TY - JOUR
T1 - Beyond the binarism
T2 - Locating past, present and future sociolinguistic research on ideologies of communication
AU - Spitzmüller, Jürgen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - This opinion piece discusses how research on language ideologies (or, for that matter, ideologies of communication in general) relates to micro/macro distinctions of both the research field and the discipline of sociolinguistics. Starting off from the thesis that both object and strand of research at stake here do not neatly fit this dichotomous distinction, the paper discusses the Fishmanian origins as well as the diverse and diverging definitions of micro- and macro-sociolinguistics that ensued from Fishman's proposal, considering the different assumptions that underlie the respective variants of the distinction. The piece discusses why language ideology research locates its object, and itself as a discipline, beyond the micro/macro binarism, and how/why it embraces a more scalar, relative and reflexive approach to social and linguistic juxtaposition, ordering and ranking. To this end, the concept of 'social scales' and its uptake by language ideology research are introduced and discussed. Finally, the paper provides an opinion on what the future of sociolinguistics should be like - independently from the particular strand at stake here - and about the role of this newly launched journal (with its long history as a yearbook) as the author wishes to see it being taken.
AB - This opinion piece discusses how research on language ideologies (or, for that matter, ideologies of communication in general) relates to micro/macro distinctions of both the research field and the discipline of sociolinguistics. Starting off from the thesis that both object and strand of research at stake here do not neatly fit this dichotomous distinction, the paper discusses the Fishmanian origins as well as the diverse and diverging definitions of micro- and macro-sociolinguistics that ensued from Fishman's proposal, considering the different assumptions that underlie the respective variants of the distinction. The piece discusses why language ideology research locates its object, and itself as a discipline, beyond the micro/macro binarism, and how/why it embraces a more scalar, relative and reflexive approach to social and linguistic juxtaposition, ordering and ranking. To this end, the concept of 'social scales' and its uptake by language ideology research are introduced and discussed. Finally, the paper provides an opinion on what the future of sociolinguistics should be like - independently from the particular strand at stake here - and about the role of this newly launched journal (with its long history as a yearbook) as the author wishes to see it being taken.
KW - ideologies of communication
KW - language ideologies
KW - metapragmatics
KW - micro/macro
KW - scales
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85183304013&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1515/soci-2022-0001
DO - 10.1515/soci-2022-0001
M3 - Article
SN - 0933-1883
VL - 36
SP - 207
EP - 218
JO - Sociolinguistica: European Journal of Sociolinguistics
JF - Sociolinguistica: European Journal of Sociolinguistics
IS - 1-2
ER -