a multiethnic, multicultural context
Heritage language:
A language spoken at home, yet is not dominant in that society
lntersectionality:
Social categorisations (gender, class, sexuality etc) all overlapping; ethnicity is interconnected with all other categories
Essentialism:
The idea that a characteristic is inherited and fixed, not adopted or variable
Constructivism:
The notion of being able to adopt certain characteristics to ‘construct’ identity
Performativity:
The power of language to effect change in the world; language function as a form of social action which can involve the creation of identities
Black Cockney:
A variety identified historically by researchers including Roger Hewitt (1986) and Mark Sebba (1993)
Resistance Identity:
John Pitts (2012) noticed a shift among young black speakers, who reported feeling that society was ignoring them, towards a linguistic identity that went against the mainstream; a move from ‘sounding like Ian Wright to Bob Marley’.
Multicultural London English (MLE):
a multi-ethnolect used mostly by young people in London studied by a range of researchers. Kerswill, Fox and Cheshire completed a research project exploring the relationship between age and use of MLE; MLE speakers tended to be young and are perceived as ‘ethnically neutral’.
Linguistic innovators:
Kerswill and Cheshire proposed the English of adolescents in London was changing due to multi-ethnic social networks facilitating horizontal transmission of language features
Brokering:
The use of multimembership in to transfer some element of language from one social group to another. The term is used by Wenger (1998) and Eckert (2000) to describe how some adolescents introduce new ideas into their friendship groups. In order to be a successful broker they must be able to exert enough influence in each group to be able to carry ideas from one group and introduce them to another.
Multicultural Urban British English (MUBE):
Drummond proposed the term for the various urban multi-ethnolect varieties in existence; each will include local accent and dialect features