Language standards, standardisation and standard ideologies in multilingual contexts

McLelland, Nicola

Abstract

This essay-which also serves as an introduction to the six other articles which make up this special issue-examines the development of the field of language standardisation studies in recent decades. First, it notes the change in focus occasioned by drawing on the notion of language ideologies, especially standard language ideology. That ideological awakening has, in turn, revealed that standardisation studies have, until recently, been largely ideologically monolingualist. I argue that we must consider multilingualism (broadly conceived) in at least five ways when we study language standardisation: to recognize diaglossia within a single named language; to understand the nature of polycentric standards; to analyse language purism; to appreciate the key role of (foreign/ second) language learning in codification; and to trace the transmission of ideologies across languages and cultures. The paper gives examples of the ways in which our research can be unwittingly monolingualist in its concepts and methods, and examines the role of the concepts of heteroglossia and translanguaging in challenging that monolingualism. It concludes by setting an agenda for third-wave standardisation studies, with a call for standardisation studies that are both enriched both by the ideological turn and by attending to multilingualism.

Citation

McLelland, N. (2021). Language standards, standardisation and standard ideologies in multilingual contexts. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 42(2), 109-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2019.1708918

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 5, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Aug 16, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: Apr 22, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 17, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
• Print ISSN: 0143-4632
• Electronic ISSN: 1747-7557
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 42
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 109-124
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2019.1708918
• Keywords: Multilingualism; Language Ideologies; Language Standardisation; Heteroglossia
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4327586
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01434632.2019.1708918