Cultural
identity
¡ It is widely believed that there is a natural
connection between the language spoken by members of a social group and that
group’s identity
n By their accent, their vocabulary, their
discourse patterns, speakers identify themselves and are identified as members
of this or that speech and discourse community
From this membership, they draw personal strength
and pride, as well as a sense of social importance and historical continuity
from using the same language as the group they belong to
Language and Cultural Identity
How do we define which group one belongs to?
According to common cultural practices and daily
face-to-face interactions
However, how does that possible to do so
particularly in modern, historically complex, open societies
by Ethnicity?
i.e. physical features (hair and skin), general
appearance, genetic descent, provenance, or nationality
Language and Cultural Identity
by Race?
i.e. ‘white’ or ‘black’
YET there are almost as many genetic difference
between members of the same White, or Black race as there
are between the
classically described human races
Besides it is difficult in some cases to
ascertain with 100 per cent exactitude a person’s racial lineage
by Region? one would think that national identity is a
clear-cut either/or affair
BUT, it is one thing to have a Turkish passport,
another thing to ascribe to yourself a Turkish national identity if you were
born, raised and educated in Germany, are a native speaker of German, and
happen to have Turkish parents
Language and Cultural Identity
by Language?
Despite the entrenched belief in the one language
= one culture equation, individuals assume several collective identities that
are likely not only to change over time in dialogue with others, but are liable
to be in conflict with one another
e.g. an immigrant’s sense of self that was linked
in his country of origin becomes, in the new country, overwhelmingly linked to
his national citizenship for this is the identity that is imposed on him by
others
Language and Cultural Identity
Cultural stereotypes
The problem lies in equating the racial, ethnic,
national identity imposed on an individual by the state’s bureaucratic system,
and that individual’s self-ascription
Group identity is not a natural fact, but a
cultural perception
Our perception of someone’s social identity is
very much culturally determined
Language and Cultural Identity
Group identity is a question of focusing and
diffusion of ethnic, racial, national concepts or stereotypes
e.g. A Singaporean claimed to be able to tell the
differences between an ‘Indian’ and a ‘Chinese’
His impression was focused by the
classificatory concepts prevalent in his society
This focus in turn may prompt him, by a
phenomenon of diffusion, to identify all other ‘Chinese’
It has to be noted that societies impose racial
and ethnic categories only on certain groups –
Whites do not generally identify themselves by
the colour of their skin, but by their provenance or nationality
European identities have traditionally been built
much more around language and national citizenship, and around folk models of
‘one nation = one language’, than around ethnicity or race
Language and Cultural Identity
Examples of how complex the language-cultural identity
relationship really is
the Chinese identify themselves ethnically as
Chinese even though they speak languages or dialects which are mutually
unintelligible
n On the other hand, the Chinese character-writing
system and the art of calligraphy that are the major factors of an overall
Chinese group identity
Many cultures have survived even though their
language has virtually disappeared
Language and Cultural Identity
Language crossing as act of identity
¡ One way of surviving culturally in immigration
settings is to exploit, rather than stifle, the endless variety
of meanings afforded by participation in several discourse communities at once
n More and more people are living, speaking and
interacting in in-between spaces, across multiple languages or varieties of the
same language
They choose one way of talking over another
depending on the topic, the interlocutor and the situational
context
This situation is called language crossing
Language and Cultural Identity
Language crossing
Language crossings, include the switching of
codes
Language crossing enables speakers to change
footing within the same conversation, but also to show solidarity or distance
towards the discourse communities whose languages they are using, and whom they
perceive their interlocutor as belonging
By crossing languages, speakers perform cultural
acts of identity
n Refusing to adopt the same language when you are
seen as belonging to the same culture can be perceived as an affront that requires
some facework repair
n Language crossing can be used for more complex
stances by speakers who wish to display multiple cultural memberships and play
off one against the other
Language and Cultural Identity
Linguistic
nationism
The association of one language variety with the
membership in one national community has been referred to as linguistic
nationism
During French Revolution, the concept of a
national language linked to a national culture was intended to systematically
replace the variety of regional dialects and local practices
Linguistic wars are always also political and
cultural wars
Language and Cultural Identity
The modern nation is an imagined community
Such imaginings are tenacious and contribute to
what we call an individual’s national ‘identity’
n When new nation-states emerge, the mere category
of national identity may put a stress on other categories that in turn may
require renewed importance
Nation-states respond to such separatist
tendencies by refocusing national identity either around a national language or
around the concept of multiculturalism
US English Movement
Language and Cultural Identity
Standard language, cultural totem
The way this national identity is expressed is
through an artificially created standard language, fashioned from a
multiplicity of dialects
When one variety of a language is selected as an
indicator of difference between insiders and outsiders, it can be shielded from
variations through official grammars and dictionaries and can be taught through
the national educational system
Language and Cultural Identity
In some countries that have a National Academy
for the preservation of the national linguistic treasure against external
imports and internal degradation, misuses of the standard language by its
speakers are perceived not only as linguistic mishaps, but aesthetic and moral
offences
Standard language is always a written form of the
language, preserved through a distinct print culture serving a variety of
political, economic, and ideological interests
Language and Cultural Identity
¡ Language acquires a symbolic value beyond its
pragmatic use and become a totem of a cultural group when one dialect variety
is imposed on others
The totemization of the dominant language leads
to the stigmatization of the dominated languages
Members of a group who feel that their cultural
and political identity is threatened are likely to attach particular importance
to the maintenance or resurrection of ‘their language
French speaking people in Quebec in Canada
Welsh in Wales
Language and Cultural Identity
Linguistic and cultural imperialism
In 1985, linguistic rights were starting to be
viewed as basic human rights
The case for linguistic rights has
been made particularly strongly with regard to the hegemonic spread of English
around the world
It is another link that more to do with the
promulgation of global ideologies through the worldwide expansion of one
language – linguicism
Linguicism
n Linguicism has been defined as ‘ideologies,
structures, and practices which are used to legitimate, effectuate, and
reproduce an unequal division of power and resources between groups which are
defined on the basis of language’
English linguistic imperialism is seen as a type
of linguicism
The spread of English is undeniable, and it is
viewed by those who suffer from it as a totem for a certain Anglo-American
‘culture’ or way of life
But it is not clear whether the appropriate
response in the long run is to make English and other languages into cultural
icons, or to rely on the remarkable ability that speakers have to create
multiple cultural realities in any language
Summary
Although there is no one-to-one relationship
between anyone’s language and his or her cultural identity, language is the
most sensitive indicator of the relationship between an individual and a given
social group
¡ The only way to preserve the room for manoeuvre
vital to any human communication is not by making sure that everyone speaks the
same language, but by making sure that the linguistic semiotic capital of
humankind remains as rich and as diversified as possible
