Linguistic Ideology and cultural identity formation

Abstract

Through the lens of podcasts with the new generation of linguists on the modern issues of cultural sustainability, this subtle investigation into linguistic ideologies situates various sociolinguistic aspects to the identity formation matrix in a larger multilingual/global context. The paper addresses the very construction of social life through language in the face of culturally homogenising capitalist dominant language ideologies and the resulting privileging of a limited number of languages and language varieties thus mapping oppositional struggle through cultural identity negotiation. Most of this previous work on language and identity has conceptualized linguistic ideology as conceptually close to, but analytically separate from identity work, so that a more integrated account of how linguistic ideology shapes processes of cultural identity is one contribution not sufficiently made in the current sociolinguistic literature.

The study adopts a threefold lens: (1) linguistic ideologies allocate social value and legitimisation amongst groups living in a multi-lingual society (2) language attitudes guide identity-formation (3) speakers in a potentially multilingual society navigate their self-perception in terms of language choice, linguistic activities. The study is based on three assumptions: the first, that linguistic ideologies from the center engender cumulative hierarchies of languages; the second, that language hierarchies affect speakers' perceptions of cultural inclusion/exclusion; and the third, that multilinguals employ linguistic resources in an effort to construct and express multilayered cultural identities.

By doing so, it consolidates relevant theoretical and empirical literature on linguistic ideology and identity from the sociolinguistic and critical perspectives. These results indicate that linguistic ideology serve as a symbolic framework regulating the processes of cultural identity formation, including individual and collective identity differentiation, language shift, hybrid identity construction in multilingual contexts.

The research suggests that there is a need for more critical and explicit awareness of linguistic ideology to be integrated into the language classroom, encouragement of minority and heritage languages, as well as recognition by institutions of inclusive linguistic policies that acknowledge multicultural forms of identity.