24.2731, Review: Discourse Analysis; Historical Linguistics; Sociolinguistics: Hackert (2012)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-24-2731. Sat Jul 06 2013. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 24.2731, Review: Discourse Analysis; Historical Linguistics; Sociolinguistics: Hackert (2012)

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Date: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 09:29:11
From: Kimberly Chopin [kimberly at hum.ku.dk]
Subject: The Emergence of the English Native Speaker

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/23/23-4911.html

AUTHOR: Stephanie  Hackert
TITLE: The Emergence of the English Native Speaker
SUBTITLE: A Chapter in Nineteenth-Century Linguistic Thought
SERIES TITLE: Language and Social Processes [LSP] 4
PUBLISHER: De Gruyter Mouton
YEAR: 2012

REVIEWER: Kimberly Renée Chopin, University of Copenhagen

SUMMARY

In many areas of applied linguistics, especially when the place and role of
the English language is in focus, the concept of ‘native speaker’ has come
increasingly under scrutiny. Stephanie Hackert’s monograph analyzes the
origins of this term and the discourses surrounding its formation, using a
corpus of mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century texts from both the
linguistic literature and more widely read periodicals of the time to reveal
how modern ideologies concerning the English language have their roots in
earlier discussions.

The book is divided into three main parts plus introductory and concluding
chapters. After introducing the overall aims and organization of the book in
Chapter 1, Part 1 (Chapters 2-4) provides the reader with the conceptual and
methodological framework used in the remainder of the book. The concept of
‘native speaker’ is problematized in Chapter 2, by analyzing the limitations
of how we define (or can define) the term, particularly in regards to World
Englishes. Approaches to ownership (so what does it mean to ‘own’ a language)
are also problematized. Finally, the linguistic ambiguity of the term leads to
the argument that the term ‘native speaker’ should be analyzed with focus on
historical discourses rather than on linguistic features.

Chapter 3 sets out the theories and methods which underpin the rest of the
book. This includes an overview of historical discourse analysis and of the
discourse-historical approach (as used in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)),
and shows how each of these types of analysis are relevant to research into
the native speaker concept. Information on the corpus used for the study --
how it was set up, what it includes and the criteria used -- is also given.

A close reading of one text from the corpus is then given (Chapter 4), an
address given at an American university in 1958, which contains the first
attested use of the phrase ‘native speaker’ (Marsh, 1859). It is analyzed
because it exemplifies a number of common discourses of the time; additionally
it shows in depth how the methods described in Chapter 3 are applied to a
specific text from the corpus.

Parts 2 (Chapters 5-7) and 3 (Chapters 8-10) both offer analysis from the
corpus, investigating texts in themselves, and relating them to discussions on
the concept of native speaker which are happening at the present time.

Part 2 uses analysis of texts from the corpus to shed light on the
significance of ideology and standardization. Chapter 5 shows how a need for
standardization grew along with the growth of linguistics as a discipline in
need of a clearly defined object of study. Chapters 6 and 7 explore the
changes between a focus on written language as the basis for a standard to a
focus on spoken language, which was taking place in the time frame of the
corpus. With a focus on spoken English, a number of other issues arose, for
example of pronunciation and dialects. Texts from the corpus show a clear
definition arising of who would be considered to speak ‘the best’ English, as
opposed to mere ‘dialects of’ English. They also show the origins of some
common understandings, for example that being a native speaker of English
means that one has been brought up in a household where ‘the best’ English was
spoken. Dialects on the other hand were shown in that period to have value as
an object of study, but at the same time were seen as inferior to what was
considered the standard. Distinctions of urban vs. rural speech were also
explored in the corpus. Topics bridging speaking and writing (for example
nineteenth century interest in spelling reform) are also covered here, along
with the idea of native speakers as sources for data collection by those
researching language.

Part 3 takes the ideas of standardization discussed in Part 2, and expands
upon them to show their importance, both at the time, and for the impact they
still have on various linguistic fields even today. Chapter 8 makes a link
with nineteenth-century discussions of nativeness and of nineteenth-century
discussions of nationalism. Along with this come issues of race, and the place
of the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ race and their standing in regards to other races, as
delineated in the corpus. In the discourses of the time, race is marked by
nation, but also by language. The language-race link is explored further in
Chapter 9, focusing on relevant social movements both in England and the US.

Chapter 10 sums up the corpus research by showing how all of the discourses
lead to a view of English as the ‘best’ language, and shows the history of the
language seen as a potential ‘world language.’ Factors which discourses of
that time pointed to were both linguistic (the view of English as a language
with an unusually rich vocabulary, but ‘no grammar’), numerical (with counts
of how many speakers there were and would soon be of English in the world),
and ideological (tied up with the nationalism discussed in previous chapters).

Finally Chapter 11 recaps the main themes of the book, and contextualizes it
within present day fields where the ‘native speaker’ is of interest. Hackert
ends with a brief overview of how the term ‘native speaker’ might be revised,
and suggests ways in which such a revision might impact on various fields,
including theoretical linguistics, second language acquisition and language
pedagogy, and World Englishes.

EVALUATION

Hackert ends the introduction with the statement that ‘if we are to understand
the ideology of the English native speaker today, we need to understand, as
fully as possible, the historical origins of the assumptions and beliefs upon
which it rests’ (p. 6). Taking that as the overall aim of the book, it is
clear that Hackert has succeeded in her goal of illuminating the history of
the native speaker concept, as well as in connecting it to present day
discourses. The book provides a clearly well-researched history of the English
native speaker and how such a non-existent creature both came to be at all,
and how it came to be so prominent in so many different fields. Clearly,
researchers in all fields which have the native speaker as a center point will
find the book to be a fascinating read. Students in related fields will also
find the book of interest; particularly those using or planning to use
discursive approaches in their research will find the overview of CDA found in
Chapter 3 to be approachable and usable.

Hackert’s historical deconstructions, of the native speaker, of
standardization, and so on, resonates with additional fields which are not
mentioned explicitly in the book. For example, in English language testing and
assessment, achievement has traditionally been defined by comparison with a
highly articulate, educated, native speaker of Standard English (McNamara
2012: 199), without attention being given to how such a target was set in the
first place. This book makes the process which occurred extremely clear. In
addition, calls have been made to change focus away from the native speaker
(Cook, 1999; Jenkins 2006), and again, knowing how a concept is constructed
can better enable it to be deconstructed, and made more relevant to the needs
of today.

Though Hackert focuses several sections on World Englishes (WE), she does not
mention the related area of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). However, the
book is equally relevant here. Again, being able to see where problematic
concepts come from makes it much easier to propose better alternatives.
Looking for alternatives to the native speaker concept as it arose in the time
covered by the corpus may also lead to other ways of orienting both the WE and
ELF fields. Of particular relevance here is the connection, discussed in Part
3 of the book, between nation, language and race. As is made clear, while the
more overtly racist ideas of the time are no longer permissible today, many of
the accompanying assumptions still have consequences today. By deconstructing
the connection between that which has been discredited, and that which is
still implicit, it may be possible to go beyond more discourses, rather than
just the more overtly racist ones.

In sum, this book provides a new angle on a key concept, that of the English
native speaker, and will provide both information and historical insight to
researchers in any of the several fields where this concept has prominence and
impact.

REFERENCES

Cook, V. (1999). Going Beyond the Native Speaker in Language Teaching. Tesol
Quarterly, 33(2): 185-209.

Jenkins, J. (2006). The spread of EIL: a testing time for testers. ELT
Journal, 60 (1): 42-50.

Marsh, G. P. (1859). Address. In Inaugural addresses of Theodore W. Dwight,
Professor of Law, and of George P. Marsh Professor of English Literature, in
Columbia College, New York. Available at
http://archive.org/stream/inauguraladdress00colu#page/56/mode/2up

McNamara, T. (2012). English as a lingua franca: the challenge for language
testing. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca 1 (1): 199-202.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Kimberly Chopin is a PhD student at the Center for Internationalisation and
Parallel Language Use at the University of Copenhagen. Her research focuses on
language policy, language testing, and the connections between policy and
testing, in the internationalized university.








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