Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
Language, Society and Power, Week 6
Language, Society and Power
Week 6 – Language and ethnicity
Aims:
 To discuss if and how the English language can be considered prejudiced
 To understand how language can be used as a marker of ethnicity
 To be familiar with the linguistic features of some varieties of English
 To understand how social networks can explain features of an individual
person’s language use
1 Ethnicity
Ethnicity is not a clear-cut term. It usually describes someone’s racial or cultural
background but has a whole host of other connotations connected with appearance,
dress, food, lifestyle etc. The ethnic majority in a particular place are, not necessarily
those with the largest numbers, but those with social and political power. It is also the
case that often terms describing race are fairly meaningless. People from the ‘British
race’ for example originate from many other cultures and countries, depending on
how far back you trace their family trees.
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
Language, Society and Power, Week 6
2 Prejudiced language
Language can be used to make certain ethnic groups appear to be outsiders, or
different from the ethnic majority.
2.1 Markedness
It is often assumed that immigrants, and people from ethnic minorities, must fit in
with the ways and traditions of the ethnic majority. When this happens, the ethnic
identity of the majority begins to appear normal and invisible, whilst that of the
minority appears, strange, worthy of mention and marked. We often find in the media
that people’ ethnicity is only mentioned when they are not white. So, we hear things
like “the murdered black teenager Steven Lawrence” even in instances where the
description of ethnicity is irrelevant.
2.2 Negative labelling
People are often labelled according to their colour, race or ethnicity. The problem
with such labels is firstly that they may stop us seeing other aspects of the person as
we are focussed on the attribute that the label describes. The second problem is that
very often these labels are associated with negative stereotypes. We often find that
the most marginalized groups in our society have the largest numbers of offensive
terms to describe them.
In addition, the media runs relatively few stories about those from ethnic minorities,
and those that are included tend to reinforce the negative stereotypes by being about
crime or disorder.
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
Language, Society and Power, Week 6
3 Marking Ethnic Identity
Language can also be used as a powerful marker of ethnic identity. The language that
we speak, and how we speak it, shows the ethnic group to which we believe we
belong and claim solidarity with.
3.1 British Black English
People of West Indian and African Caribbean origin in England use many different
varieties depending on where about they live and how long their families have been in
Britain. Those born in Britain usually speak a variety of English and also a variety of
Jamaican Creole, known as Patois.
Linguistic features of Patois
 Lexical items (lick (hit), kenge (weak), bex (angry)
 Use of [] and [] in place of [] and [] e.g. [tn] for [n]
 Plural forms without /s/ suffix (e.g. many cow)
 Verbs not marked for tense (walk in place of walked)
 Simplified pronouns ([mi] for I, me, my and [dem] for they, them and their)
 Use of ‘fi’ in place of ‘to’ before infinitives
3.2 African American Vernacular English
In the USA, the distinct languages of people of African American origin disappeared
centuries ago. Nevertheless, a distinct variety of English, called African American
Vernacular English (AAVE), has developed which acts as a symbol of ethnicity.
AAVE is most often heard in cities in the North of the states.
Linguistic features of AAVE
 Absence of standard copula be (e.g. ‘she very nice’, ‘that my book’)
 Use of copula be to signal recurring actions (‘she be at school on weekdays’)
 Multiple negation (‘I don’t want none’)
 Consonant cluster simplification (‘aks in place of asks’)
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
Language, Society and Power, Week 6
 Existential it (where standard English has ‘there’, ‘it’s a boy’ for ‘there’s a
boy’)
3.3 Maori English
In New Zealand, it is not clear if a Maori dialect of English actually exists. What is
certain is that the features listed below occur more often in the speech of Maoris than
Pakeha (non-Polynesian New Zealanders, usually of European origin)
Linguistic features of Maori English
 Use of [] and [] in place of [] and [] e.g. [tn] for [n]
 Use of vocabulary items such as kia ora (greeting) and kuia (old woman)
 Vernacular verb forms (walk for walked)
 Present tense forms with /s/ ‘I sees you’, ‘we gets home’)
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
Language, Society and Power, Week 6
4 Social Networks
Social networks can help us understand speech patterns as the language and variety
we use is influenced by the people we spend time with.
You can draw a simple social network by considering the four or five people you
speak to most often and drawing lines from their names to yours on a map. If any of
those people know each other independently of you, connect them with lines
(preferably of a different colour) too. Then add their two or three best friends, and so
on.
Sandy
Dave
e.g.
Barbara
Richard
Tom
Bob
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
Language, Society and Power, Week 6
4.1 Features of social networks
4.1.1 Density
Density refers to whether members of a person’s network are in touch with each other
separately.
In the example above, only Richard and Bob know each other
independently of Tom so his network is not a dense one.
4.1.2 Plexity
Plexity refers to the type of transactions that we are involved in with other people. If,
for example, Tom only ever plays squash with Barbara, the relationship would be
considered a uniplex one. If however, Tom and Barbara lived, worked and socialised
together it would be a multiplex one.
4.2 Language and Networks
The language or variety we use is influenced by the people we talk to and what we
talk to them about. We may change the language or variety we are using depending
on which part of our network we are currently interacting with. For example, we may
be more formal at work than at home. This type of language/variety shift is probably
more likely if our social network is not very dense and our relations tend to be
uniplex. If our networks are dense and multiplex, the whole network is more likely to
use the use the same language or variety.