This report presents a critique of the ideology that language is naturally "perfect" on some level of analysis, or, alternately, that it can be made to be perfect through processes of decontextualization or through the construction of a new language. I identify this ideology of linguistic idealization as one of the defining characteristics of formalist, Chomskyan linguistics. This report describes three features of this ideology and their impact on formalist linguistics: science envy, the elegance fallacy, and the teleological fallacy. In order to understand the idealizing trend in its social and intellectual context, I present historical background on the various versions of this ideology that theorists have adopted during certain periods in Western scholarship about language. This report ultimately argues that the dynamic paradigm, which currently holds a minority status in American linguistics, as well as the simple but profound recognition that language has evolved along with its users, can provide an instructive contrast to the idealizing trend in mainstream linguistics. An acceptance of the ways in which language is subject to dynamic functional pressures, rather than or in addition to static, asocial rules, can expand the field beyond its currently narrow and limited purview to accommodate more of what we know about the reality of language structure and use. The report will end with the claim that even if we accept as unavoidable some measure of idealization within linguistic research, we should do so only with good reason, not simply because it is standard practice. In addition, researchers should make such a decision with an awareness of the historical underpinnings and ideological consequences of idealizing the object of their inquiry. / text

In this report, I discuss the re-contextualization of a working-class Jamaican speaker’s discourse in the media and the new meanings his speech acquires in the process. The series of re-contextualizations starts out with an interview on Jamaican television, which is in turn remixed into an electronic dance song and accompanying music video. The song entextualizes individual stretches of the speaker’s original dis­course into readily identifiable quotes that turn into Jamaican slang items. In the process, linguistic disorderliness is foregrounded in the utterances in question while their propositional content is virtually erased. In a further instance of re-contextualization, the speaker encounters his by now entextualized utterances in an interview on Jamaican breakfast television and struggles to re-establish his originally intended framing of it. His success in the specific interaction is very limited, but viewers’ comments reveal that the interview does effect a change in the meta-linguistic discourse surrounding the incident. I analyze the data as a case in point of ‘speaky spoky,’ a Jamaican label for un­successful attempts to emulate foreign prestige accents, resulting in linguistic dis­orderliness. By considering aspects of performance, entextualization and the keying of different frames, I demonstrate the interactional work that goes into the construc­tion of speaky spoky as a label, as well as the ideological work that label is put to in turn and its political effects. Based on these observations, I argue that speaky spoky is best understood as a multivalent construct resource for sustaining and influencing lan­guage ideologies. Its interactional versatility renders its relationship to authenticity in the Jamaican speech community complicated and potentially ambiguous. / text

This dissertation explores the nature, purpose, function and role of language documentation in order to further our understanding of mechanisms of language transmission and maintenance in the face of language endangerment and the repression of indigenous identity. Beyond its traditional use for generating linguistic data, I argue that the act and the process of language documentation can be understood as a comprehensive means to evaluate the interactions between speakers and researchers and as the stage where various beliefs and emotions are displayed. Extending the notion of “sites” developed by Silverstein (1998) and Kroskrity (2009), I argue that the act of language documentation can create “sites” of linguistic transaction, of self recognition, and of ideological and emotional stance shift. To attain this goal, this project linguistically and ethnographically documents and describes Belizean Mopan, an endangered Mayan language spoken in the southern Petén region of Guatemala and in the Maya Mountain region (Toledo District) of Southern Belize as a case study. Ethnographic and linguistic observation suggest that characteristics of Belizean Mopan do not simply stem from its linguistic features but rather are derived from ethnic complexity, language ideologies, identity politics, the history of Belize and speakers’ awareness of the self. Linguistic biographies, interviews, participant observation, and ethnographic accounts indicate that the individual’s emotional attachments to the language and the sense of belonging to one’s linguistic community are crucial keys for effective language documentation and revitalization. Discourse and grammatical analysis of sound symbolic words in narratives suggest that speakers’ linguistic affects can be evoked through sound itself. The devices used during language documentation, such as voice and video recorders can be understood as “signifying instruments” (J. D. Hill 2014), which amplify or evoke speakers’ and researchers’ linguistic ideologies and/or affects. Tzik ‘respect’ plays a pivotal role in distinguishing Mopans from other Maya groups and many stories and personal narratives either explicitly or subtly demonstrate the concept and importance of tzik for regulating and maintaining the traditional community and for having a successful life, which resembles the secretos ‘secrets’ described in Hofling’s (1996: 109) account of Itzaj Maya lives. Focusing on tzik gained through being a ch’ija’an kristiyanojo ‘the grown-up people’, I argue that storytelling is a primary device to transmit and circulate traditional knowledge, worldview, ideologies and memories of Maya people from the present, the immediate past, and the mythological past and that in a sense, the role and meaning of dream divination and my language consultant, Orlando Sho’s musical performances can be equated with the practice of storytelling. The act of language documentation is a portal to the site of linguistic and cultural transaction and of world learning, in which I see a key to successful language renewal and revitalization.

abstract: ABSTRACT This study examines the language and literacy experiences of Kurdish minority children during their first year of mainstream schooling in a southeastern village in Turkey. I employed ethnographic research methods (participant observation, multi-modal data collection, interviewing, and focus groups) to investigate the language practices of the children in relation to language ideologies circulating in the wider context. I focused on the perspectives and practices of one 1st grade classroom (14 students) but also talked with seven parents, three teachers, and two administrators. A careful analysis of the data collected shows that there is a hierarchy among languages used in the community—Turkish, English, and Kurdish. The children, their parents, and their teachers all valued Turkish and English more than Kurdish. While explaining some of their reasons for this view, they discussed the status and functions of each language in society with an emphasis on their functions. My analysis also shows that, although participants devalue the Kurdish language, they still value Kurdish as a tie to their ethnic roots. Another key finding of this study is that policies that appear in teachers’ practices and the school environment seemed to be robust mediators of the language beliefs and practices of the Kurds who participated in my study. School is believed to provide opportunities for learning languages in ways that facilitate greater participation in society and increased access to prestigious jobs for Kurdish children who do not want to live in the village long-term. Related to that, one finding demonstrates that current circumstances make language choice like a life choice for Kurdish children. While Kurds who choose Turkish are often successful in school (and therefore have access to better jobs), the ones who maintain their Kurdish usually have only animal breeding or farming as employment options. I also found that although the Kurdish children that I observed subscribed to ideologies that valued Turkish and English over their native language, they did not entirely abandon their Kurdish language. Instead, they were involved in Turkish- Kurdish bilingual practices such as language broking, language sharing, and language crossing. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Curriculum and Instruction 2015

There are 184 active charter school districts in Texas, which use public tax dollars like traditional school districts, providing educational opportunities to over 350,000 Texas students. Charter schools accept state and federal funds and often operate with less oversight than their neighboring local public schools, yet they have the autonomy to accomplish the mission(s) set forth by the charter school operator. Although there have been numerous studies looking at the effectiveness of charter schools in terms of student achievement, very little research has been on the programs that charter schools implement to address the needs of their English learner populations. This study examined charter school leaders' perceptions in the selection of the EL instructional programs that are offered to their English Learners. Interviews of district bilingual/ESL directors of Texas charter schools, or their equivalents, were conducted. Using a constructivist grounded theory design, this study explored the factors and decisions of instructional leaders in implementing a particular second language program, with special attention to the ideologies informing these decisions. Themes emerged from the data and were be explored. The findings of this study are vital in helping other charter school operators better understand the challenges and potential pitfalls faced by current charter school operators in supporting their EL populations.

This dissertation investigates how the vision of the linguistic reality influences asylum seekers and refugees inclusion policies with attention on attitudes, prejudices and phenomena of "banal nationalism" and "banal colonialism" related to languages. By focusing on micro- level actors, i.e. people who carry out the activity of reception of asylum seekers and refugees and their linguistic ideologies and attitudes, the research wants to add some epistemological reflections form the sociology of language to the study of political science and to contribute to reanalyse some of the conditions that can help implement successful inclusion policies. The research is oriented towards the ideologies and "taken for granted" ideas on language that influence general integration and inclusion policies, with an eye on its repercussion on general political issues like human rights or democracy. The theoretical background has its roots on the recent literature about linguistic justice and language rights as human rights and has been applied through a qualitative comparative field research in Rome and Stockholm. / Questa tesi indaga il modo in cui la visione della realtà linguistica influenzi le politiche di inclusione dei richiedenti asilo e dei rifugiati, con attenzione agli atteggiamenti, ai pregiudizi e ai fenomeni di "banal nationalism" e "banal colonialism" legati alle lingue. Concentrandosi sugli attori di micro-livello, cioè sulle persone che svolgono l'attività di accoglienza di richiedenti asilo e rifugiati e sulle loro ideologie e atteggiamenti linguistici, la ricerca vuole apportare alcune riflessioni epistemologiche della sociologia del linguaggio allo studio delle scienze politiche e contribuire a rianalizzare alcune delle condizioni che possono aiutare a implementare politiche di inclusione di successo. La ricerca pone attenzione alle ideologie e alle idee "date per scontate" sulla lingua che influenzano le politiche generali di integrazione e inclusione, con un occhio alle ripercussioni su questioni politiche generali come i diritti umani o la democrazia. Il background teorico affonda le sue radici nella recente letteratura sulla giustizia linguistica e sui diritti linguistici in quanto diritti umani ed è stato empiricamente applicato attraverso una ricerca qualitativa comparativa sul campo a Roma e Stoccolma.

Yes / Employees’ participation in professional international business (IB) communication has important consequences for knowledge transfer and processing, a crucial function for multinational enterprises (MNEs). Research suggests that participation is shaped by language, but prior research has focused on firm-internal language dynamics, meaning that less is known about the influence of external context. We help redress this balance by drawing on the sociolinguistic concept of “language ideologies”. Language ideologies, or shared sets of beliefs about language(s) amongst social groups, are societal-level phenomena that employees bring with them to work. As such, they are part of the external social, political and historical context of IB activities. Our analysis of 82 interviews in three countries indicates that some language ideologies block participation and create friction, while others support participation. Implications for the conceptual understanding of language in IB and the management of internationally active firms are discussed. / - Add New Charity (Rest of World) Funder -

The education of emergent bilinguals in the United States is overtly and covertly shaped by social, political, and institutional ideologies about languages and speakers of languages other than English. Using a multiple case study design, this study sought to explicate the often-complicated intersection of outsider institutional and societal ideologies with the insider lived experiences of emergent bilinguals in schools. The population of the school under study uniquely positioned emergent bilinguals as not only the linguistic minority but also the numeric minority, a population dynamic notably underrepresented in the literature. Using a positioning theory framework that focused on the normative constraints that support meaning making during social interactions, this study explored how primarily monolingual English-speaking teachers and peers interactionally positioned three fourth grade emergent bilinguals, as well as how these emergent bilinguals reflexively positioned themselves. Data collection efforts consisted of multiphase observations of classrooms including the creating of sociograms and fieldnotes, interviews with emergent bilinguals, teachers, and key peers, as well as a localized artifact analysis. Findings suggested that the emergent bilinguals unique backgrounds contributed to their variable reflexive positioning, as well as teachers' variable interactional positioning. Additionally, peer positioning and institutional norms contributed to emergent bilinguals having limited access to academic language development opportunities.

This study has investigated the question of relation between literacy practices in and out of school in rural Tanzania. By using the perspective of linguistic anthropology, literacy practices in five villages in Karagwe district in the northwest of Tanzania have been analysed. The outcome may be used as a basis for educational planning and literacy programs. The analysis has revealed an intimate relation between language, literacy and power. In Karagwe, traditional élites have drawn on literacy to construct and reconstruct their authority, while new élites, such as individual women and some young people have been able to use literacy as one tool to get access to power. The study has also revealed a high level of bilingualism and a high emphasis on education in the area, which prove a potential for future education in the area. At the same time discontinuity in language use, mainly caused by stigmatisation of what is perceived as local and traditional, such as the mother-tongue of the majority of the children, and the high status accrued to all that is perceived as Western, has turned out to constitute a great obstacle for pupils’ learning. The use of ethnographic perspectives has enabled comparisons between interactional patterns in schools and outside school. This has revealed communicative patterns in school that hinder pupils’ learning, while the same patterns in other discourses reinforce learning. By using ethnography, relations between explicit and implicit language ideologies and their impact in educational contexts may be revealed. This knowledge may then be used to make educational plans and literacy programmes more relevant and efficient, not only in poor post-colonial settings such as Tanzania, but also elsewhere, such as in Western settings.

<p>This study has investigated the question of relation between literacy practices in and out of school in rural Tanzania. By using the perspective of linguistic anthropology, literacy practices in five villages in Karagwe district in the northwest of Tanzania have been analysed. The outcome may be used as a basis for educational planning and literacy programs.</p><p>The analysis has revealed an intimate relation between language, literacy and power. In Karagwe, traditional élites have drawn on literacy to construct and reconstruct their authority, while new élites, such as individual women and some young people have been able to use literacy as one tool to get access to power. The study has also revealed a high level of bilingualism and a high emphasis on education in the area, which prove a potential for future education in the area. At the same time discontinuity in language use, mainly caused by stigmatisation of what is perceived as local and traditional, such as the mother-tongue of the majority of the children, and the high status accrued to all that is perceived as Western, has turned out to constitute a great obstacle for pupils’ learning.</p><p>The use of ethnographic perspectives has enabled comparisons between interactional patterns in schools and outside school. This has revealed communicative patterns in school that hinder pupils’ learning, while the same patterns in other discourses reinforce learning. By using ethnography, relations between explicit and implicit language ideologies and their impact in educational contexts may be revealed. This knowledge may then be used to make educational plans and literacy programmes more relevant and efficient, not only in poor post-colonial settings such as Tanzania, but also elsewhere, such as in Western settings.</p>