Linguistic Counter Standardization

Language standardization is problematic because it imposes the dominant group’s linguistic variety as the only correct one and promotes the idea of unit thinking, i.e., seeing the world as consisting of bounded, internally homogeneous units. This volume examines intentional practices to subvert such processes of language standardization (what we call counter-standardization practices) in language education and other contexts. By suggesting alternative classroom pedagogies, language reclamation processes for indigenous populations, and discourses about (mis)pronunciation, this volume explores more liberatory approaches: the post-unit thinking of language.

Language standardization is problematic because it imposes the dominant group's linguistic variety as the only correct one and promotes the idea of unit thinking, i.e., seeing the world as consisting of bounded, internally homogeneous units. This volume examines intentional practices to subvert such processes of language standardization (what we call counter-standardization practices) in language education and other contexts. By suggesting alternative classroom pedagogies, language reclamation processes for indigenous populations, and discourses about (mis)pronunciation, this volume explores more liberatory approaches: the post-unit thinking of language.

This volume seeks to extend and expand our current understanding of the processes of language standardization, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine how linguistic variation plays out in various ways in everyday life in Denmark. The book compares linguistic variation across three different rural speech communities, underpinned by a transversal framework, which draws upon different methodological and analytical approaches, as well as data from different contexts across different generations, and results in a nuanced and dynamic portrait of language change in one region over time. Examining communities with varying degrees of linguistic variation with this multi-layered framework demonstrates a broader need to re-examine perceptions of language standardization as a unidirectional process, but rather as one shaped by a range of factors at the local level, including language ideologies and mediatization. A concluding chapter by eminent sociolinguist David Britain brings together the conclusions drawn from the preceding chapters and reinforces their wider implications within the field of sociolinguistics. Offering new insights into language standardization and language change, this book will be of particular interest to students and scholars in sociolinguistics, dialectology, and linguistic anthropology.

This study first establishes the discriminatroy and elitist nature of standard languages and standardisation itself, considering as counter-example the case of Sri Lankan English as symptomatic of the 'other' or postcolonial Englishes. On the basis of this understanding of the standard, while at the same time, accepting the necessity of standards, however attenuated, the writer argues for the active broadening of the standard to include the greatest variety possible - privileging 'meaning' over other rules - and holds that this would in fact work towards extending the bounds of linguistic tolerance.

The authors explore some of the ways in which standardization, ideology and linguistics are interrelated. Through a number of case studies they show how concepts such as grammaticality and structural change covertly rely on a false conceptualization of language, one that derives ultimately from standardization.

The authors explore some of the ways in which standardization, ideology and linguistics are interrelated. Through a number of case studies they show how concepts such as grammaticality and structural change covertly rely on a false conceptualization of language, one that derives ultimately from standardization.

Translation is commonly understood as the rendering of a text from one language to another – a border-crossing activity, where the border is a linguistic one. But what if the text one is translating is not written in “one language;” indeed, what if no text is ever written in a single language? In recent years, many books of fiction and poetry published in so-called Canada, especially by queer, racialized and Indigenous writers, have challenged the structural notions of linguistic autonomy and singularity that underlie not only the formation of the nation-state, but the bulk of Western translation theory and the field of comparative literature. Language Smugglers argues that the postnational cartographies of language found in minoritized Canadian literary works force a radical redefinition of the activity of translation altogether. Canada is revealed as an especially rich site for this study, with its official bilingualism and multiculturalism policies, its robust translation industry and practitioners, and the strong challenges to its national narratives and accompanying language politics presented by Indigenous people, the province of Québec, and high levels of immigration.

Surveying a wide range of languages and approaches, this Handbook is an essential resource for all those interested in language standards and standard languages. It not only explores the standardization of national European languages, it also offers fresh insights on the standardization of minoritized, indigenous and stateless languages.

This volume explores the roots of Europe's struggle with multilingualism. It argues that, over the centuries, the pursuit of linguistic homogeneity has become a central aspect of the mindset of Europeans. In its extreme form, it became manifest in the principle of 'one language, one state, one people'. Consequently, multilingualism came to be viewed as an undesirable aberration. The authors of this volume approach the relationship between standard languages and multilingualism from a historical, cross-European perspective. They provide a comprehensive overview of the emergence of a standard language ideology and its intricate relationship with matters of ethnicity, territorial unity and social mobility. They explain for different European language areas in what ways the emergence of standard languages had an impact on multilingual policies and practices. Its comparative approach makes this volume an important resource for linguists, researchers from different philologies and social historians.