Signs of Difference: Language and Ideology in Social Life
Cambridge University Press, 6/27/2019
EAN 9781108491891, ISBN10: 1108491898
Hardcover, 326 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
How are peoples' ideas about languages, ways of speaking and expressive styles shaped by their social positions and values? How is difference, in language and in social life, made - and unmade? How and why are some differences persuasive as the basis for action, while other differences are ignored or erased? Written by two recognised authorities on language and culture, this book argues that ideological work of all kinds is fundamentally communicative, and that social positions, projects and historical moments influence, and are influenced by, people's ideas about communicative practices. Neither true nor false, ideologies are positioned and partial visions of the world, relying on comparison and perspective; they exploit differences in expressive features - linguistic and otherwise - to construct convincing stereotypes of people, spaces and activities. Using detailed ethnographic, historical and contemporary examples, this outstanding book shows readers how to analyse ideological work semiotically.
Prologue
questions and exhibits
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I. Ethnography
1. Wolof in Senegal
2. German-Hungarians in Hungary
Part II. Semiotics
3. Ingredients
signs, conjectures, perspectives
4. Comparison
the semiotics of differentiation
5. Dynamics of change in differentiation
Part III. Sites
6. Situating ideological work
7. Among and between sites
8. Scales and scale-making
connecting sites
Part IV. Pasts
9. Library to field
ideologies in nineteenth-century linguistic research
Coda
avenues of inquiry.