“Late dividends of the British Empire”: Language ideologies and the native/non-native question in online newspaper comments

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-153
Author(s):  
Andrew Sewell
Keyword(s):  
British Empire ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
International Communication ◽  
Business World ◽  
Media Attention ◽  
Online Newspaper ◽  
Ideological Perspective

Abstract As the use of English as a lingua franca increases in a range of contexts, one question that has received recent media attention is that of whether native or non-native speakers are more effective communicators in these contexts. The native/non-native question resists a straightforward answer, but taking account of the views of people in the business world is a necessary step towards understanding the underlying issues. This article investigates the nature and origin of these views by analysing online newspaper comments written in response to a column in the Financial Times. It first identifies several topics related to the native/non-native question, including perceived differences between and within the two categories. It then discusses these topics from a language-ideological perspective, aiming to identify the patterns of beliefs and assumptions that inform the comments. Although this perspective involves a critical evaluation of the binary “native/non-native” opposition, the article identifies several important effects of the native speaker concept, ranging from outright discrimination to feelings of frustration and inhibition. It portrays the comments as both reflecting and questioning the ideological premises of the native speaker concept, and it considers the implications of the approach for ELF research and for the wider study of international communication.

nr="309"Innere Sicherheit, Sprache und Biographie. : Eine biographietheoretische Perspektive auf einen komplexen Zusammenhang

2021 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
pp. 309-325
Author(s):  
Nadja Thoma
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Security Threat ◽  
Internal Security ◽  
Analytical Perspective ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Innere Sicherheit

Zusammenfassung Im Kontext der zunehmenden Versicherheitlichung von Migration, deren Bedeutung auch für sprachliche Bildung im Kontext nationaler und globaler Sicherheitsagenden diskutiert wird, werden bestimmte Gruppen von Migrant*innen als Sicherheitsbedrohung konstruiert. Die Instrumentalisierung von Sprache für Identitätspolitik, die im Konzept von Sprache als ,Schlüssel zur Integration‘ besonders deutlich wird und unter Rückgriff auf Sprachideologien erklärt werden kann, bleibt nicht ohne Folgen für Angehörige minorisierter Gruppen. Der vorliegende Beitrag geht der Frage nach, was ,innere Sicherheit‘ für Student*innen bedeutet, denen zugeschrieben wird, keine ,native speaker‘ zu sein. Den Bezugspunkt der ,inneren Sicherheit‘ bildet dabei nicht der Nationalstaat, sondern das Subjekt. Aus einer biographieanalytischen Perspektive wird rekonstruiert, mit welchen (Un-)Sicherheitsdimensionen die Subjekte an der Universität und in Hinblick auf ihre beruflichen Pläne konfrontiert sind, wie Sicherheit und Sprache biographisch eingebettet sind und welche Strategien und Wege die Student*innen (nicht) nutzen (können), um ihre Sicherheitsspielräume zu erweitern.Abstract: In light of the increasing securitization of migration, language education is discussed as part of national and global security agendas, and certain groups of migrants have been constructed as a security threat. The instrumentalization of language for identity politics is particularly evident in the concept of language as a ‘key to integration’ and can be explained with language ideologies. These ideologies are not without consequences for members of minoritized groups. The article at hand explores the meaning of ‘internal security’ for university students who are not considered ‘native speakers’. The reference point of ‘internal security’ is not the nation state, but the subject. From a biographical-analytical perspective, the article reconstructs dimensions of security and insecurity which the subjects confront at university with regard to their professional aims. It will explore how the connection between security and language is embedded in their biographies, as well as the strategies and pathways students can and cannot use to expand their security scope.

Language ideology, identity and the commodification of language in the call centers of Pakistan

2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
TARIQ RAHMAN
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Call Centers ◽  
Crossing Over ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Linguistic Capital ◽  
Language Discrimination ◽  
Sales Strategy

ABSTRACTThis article relates the language ideologies of Pakistan in general, and its call centers in particular, with the language policies and practices of the latter. The specific policy focused upon is the commodification of English with a near-native (American or British) accent as linguistic capital. These accents are indexed to the desired foreign identities which the workers of call centers perform in telephonic interaction with clients as part of their sales strategy. This crossing over to native-speaker linguistic identities is not always successful. When successful, however, some workers in the call centers pass as native speakers in certain contexts and for certain purposes. Such practices and the policies upon which they are contingent are consequences of language ideologies that entail language discrimination against the workers of the call centers by the Pakistani English-using elite, and vice versa. (English, commodification of language, accent, linguistic capital, language policy, identity, passing, crossing, call centers, Pakistan)

scholarly journals Models and Targets for the Pronunciation of English in Vietnam and Sweden

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 113-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Una Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
International Communication ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
The World

This paper aims to account for the factors that lie behind the choice of models and targets for the pronunciation of English by learners of English in Vietnam and in Sweden. English is the first foreign language in both Vietnam and in Sweden. English is used as a language of international communication in both settings. Swedish learners have much more exposure to spoken English than do Vietnamese learners and the Swedish language is more similar to English than is Vietnamese. These reasons, among others, explain why Swedish accents of English are typically considerably more intelligible than Vietnamese accents of English. Given that the majority of English speakers in the world are not native speakers, it is argued that the traditional learner target of approaching native speaker pronunciations is not appropriate for either group, but especially not for the Vietnamese learners. Instead maximal international intelligibility is a more useful target. To this end, learners need to be exposed to a variety of native and non-native models.

The Involvement of Native Speakers in Teaching and Learning Japanese Language at UiTM

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Choong Pow Yean ◽  
Sarinah Bt Sharif ◽  
Normah Bt Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Lexical Density

The Nihongo Partner Program or “Japanese Language Partner” is a program that sends native speakers to support the teaching and learning of Japanese overseas. The program is fully sponsored by The Japan Foundation. The aim of this program is to create an environment that motivates the students to learn Japanese. This study is based on a survey of the Nihongo Partner Program conducted on students and language lecturers at UiTM, Shah Alam. This study aims to investigate if there is a necessity for native speakers to be involved in the teaching and learning of Japanese among foreign language learners. Analysis of the results showed that both students and lecturers are in dire need of the Nihongo Partner Program to navigate the learning of the Japanese language through a variety of language learning activities. The involvement of native speaker increases students’ confidence and motivation to converse in Japanese. The program also provides opportunities for students to increase their Japanese language proficiency and lexical density. In addition, with the opportunity to interact with the native speakers, students and lecturers will have a better understanding of Japanese culture as they are able to observe and ask the native speakers. Involvement of native speakers is essential in teaching and learning of Japanese in UiTM.

Euro-English: A Swedish perspective

English Today ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Modiano
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
The Other ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
European Continent

This survey considers the emergence of English as a language shared across the European Union in particular and the European continent at large, and together with its distinctive ‘lingua franca’ dimension among the mainland European nations. It considers in particular the situation of ‘non-native speakers’ who regularly use the language as well as the concept of a ‘Euro-English’ in general and the Swedish, ‘Swenglish’ and English relationship on the other. It concludes by considering the liberation of non-native users from ‘the beginning of native-speaker norms’.

English language schooling, linguistic realities, and the native speaker of English in Hong Kong

Multilingua ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jette G. Hansen Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Government School ◽  
The Impact ◽  
At Home

AbstractThe study employs a case study approach to examine the impact of educational backgrounds on nine Hong Kong tertiary students’ English and Cantonese language practices and identifications as native speakers of English and Cantonese. The study employed both survey and interview data to probe the participants’ English and Cantonese language use at home, school, and with peers/friends. Leung, Harris, and Rampton’s (1997, The idealized native speaker, reified ethnicities, and classroom realities.TESOL Quarterly 31(3). 543–560) framework of language affiliation, language expertise, and inheritance was used to examine the construction of a native language identity in a multilingual setting. The study found that educational background – and particularly international school experience in contrast to local government school education – had an impact on the participants’ English language usage at home and with peers, and also affected their language expertise in Cantonese. English language use at school also impacted their identifications as native speakers of both Cantonese and English, with Cantonese being viewed largely as native language based on inheritance while English was being defined as native based on their language expertise, affiliation and use, particularly in contrast to their expertise in, affiliation with, and use of Cantonese.

Science communication in the international auxiliary language Esperanto

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loïc Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Scientific Journal ◽  
International Communication ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
Scientific Culture ◽  
Science Outreach ◽  
National Languages ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Specific Country

<p>First published in 1887 by Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, Esperanto is the most successful constructed language, with speakers all around the globe and even native speakers.</p> <p>The relationship between Esperanto and science starts very early: the scientific journal <em>Internacia Scienca Revuo</em> was created in 1904 and the International Esperantist Science Association (ISAE) was founded in 1907 (Wera Blanke, <em>Scienca Revuo</em> 206, 2006). Many publications and books about scientific topics have since been written or translated in Esperanto. </p> <p>Esperanto has initially been envisioned as a lingua franca to be used in international communication, both in general and for scientific purposes. While English has since taken this role, there is still a desire to maintain and develop the scientific culture and the related terminology in Esperanto. Science outreach is one way to achieve this goal, and new projects have appeared in the last few years.</p> <p>Esperanto represents an interesting challenge for outreach : being a more neutral language, not related to a specific country or ethnic group, the community of speakers (albeit small) is by essence more international and more diverse than in national languages. This is an opportunity, but also comes with some difficulties.</p> <p>In this work, I’ll discuss the advantages and obstacles of communicating science in Esperanto. I’ll present various projects of science communication in Esperanto, with a focus on my personal experience with my YouTube channel <em>D-ro Loĉjo</em>, where I do videos about science and in particular about planetary science.</p>

A Variationist Analysis of Second Language Spanish Trill Production

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Danielle Daidone ◽  
Sara Zahler
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Opposite Direction ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Phonetic Context

Abstract The current study examines the production of the Spanish trill by advanced second language (L2) learners using a variationist approach. Findings indicate that learners produced less multiple occlusion trills than native speakers and their variation was not constrained by the same factors as native speakers. Phonetic context conditioned the use of the multiple occlusion variant for native speakers, whereas frequency and speaker sex conditioned this variation for learners, and in the opposite direction of effect as expected from previous native speaker research. Nevertheless, the majority of tokens produced by learners were other variants also produced by native speakers, and when the variation between native and non-native variants was examined, learners’ variation was conditioned not only by frequency, but also phonetic context. Some of the phonetic contexts in which learners produced non-native variants were comparable to those in which native speakers were least likely to produce the multiple occlusion trill, indicating that articulatory constraints governed variation in trill production similarly for both groups. Thus, although L2 learners do not exhibit native-like trill variation, they appear to be developing toward a more native-like norm. These insights provide support for adopting a multifaceted variationist approach to the study of L2 phonological variable structures.

A Corpus-Based Exploration of the Discourse Marker Well in Spoken Interlanguage

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 570-593
Author(s):  
Lan-fen Huang
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Discourse Marker ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
First Languages

This corpus-based study examines the widely-used discourse marker well in Chinese-speaking learners’ speech and compares its frequencies in native speaker data and Swedish learners. While Swedish learners overuse well, Chinese-speaking learners (predominantly at the upper-intermediate level) significantly underuse it. The positions and functions of well are further examined using a functional framework. One-fourth of the Chinese-speaking learners who use well manipulate its positions in utterances in a similar way to native speakers. In terms of functions, well is employed for speech management much more frequently than for attitudinal purposes. The greater use of the former does not generally create negative effects, but the under-representation of the latter may suggest that Chinese-speaking learners sound too direct in certain contexts. The paper concludes by considering pedagogical implications for different first languages and proficiency levels and their possible applications to the instruction of well.

scholarly journals THE PROSODIC EMPHASIS OF BRITISH AND AMERICAN LECTURES

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (10(78)) ◽  
pp. 111-114
Author(s):  
Nataliia Koval
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
International Communication ◽  
Rhythmic Pattern ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Logical Organization ◽  
Sociocultural Characteristics

The focus of the study is prosodic emphasis and its correlation with the sociocultural characteristics of native speakers who have shown them during lectures. Thus, the accentuation of the informational structure of lectures is regarded as an indicator of the speaker’s language culture. This research was conducted within the framework of academic style. The relevance of this article is because currently the issues of the culture of the studied foreign language, including the culture of the spoken language, are of particular importance in the context of globalization, when English became the language of international communication, which operates on the territories of countries with different cultural traditions. The identification of the British norm of linguistic culture is presented in this article on the example of the prosody of the information structure of lectures. So, the conducted audit analysis of quasi-spoken speech of texts of academic style in British and American lecturers’ implementation allowed the author to draw the following conclusions: 1) the sociocultural characteristics of the speaker largely determine the culture of his/her speech behavior; 2) accentuation, being a particular manifestation of the category of emphasis and performing the function of the logical organization of the utterance, can serve as an indicator of the complexity of thinking; 3) the rhythmic pattern of the experimental sounding material corresponds to generally accepted data – 1:2 for the British version and 1:1.3 for the American one; 4) the most frequent are emphatic patterns having the ratio of stressed syllables to unstressed equal to 1: 1; 1: 1.3; 1: 2.

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