7 Language Ideologies and Power Free Online FlashCards

What are language ideologies?

Beliefs and feelings about languages, varieties, accents, and their users that shape judgments about correctness, education, professionalism, beauty, or appropriateness.

What does a listener’s judgment of a regional pronunciation establish?

A listener’s social associations with a pronunciation reveal their judgments, not the speaker’s intelligence or the variety’s linguistic worth.

What is a standard language?

A variety whose conventions have been selected, codified, and widely used in settings such as education, government, publishing, and formal communication.

How can formal language conventions be taught without devaluing home varieties?

Teaching conventions expected in a formal setting can provide access without labeling students’ home dialects or languages as broken or inferior.

Why can linguistic stigma reinforce social inequality?

Because language features are associated with region, class, race, ethnicity, and migration, stigma can reinforce broader social inequalities.

When analyzing a claim that speech is “wrong,” what should you identify first?

Identify the feature being judged: is it a grammatical pattern, pronunciation, word choice, or writing convention?

Why are language ideologies more than personal opinions?

They connect language to social values, identities, institutions, and power; they are more than personal opinions.

Which institutions help circulate standard-language conventions?

Dictionaries, grammar guides, schools, and public institutions can establish and circulate its conventions.

What practical benefit can standardization provide?

It can make communication across regions and institutions easier.

What is standard language ideology?

The belief that one variety is naturally superior and should be the measure of all speakers.

Does a standard language have inherent linguistic superiority?

Its prestige reflects social history and power, not inherent linguistic superiority; a standard is not naturally more logical or expressive.

How can language judgments exercise power?

Language judgments can affect who is heard, trusted, hired, promoted, disciplined, or included.