16.1222, Review: Sociolinguistics: Joseph (2004)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-16-1222. Mon Apr 18 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.1222, Review: Sociolinguistics: Joseph (2004)

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1)
Date: 17-Apr-2005
From: Simo Määttä < asunto at uclink4.berkeley.edu >
Subject: Language and Identity: National, Ethnic, Religious 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 04:38:39
From: Simo Määttä < asunto at uclink4.berkeley.edu >
Subject: Language and Identity: National, Ethnic, Religious 
 

AUTHOR: Joseph, John E.
TITLE: Language and Identity
SUBTITLE: National, Ethnic, Religious
PUBLISHER: Palgrave MacMillan
YEAR: 2004
Announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/15/15-2187.html


Simo K. Määttä

This book explores the role of language in the formation and 
interpretation of national, ethnic, and religious identities, as well as 
the ways in which different sub-fields of linguistics, sociolinguistics in 
particular, have dealt with the topic. It argues that the consideration of 
identity should form part of any study of language; ultimately, the author 
contends, research on language and identity can bring a contribution to 
the "rehumanization" of linguistics (Afterword, p. 226 in particular).

The author starts with a short introduction (1-14) to the problem, i.e., 
the nature of identity, including an overview of related concepts, such as 
self, person, ethos, persona, subject, subjectivity, and identification. 
He strongly argues that identity can be understood as an entirely 
linguistic phenomenon (12).

Chapter Two (The Functions and Evolution of Language, 15-40) aims at 
showing that identity is indeed a fundamental feature and function of 
language. In addition, it argues that a theory of language taking 
interpretation, instead of communication and representation, as the 
primary function of language is one reconcilable with evolution. This 
requires the assumption of "a primordial language subject-cum-object 
reacting to the world around it," rather than "privileging (of) the active 
agency of the subject that is itself a historical product" (39). Indeed, 
according to Joseph, "linguistic identity is a category that blurs the 
distinction between the two traditional functions of language" (16). On 
the other hand, identity could be considered a subcategory of 
representation, although at the same time extending beyond it; finally, 
identity is defined "as the category (or set of categories) into which a 
person (or less often, an animal or object or abstraction) is read as 
belonging, expressible as or (in the case of a proper name) consisting of 
a noun phrase or adjective phrase" (40).

Through an overview of Malinowski's concept of phatic function and a short 
exploration of the performative function of the language, Joseph concludes 
that the isolation of language from its speakers and interpreters and the 
context distantiates us from any "essential truth about language." (24). 
The interpretative function of language, on the other hand, 
is "evolutionary deepest" (29). Thus, "sociolinguistics, the study of the 
audible and visible, rather than deductive and imaginary, the study of the 
evolutionarily continuous and viable," is closest to reality -- the 
subject of the book is "people speaking" (36).

Chapter Three (Approaching Identity in Traditional Linguistic Analysis, 41-
66) starts with the exploration of classical and Romantic views of 
language, nation, culture, and the individual and concentrates on the 
contributions of those interested in the "social in language," such as 
Voloshinov, Saussure, Jespersen, Sapir, Firth, Halliday, Brown & Gilman, 
and Labov. The chapter concludes with a short overview of research on 
language and gender, Network Theory, communities of practice, and language 
ideologies.

Chapter Four (Integrating Perspectives from Adjacent Disciplines, 67-91) 
studies the contribution of fields of inquiry other than linguistics to 
the examination of linguistic identity, including the work of scholars 
such as Goffman, Bernstein, Foucault, Bourdieu, Gumperz, and Hymes. The 
chapter also explores research done on attitudes and accommodation, as 
well as Social Identity Theory and self-categorization. The end of the 
chapter (83-91), however, is devoted to a debate about the benefits and 
defects of essentialism, an epistemological framework in which categories 
such as race, gender, or class are taken as given, and constructionism, 
more interested in identity as a process through which categories are 
constructed. "(W)hatever the 'primary function of speech' may be, the 
primary function of language is certainly the interpretation of what 
others say to us" (87), the author reiterates; while his theoretical 
viewpoint appears to be closest to constructionism, he notes that 
discourse on essentialism on the part of constructionists, ironically, 
essentializes history (90). On the other hand, essentialism should not be 
completely discarded when language and identity are studied: "constructing 
an identity is in fact constructing and essence" (ibid.).

Indeed, the second half of Joseph's book aims at exploring the social 
construction of three "particularly powerful" 'essentialized' identities 
(90), i.e., national, ethnic, and religious. First, the author provides on 
overview of certain theories of national identity (Chapter Five: Language 
in National Identities, 92-131); theories of ethnic and religious 
identities are examined in Chapter Seven (Language in Ethnic/Racial and 
Religious/Sectarian Identities, 162-93). Chapters Six and Eight are case 
studies: The New Quasi-Nation of Hong Kong (132-61) and Christian and 
Muslim Identities in Lebanon (194-223).

Chapter Five includes a discussion of the nature of national identities 
and the starting moment of nationalism. Subsequently, the author analyzes 
the contributions of Dante, Nebrija, Valdés, Du Bellay, Fichte, Renan, 
Kadourie, Gellner, Anderson, Billig, Hobsbawm, and Silverstein to the 
theory of linguistic nationalism, as well as recent research on 
developments on different continents. Chapter Six, the case study of Hong 
Kong, provides a short political and linguistic history and analyzes 
samples of written Hong Kong English, an entity recognized by linguists 
but denied by most of its speakers. The analysis concentrates on features 
in which Hong Kong English is different from standard English and examines 
the interlanguage features which can explain them. One of the main points 
is to dismantle the myth of declining English in Hong Kong: the fact that 
English spoken in Hong Kong might appear as deteriorating is due to the 
fact that a larger population is nowadays educated in English, although 
not as thoroughly as in the past, as well as the fact that a distinctive 
Hong Kong English is indeed developing. According to the author, Hong Kong 
provides a good example of linguistic identity construction, the outcome 
of which, including the development of a discreet Hong Kong English and 
identity, is uncertain.

Chapter Seven discusses ethnic, racial, sectarian, and religious 
identities, concentrating on the process of identity construction rather 
than the product thereof. A key concept is that of a shared habitus: "not 
every community of practice will manifest itself in a linguistic identity" 
(167); rather, "we can expect a community of practice to manifest a 
linguistic identity in just those cases where the practices around which 
the community is formed enter into the habitus of the individual community 
members. This happens most powerfully when the individuals grow up 
performing the practices as part of their everyday routine" (167-8). 
Ethnic and racial identity claims are particularly powerful, the author 
claims: even the Holocaust could be possible only after a racial/ethnic 
difference and a Jewish linguistic identity were constructed, although 
anti-Semitism as such had been present for a long time (172). Personal 
names, on the other hand, function as a "text" for ethnic and religious 
identity: individual identities "start with a personal name" (176). At 
this point, the author uses personal narratives taken from South-East 
Asian students (177-81).

The last part of Chapter Seven (181-93), however, is dedicated to the 
discussion of globalization, including language spread and loss and 
identity leveling. The languages and identities under threat, Joseph 
argues, are ethnic rather than national (181); they can also be 
religious: "because the spread of English is bound up with a 'modernity' 
widely seen as eschewing traditional beliefs in favour of a faith in 
technology" (182). These arguments appear to provide a rationale for the 
inclusion of globalization debate in this chapter. Globalization is not a 
new phenomenon; in addition, "it means so many things to so many people 
that it ultimately may not mean anything at all" (188). Furthermore, 
discourse on globalization tends to fail to notice that there is also a 
tendency towards more diversity within English (191). Indeed, there are 
forces which impede linguistic homogenization: "the imperatives of 
individual linguistic identity, which demands variation and prefers 
comprehension, and those of nation/ethnic/religious linguistic identity" 
(191). Besides, trade requires incomprehension, a quality without 
which "human societies would never have developed or survived" (192) -- 
perhaps this somewhat surprising argument was proposed because so much of 
the globalization debate centers on global economy and trade.

Chapter Eight analyzes the role of language in the development of 
Christian and Muslim identities in Lebanon. Alongside an overview of 
history, history of language, and cultural history, the author 
concentrates on the distribution of bi- and tri-lingualism involving 
English or French among different religious groups. These analyzes are 
supported by the results of fascinating sociolinguistic opinion polls and 
surveys and a thorough historical analysis. Somewhat oddly, however, the 
bulk of the latter part of the chapter is dedicated to Renan's relation 
with Lebanon, including biographical interpretation aimed at deciphering 
the construction of his identity and the influence thereof on his theory 
of linguistic nationalism. The chapter ends with the discussion of the 
identity of the Lebanese-born writer Amin Maalouf.

Language and Identity is a significant contribution not only to the theory 
of linguistic identity but to the theory of language as a whole, 
sociolinguistics and disourse analysis in particular. It is highly 
recommended reading for those interested in the linguistic situation in 
Lebanon and in Hong Kong, as well as those studying the connections 
between religion, ethnicity, and language and those fascinated by global 
English.

There are numerous interesting, new ideas in the book. For example, the 
possibility of identity being an entirely linguistic construction and 
phenomenon, as the author suggests, is an intriguing and thought-provoking 
insight. Another particularly fascinating argument is that of fictional 
characters appearing as more real than real people because their 
identities are contained (4) -- extended to, e.g., national identities, 
such an idea could help us understand better the power of ideologies such 
as nationalism. Among other main arguments of the book, one worth of 
special mention is that of over-reading, by which the author describes the 
fact that we "read an identity onto the people whose words we hear and 
read, "although "(T)here us no logical reason why linguistic patterns must 
reflect other attributes of the person who displays them" (38-9). The 
issue of interpretation and the methodology of its observation is indeed 
intriguing; as the author rightly points out, "production can be observed 
directly, understanding only indirectly" (30). However, the fact that much 
of the analysis of actual data in this book consists of the interpretation 
of produced written texts rather than the observation or interpretation of 
their interpretation shows how difficult it is to separate production from 
interpretation. It is also somewhat difficult to understand the 
evolutionary basis of interpretation, e.g., when considering the 
interpretation of written texts. Indeed, is it absolutely necessary to 
know what the primary function of language is and. Moreover, why should 
there be only one?

The book's title is perhaps too ambitious, possibly even misleading: 
national, ethnic, and religious aspects of language and identity is a very 
vast topic for a monograph. In fact, religious and ethnic identities 
receive much less attention than national ones; the fact that theory, 
data, and personal narratives are not always presented in a logical order 
might be due to the problematic scope of the topic.

Furthermore, the theoretical basis for the "social constructionist" 
approach remains somewhat reduced, especially considering that, indeed, 
rather than people speaking, the arguments are based mostly on written 
texts and entire discourses. A more detailed inquiry of, e.g., 
performative aspects of identity formation might have been useful; such an 
inquiry could provide tools for overcoming the problem of the explanatory 
value and authority of particular data. This problem, I argue, is one of 
the biggest problems of macro-sociolinguistic research and discourse 
analysis using categories of interpretation and analysis of "autonomous" 
linguistics -- therefore, to a large extent, sharing its ideas of the 
nature of language -- while, at the same time, dealing with concepts more 
or less incompatible with the notions of language thereof, such as 
ideology, gender, or the nation.

Finally, the critique of "autonomous" or "traditional" linguistics, 
scattered throughout the book, and the claims of sociolinguistics being 
closer to allegedly biological or evolutionary basis of language, are 
somewhat odd; indeed, if globalization means so many things that it may 
mean nothing at all, could we not argue the same for "language" 
and "linguistics" as well, to name but a few contested concepts? 

ABOUT THE REVIEWER: 

Simo K. Määttä earned his doctorate from the University of California, 
Berkeley in 2004. His research interests include language ideologies, 
sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and translation studies.





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