Language Ideology: 

Code-Switching and Discrimination  

 

Introduction  

Language ideology is the structure and use of languages in a society, which are moral and politically shaped by culture (Irvine). Communities have developed their own forms of communication such as accents, slang, and grammar. These new forms of the English language may seem informal to people who speak standard English but, there is a theory tied into language ideology in which people are judged or defined simply by the way they speak. Using slang or improper pronunciations may seem informal to someone, which may lead them to believe the individual or group are uneducated. This is incorrect, as living in certain communities such as the five boroughs of New York City may influence the way someone speaks. People face discrimination based on their language ideology. There are many ways in how people  deal with this language discrimination. The main being, code-switching; meaning changing the way we speak based on cultural surroundings.  

More on Language Ideology  

“Language ideologies have been most often defined as the assumptions about language that are collectively held by a particular group of people within a particular sociocultural and historical context” (Godley 5). Having ideologies within communities would seem normal to them as they were greatly influenced by their cultural surroundings. To people outside of these certain communities their English would not seem normal. I believe there is no such thing as “normal” English because there are a lot of variants, on top of that people have accents and different forms of dialect. American English sounds professional whereas African American English may sound streetwise and cool or Indian English may sound nerdy and funny (Piller 1). Having an accent is part of language ideology since it is how you learn language while growing and accents could tell a lot about you. As well as your pronunciation of words and vocabulary. 

  New Yorkers as an example have a wide range of vocabulary(slang) and variation in pronunciation of words. New Yorkers as a community have developed very unique ways of communication and while looking into it, I realize how funny we may sound but it is completely normal to us. An example would be the phrase “a minute” it doesn’t mean a literal minute it actually means a long time. A good example would be “It’s been a minute since we last saw each other.” It’s actually very interesting the way we talk to each other but back into the topic of accents. Like mentioned earlier with the Indian accent, some accents may sound funny but to the group of people to whom that accent belongs to would not be funny at all (Piller 1). Having an accent is completely normal when learning a new language. Some won’t see any issue in that, however there are those who will discriminate against non-native speakers. As a Spanish speaker I did not develop an accent, so I did not face any discrimination from the way I speak but I have seen it happen to others. 

Language Discrimination  

Language discrimination, also called linguicism, is the unfair treatment of a person due to the way they speak a non-native language (Levitina). More specifically, how people unfairly treat others is based on their accent, pronunciations, and vocabulary. Some people may even form a prejudice against non-native speakers thinking that they are uneducated, have a lower social status, personal traits, and other characteristics which leads to stigmatization in non-native speakers(Levitina). These assumptions can really hurt people and affect them emotionally and mentally. A common form of this discrimination is mockery, but it could also come in many other ways. Some examples given by Levitina would be from frowning when spoken to, by a non-native speaker, to purposely leaving them out of a group conversation. She then talks about how people simply don’t want to tolerate a non-native speaker.  

Me personally when I was younger I was definitely guilty of discriminating  against classmates trying to speak English but not in a severe way. I was not aware that I was discriminating against others or how they might have felt, I just did not want to bother to try to understand what they were trying to say. I never made fun of them for trying to speak English, but I have seen others do so and I always felt bad for them. So, I decided to tolerate them and even became friends with a few classmates. I remained friends with one of them and she still isn’t the best English speaker but that doesn’t matter to me. This is one of the points Levitina tried to make, if we could just simply tolerate non-native speakers then we wouldn’t have this issue. If you, for whatever reason, don’t want to deal with non-native then you can politely do so. There is no need to mock anyone, it takes a lot of time and effort to learn a new language and you wouldn’t like to be treated that way either so why do it to somebody else? 

 Having said that Levitina uses an example of a ted talk video from a visual artist, named Safwat Saleem, who made a speech and presentation on how he himself has gone through the challenges of facing language discrimination. In this speech, he talks about how his accent and stutter made him insecure because he was being made fun of. He then goes on to talk about things that have helped him become more confident in his voice and how he manages to cope with the mockery. Levitina included this in her article to give her audience who faced similar issues as Saleem in hopes of motivating them to never give up. 

Code-Switching  

There are a few ways in how code-switching can be defined and expressed. Code switching can be defined as switching between languages in a conversation to express yourself or in this case it is defined as switching languages or the way you speak to blend in your surroundings. I find myself using both ways of switching; whenever I’m with my parents I speak Spanish, but my Spanish is not the best, so I find myself using some English words mixed in my sentences and they understand me. In the other way I would have my own form of communication that I would only talk to with my friends like cursing, using slang and just act a fool but when being mature and formal is needed like talking to a teacher I would talk in a respectful and formal way.  

Code-Switching is used to change the way someone speaks in an attempt to prevent discrimination or for them to try to fit in their surroundings. “We all want to fit in, and we all make subtle choices to be more ‘acceptable’ to the groups we’re with” (Campbell). Campbell implies that people make changes to their tone, vocabulary, and pronunciation in order to fit in with groups around you wether it’s at school, a gathering or even at a workplace by. Campbell goes into a few reasons as to why people make these changes. The most common of reasons to code switch are to avoid validating negative stereotypes about your group (Campbell). An example I can think of would be a friend of mine who is Dominican and from New York but moved into a white dominated neighborhood in Pennsylvania. He had to change the way he talks for him to fit in and be understood, especially at work. It took him a while to get used to it but eventually he became a master at code switching and does it unconsciously like many other people. Being able to code switch would be an amazing skill to have and to use to try and prevent any discrimination. 

Conclusion 

As you can see, there are many forms of language ideology people have and those who face discrimination have ways in how they can deal with it. Language is complex and it is something that takes a lot of effort to master. Some may face discrimination because of the way they speak their language, like using slang or different pronunciations or some may not. Code switching may be an effective way for those who face discrimination to prevent it by speaking in a more formal way temporarily. Eventually you will code switch out of habit, and it will help a lot to prevent discrimination. 

 

Works Cited  

12. Irvine, Judith. “Language Ideology.” Obo, 11 Jan. 2012, https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199766567/obo-9780199766567-0012.xml?rskey=PAx41X&result=2&q=%2BLanguage%2BIdeology#firstMatch. 

Godley, Amanda. “‘I’ll Speak in Proper Slang’: Language Ideologies in a Daily Editing …” ResearchGate, Jan. 2007, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250055368_I%27ll_Speak_in_Proper_Slang_Language_Ideologies_in_a_Daily_Editing_Activity.  

Piller, Ingrid. “Language on the Move.” Language on the Move, 2015, https://www.languageonthemove.com/.  

Levitina, Olena. “Is Language Discrimination Still a Thing?” TEDxVienna Magazine, 21 May 2021, https://magazine.tedxvienna.at/2020/02/21/is-language-discrimination-still-thing/.  

Cooks-Campbell, Allaya. “Code-Switching at Work: What It Is and Why You Need to Understand It.” Code-Switching at Work: What It Is and Why You Need to Understand It, 1 Mar. 2021, https://www.betterup.com/blog/code-switching.