Language and Ethnicity (Key Topics in Sociolinguistics)

265 Pages·2006·1.6 MB·English

by  Carmen Fought

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LanguageandEthnicity
Whatisethnicity?Istherea“white”wayofspeaking?Whydo
people sometimes borrow features of another ethnic group’s
language? Why do we sometimes hear an accent that isn’t
there?Thislivelyoverviewrevealsthefascinatingrelationship
between language and ethnic identity, exploring the crucial
role it plays in both revealing a speaker’s ethnicity and help-
ingtoconstructit.Drawingonresearchfromarangeofethnic
groups around the world, it shows how language contributes
tothesocialandpsychologicalprocessesinvolvedintheforma-
tionofethnicidentity,exploringboththelinguisticfeaturesof
ethniclanguagevarietiesandalsothewaysinwhichlanguage
is used by different ethnic groups. The first overview of this
importanttopic,LanguageandEthnicitywillbewelcomedbystu-
dents and researchers in sociolinguistics, as well as anybody
interested in ethnic issues, language and education, intereth-
nic communication, and the relationship between language
andidentity.
carmen fought is Associate Professor of Linguistics at
PitzerCollege,Claremont,California.Herresearchfocuseson
issues of language and ethnicity, including the dialects asso-
ciated with Latinos and Latinas in California, bilingual acqui-
sition,andlanguageattitudes.SheisauthorofChicanoEnglish
inContext (2003) and SociolinguisticVariation:CriticalReflections
(2004).
KEY TOPICS IN SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Series editor: Rajend Mesthrie
Thisnewseriesfocusesonthemaintopicsofstudyinsociolinguistics
today.Itconsistsofaccessibleyetchallengingaccountsofthemost
importantissuestoconsiderwhenexaminingtherelationshipbetween
languageandsociety.Sometopicshavebeenthesubjectof
sociolinguisticstudyformanyyears,andareherere-examinedinthe
lightofnewdevelopmentsinthefield;othersareissuesofgrowing
importancethathavenotsofarbeengivenasustainedtreatment.
Writtenbyleadingexperts,thebooksintheseriesaredesignedtobe
usedoncoursesandinseminars,andincludeusefulsuggestionsfor
furtherreadingandahelpfulglossary.
Alreadypublishedintheseries:
Politeness,byRichardJ.Watts
LanguagePolicy,byBernardSpolsky
Discourse,byJanBlommaert
AnalyzingSociolinguisticVariation,bySaliA.Tagliamonte
Forthcomingtitles:
WorldEnglishes,byRakeshBhattandRajendMesthrie
BilingualTalk,byPeterAuer
Language and Ethnicity
CARMEN FOUGHT
cambridge university press
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridgecb22ru,UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridg e.org /9780521848435
©CarmenFought2006
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisionof
relevantcollectivelicensingagreements,noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplace
withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublishedinprintformat 2006
isbn-13 978-0-511-24524-4eBook(EBL)
isbn-10 0-511-24524-6 eBook(EBL)
isbn-13 978-0-521-84843-5hardback
isbn-10 0-521-84843-1 hardback
isbn-13 978-0-521-61291-3paperback
isbn-10 0-521-61291-8 paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurls
forexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,anddoesnot
guaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
To John R. Rickford and Walt Wolfram
charismatic colleagues,
pioneering contributors to the study of language and ethnicity,
and outstanding mentors to generations of other scholars

Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiv
Part I General issues in ethnicity and language
1 What is ethnicity? 3
1.1 Areasofagreementaboutethnicity 4
1.2 Possibledefinitionsofethnicity 8
1.3 Possibledefinitionsofrace 9
Discussionquestions 17
Suggestionsforfurtherreading 18
2 Language and the construction of ethnic identity 19
2.1 Whatlinguisticresourcesdoindividualshaveinconstructing
identity? 21
2.2 Indexingmultipleidentities 23
2.3 Ethnicprideorassimilation? 27
2.4 Howisanindividual’sethnicityco-constructedbythe
community? 30
2.5 Languageandtheconstructionofethnicidentity:three
individualcases 33
Discussionquestions 40
Suggestionsforfurtherreading 41
Part II Linguistic features and ethnicity in specific groups
3 African-American groups 45
3.1 WhatisAAVE? 46
3.2 AAVEgrammar 47
3.3 AAVEphonology 49
3.4 Variationintheuseofnon-standardfeaturesinAAVE 51
3.5 AttitudestowardsAAVE 53
3.6 RegionalvariationinAAVE:isAAVEconvergingtowarda
supraregionalnorm? 56
vii
viii Contents
3.7 Anotherpossibility:ablendofsupraregionalandregional
norms 60
3.8 StandardAAEandthelanguageofmiddle-class
African-Americans 62
3.9 AAVEinthemedia 66
Discussionquestions 68
Suggestionsforfurtherreading 68
4 Latino groups 70
4.1 ThecomplexitiesofidentityinLatinocommunities 71
4.2 Repertoires:multiplecodesformultipleidentities 73
4.3 Attitudes,choices,andtheconstructionofidentity 75
4.4 Thestructureofdialectsinlatinocommunities 79
4.5 ChicanoEnglishphonology 80
4.6 ChicanoEnglishgrammar 82
4.7 ThestructureofotherLatinoEnglishdialects 84
4.8 LatinodialectsofSpanish 86
4.9 Thelanguagegap:differencesamonggenerations 87
Discussionquestions 87
Suggestionsforfurtherreading 88
5 Linguistic variation in other multiethnic settings 89
5.1 CajunsandcreolesinLouisiana 90
5.2 SouthAfricanethnicgroups 96
5.3 MaorisinNewZealand 105
Discussionquestions 109
Suggestionsforfurtherreading 110
6 Are white people ethnic? Whiteness, dominance, and
ethnicity 112
6.1 Thesocialcorrelatesofbeingwhite 115
6.2 Thelinguisticcorrelatesofbeingwhite 117
6.3 Theconsequencesof“soundingwhite” 119
6.4 Humorandtheportrayalof“whiteness” 121
Discussionquestions 131
Suggestionsforfurtherreading 131
7 Dialect contact, ethnicity, and language change 133
7.1 Dialectcontactandethnicboundaries 133
7.2 Influencesofminorityethnicdialectsonthedominant
dialect 139
7.3 Contactamongethnicminoritydialects 141
7.4 Ethnicminoritygroupspeakersandsoundchange 143
Discussionquestions 150
Suggestionsforfurtherreading 150