Speaking Spanish in the US. Janet M. Fuller
languages are unwelcome; however, the text only makes sense if the reader/viewer has access to these hegemonic ideologies. In addition to the belief that immigrants have an obligation to assimilate linguistically, the bumper sticker’s message also rests on the (inaccurate) presupposition that immigrants to the US don’t speak English (discussed in Chapter 2); otherwise they would not need a directive to do so.
Figure 4.1 Bumper sticker: ‘Welcome to America: Now SPEAK ENGLISH!’
Hegemonic ideologies can be so powerful and can become so naturalized that even when people reject arguments based on them, they sometimes inadvertently participate in and reproduce the same ideologies (Gal, 1998; Kroskrity, 2004; Silverstein, 1996). For example, take a look at the bumper sticker in Figure 4.2, which reads ‘Welcome to America: Now speak Cherokee.’ This bumper sticker offers a tongue-in-cheek rebuttal to the message in the bumper sticker in Figure 4.1 by reminding the reader/viewer that English is a relatively new arrival in what is now the US. As such, the apparent intention is to reject the disparagement of speakers of languages other than English and, on the first reading, it may seem like a challenge to the dominant English-only ideology. Nonetheless, this apparent challenge actually embodies some of the same assumptions inherent in that ideology. Indeed, the Speak Cherokee bumper sticker doesn’t reject the one nation-one language ideology or celebrate multilingualism but instead upholds the idea that there is a single ‘legitimate’ language; it simply replaces English with Cherokee. By ignoring the linguistic and cultural diversity of Native peoples as well as implying that they would have felt the same way about the linguistic obligations of new arrivals, the bumper sticker inadvertently reinforces hegemonic ideologies as timeless common-sense notions. Moreover, having Native peoples offer a welcome to ‘America’ projects its existence backwards in time and naturalizes it. Further, this bumper sticker seems to suggest a false equivalence between contemporary immigration to the US and the historical colonization and conquest of the Americas by Europeans, thus obscuring the genocide and political domination we discussed in Chapter 3.
Figure 4.2 Bumper sticker: ‘WELCOME TO AMERICA: NOW SPEAK CHEROKEE’
The two bumper stickers we have just analyzed illustrate the ways in which public discourse is influenced by language ideologies. But this relationship is two-way, or circular, in the sense that this kind of discourse also reinforces specific language ideologies. Taking the case of the Speak English bumper sticker, a person might put this on their car because of their beliefs regarding the role of English in the US and immigrants’ supposed moral obligation to speak it. But presumably, the person who puts this bumper sticker on their car also hopes that it will influence other people to think the same way. In this way, discourse doesn’t just reflect language ideologies; it also disseminates and promotes them to other people. Language ideologies are similarly disseminated and reproduced in everyday interaction, in the statements of public figures, in news media, television shows and movies and in a range of governmental and non-governmental policies. And this is generally the case for linguistic and social policies and practices too: they don’t just reflect social norms or ideologies; they also perpetuate and shape them. In other words, the relationship between ideologies and practices is circular and mutually reinforcing. The hegemony of English, and especially ‘standard’ English, leads to its dominance in education and government. It then becomes associated with these domains, and people use it in order to convey status and authority. This, in turn, further strengthens those associations and the symbolic value of standard English, and the cycle continues.
Ideologies are sometimes conscious and expressed openly. However, in other cases they may circulate below the level of consciousness (Kroskrity, 2004) and their reproduction can also be more subtle, such as when television programs or movies use ‘foreign’ or ‘non-standard’ accents as a way to portray characters as unintelligent (Lippi-Green, 2012). Even when language ideologies have negative consequences for non-dominant groups, people who belong to those groups also often take them for granted. In other words, both socially dominant and dominated groups see hegemonic ideologies as natural and universal, or they don’t even notice them (Woolard, 1998). For example, the hegemonic ideology that languages other than English are un-American and/or interfere with the acquisition of English is not limited to monolingual English-speakers. People who speak other languages (whether monolingually or in addition to English) also sometimes believe this (especially if told as much by their children’s teachers), and this can lead them to speak to their children exclusively in English (Zentella, 1997a). (This is a pervasive but false notion. Spanish language maintenance does not interfere with English acquisition, as we saw in Chapter 2. Further, it is positively correlated with academic achievement and overall upward mobility; see discussion in Chapter 9.)
Scholars of social inequality sometimes use Bourdieu’s (1991) notion of symbolic domination to refer to dominant groups’ ability to convince dominated groups that existing social hierarchies are fair and just, and they point to schools as a key place where this happens (see Chapter 9). Let us again use the example of the standard language ideology which, as we saw, elevates the language variety spoken by the dominant group. By portraying speakers of the standard variety as smarter or more hardworking than the ‘ignorant’ and ‘lazy’ speakers of other varieties, the standard language ideology doesn’t just favor the dominant group; it also portrays them as intellectually and morally deserving of higher status. Bourdieu stresses that the hegemony of one language or variety rests in part on the complicity of speakers of other languages or varieties. Thus, in the case of language ideologies, symbolic domination consists of getting people to take up or accept the hegemonic language ideologies that disadvantage them.
Although certain language ideologies achieve hegemony within a given society, there are also always competing ideologies that co-exist with them (Kroskrity, 2004). For example, in the one nation-one language ideology, language is considered a defining characteristic of national identity, societal monolingualism is seen as promoting national unity, and multilingualism is considered divisive. However, there is also a competing ideology that portrays multilingualism as a national resource for global competitiveness or national security. Competing ideologies regarding multilingualism also operate at the individual level. One ideology sees monolingualism as the normal state of affairs and minority language maintenance as a hindrance to English acquisition, but another ideology constructs multilingualism as a valuable resource for intellectual development as well as professional success (we discuss these ideologies in more depth later in this chapter). In some cases different members of society subscribe to different ideologies, but in other cases individuals shift back and forth between different ideologies depending on the context. The fact that counter-hegemonic ideologies can co-exist with hegemonic ideologies underscores that it is sometimes possible to resist dominant ways of thinking. Moreover, it suggests that ideologies can change over time and thus that hegemonic ideologies should not be considered permanent or intractable.
Crucially, language ideologies also play a role in how we think about or categorize individuals and groups of people. To understand this, let us look again at the examples of ideologies we’ve mentioned thus far. As we noted, the standard language ideology doesn’t just reflect a group’s relative prestige and power. Instead, by framing certain ways of speaking as better than others, it also plays a role in social differentiation, or the classification and evaluation of people and groups. Along the same lines, in the US the one nation-one language ideology contributes to the portrayal of people who speak languages other than English as un-American (even if they also speak English). In the next section we look more closely at how language ideologies allow linguistic forms and practices to take on social and symbolic meanings, and to justify social practices on the basis of linguistic difference.
Language Ideologies: Bridging the Linguistic and the Social
One key way in which language expresses social