Linguistic Society of America

Research on the social factors related to bilingualism help to understand the monolingual ideology’s effect on bilinguals. Through both examining the policy and education in the United States, the underlying monolingual ideology can be examined through the use of examples of uses of multiple languages and only English to portray the perception society has of bilinguals and the arguments for monolingual acts, legislations, and the English Only Movement which will give evidence for bilingual education demonstrating the basis for the monolingual ideology. Finally, I will tie in the research with factors of social and political status and the use of languages in education in today’s culture of political change to show the underlying monolingual ideology in…

way is very influential and offensive to Muslim Americans. In other television shows such as the very popular fictional drama Homeland where Brody the main character who was captured and tortured in Afghanistan. When Brody returned he announced his Islamic faith, which resulted in hate towards him and then was assigned a CIA officer to look after him in case he was a threat or a spy. In this particular scenario it shows how extreme and stereotypical television shows can be, it also shows that…

at the language struggles those of immigrant backgrounds face on a daily basis. The audience would be able to have a better understanding of linguistic terrorism, something that many immigrants face. Though linguistic terrorism is not as prominent in modern times as it has been in the past, it is something that is still an issue today. Readers would have an easier time understanding and being patient with those who we consider to be speaking broken English. In having a better understanding of…

populations have inhabited North America’s vast landscape for millions of years. These peoples have their own unique cultures and identities. Fundamentally, it is understood that Native cultures have not occurred in a vacuum and are constantly being changed, integrated, and created. However, when attempting to learn about the numerous Native populations that have and continue to inhabit North America, the shear volume of information becomes hard to process. Scholars of Native North America have…

In his essay "In Plain English: Let's Make It Official," Charles Krauthammer mentions English being the key to unifying a multicultural society like the United States. There is no doubt that the United States is a nation composed of immigrants from all over the world. However, it is not a nation composed of immigrants trying to ostracize themselves to create their own territory. We are a melting pot of many linguistic, cultural, and ethnic groups that are constantly interacting and coming…

Race is an underlining factor that is socially constructed within society. According to genetics, humans are found to have the same genetic make up, this leads individuals to question where the idea of race being a signifier of difference derives from, the answer is social construction. This concept will be explored through linguistics, anthropology, the case of Christie Lewis, and finally American Cinema. Linguistics plays a vast role in the construction of race, it distinguishes difference…

The English language has and will continue to be the unifier of worldwide linguistic diversity. As a result of its globalization and its relative status symbol, the spread of the English language has facilitated the decline of several smaller languages such as those discussed in Russel G. Rymer’s article “Vanishing Voices”. Containing what is arguably the densest concentration of English speakers, the United States population speaks the language with a distinct vocabulary and accent. The form…

The presence of Islam in America has been both theoretically and tangibly an issue for American society. Multiple scholars trace the issue back towards the enlightenment, referencing the context surrounding the interactions between the eastern and western world as laying the groundwork for interactions to this day. Edward Said famously developed the concept of Orientalism, which he defines as “a manner of regularized (or Orientalized) writing, vision, and study, dominated by imperatives,…

The origin of America was based on immigration that created diversity in language, which today continues to increase. America, a melting Pot, a diversity of language and culture is somewhere where the technic of code switching is essential in life and to advance in the social latter. Even though everyone in America cannot speak Standard English because of that language barrier, they should not be looked down upon by the American society because there is not really a “correct” way of speaking.…

attack from followers of Noam Chomsky in the following decades, the hypothesis is now believed by most linguists only in the weak sense that language can have some small effect on thought. Sapir–Whorf hypothesis is also known as theory of linguistic relativity, linguistic relativism, linguistic determinism, Whorfian hypothesis, Whorfianism. It used to have a strong version that claims that language determines thought and that linguistic categories limit and determine cognitive categories. The…