Article: Language and social identity: An integrationist critique

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TitleLanguage and social identity: An integrationist critique
AuthorsPablé, A1
Haas, M2
Christe, N1
KeywordsBucholtz, M. and Hall, K.
Ethnography
Harris, R.
Integrational linguistics
Linguistic identity
Sociolinguistics
Issue Date2010
PublisherPergamon. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/langsci
CitationLanguage Sciences, 2010, v. 32 n. 6, p. 671-676 [How to Cite?]
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2010.08.004
AbstractThe concepts of 'native speaker' and 'mother tongue', which attribute to the individual one fixed underlying 'linguistic identity' (or two in the case of bilinguals), are shunned by sociocultural linguists with an interest in group identities, precisely because identities, while being linguistically constructed, are held by the ethnographer to be 'fluid' and never antecedently given. Sociolinguists working on identity within the sociocultural framework have therefore turned their back on any dialectological questions, preferring to focus on how linguistic features may contextually index a social identity as part of 'styles' (rather than 'varieties of language'). This paper critically examines the work of two American anthropologists and linguists, Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, from the vantage point of an integrational critique of linguistics (cf. also Pablé and Haas, 2010). The focal point of our critique is the conviction that 'identities', as first-order communicational phenomena, cannot be the object of scientific empirical research because this presupposes that indexical values are viewed as micro-contextually determined and available to outsiders with an 'insider view'. The integrationist, in turn, sees 'identity' as a metadiscursive label used by lay speakers to cope with their everyday first-order experience. For the integrationist, this is where identity research begins and ends. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.
ISSN0388-0001
2011 Impact Factor: 0.442
2011 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.027
DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2010.08.004
ISI Accession Number IDWOS:000283704600008
ReferencesReferences in Scopus
DC Field
Value
dc.contributor.authorPablé, A
dc.contributor.authorHaas, M
dc.contributor.authorChriste, N
dc.date.accessioned2010-09-06T05:39:47Z
dc.date.available2010-09-06T05:39:47Z
dc.date.issued2010
dc.description.abstractThe concepts of 'native speaker' and 'mother tongue', which attribute to the individual one fixed underlying 'linguistic identity' (or two in the case of bilinguals), are shunned by sociocultural linguists with an interest in group identities, precisely because identities, while being linguistically constructed, are held by the ethnographer to be 'fluid' and never antecedently given. Sociolinguists working on identity within the sociocultural framework have therefore turned their back on any dialectological questions, preferring to focus on how linguistic features may contextually index a social identity as part of 'styles' (rather than 'varieties of language'). This paper critically examines the work of two American anthropologists and linguists, Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, from the vantage point of an integrational critique of linguistics (cf. also Pablé and Haas, 2010). The focal point of our critique is the conviction that 'identities', as first-order communicational phenomena, cannot be the object of scientific empirical research because this presupposes that indexical values are viewed as micro-contextually determined and available to outsiders with an 'insider view'. The integrationist, in turn, sees 'identity' as a metadiscursive label used by lay speakers to cope with their everyday first-order experience. For the integrationist, this is where identity research begins and ends. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.
dc.description.natureLink_to_subscribed_fulltext
dc.identifier.citationLanguage Sciences, 2010, v. 32 n. 6, p. 671-676 [How to Cite?]
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2010.08.004
dc.identifier.citeulike7838149
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2010.08.004
dc.identifier.epage676
dc.identifier.hkuros170118
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000283704600008
dc.identifier.issn0388-0001
2011 Impact Factor: 0.442
2011 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.027
dc.identifier.issue6
dc.identifier.openurl
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-77957315355
dc.identifier.spage671
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/65659
dc.identifier.volume32
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherPergamon. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/langsci
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdom
dc.relation.ispartofLanguage Sciences
dc.relation.referencesReferences in Scopus
dc.subjectBucholtz, M. and Hall, K.
dc.subjectEthnography
dc.subjectHarris, R.
dc.subjectIntegrational linguistics
dc.subjectLinguistic identity
dc.subjectSociolinguistics
dc.titleLanguage and social identity: An integrationist critique
dc.typeArticle
Author Affiliations
  1. The University of Hong Kong
  2. Worcester College