Ideologies of Language [Paperback]

Is the study of language ideologically neutral? If so, is this study objective and autonomous?

One of the most cherished assumptions of modern academic linguistics is that the study of language is, or should be, ideologically neutral. This professed ideological neutrality goes hand-in-hand with claims of scientific objectivity and explanatory autonomy. Ideologies of Languagecounters these claims and assumptions by demonstrating not only their descriptive inaccuracy but also their conceptual incoherence.

Introduction: Ideology and Science John E. Joseph and Talbot J. Taylor  Part 1: Linguistic Ideologies  1. Which is to be master? The institutionalization of authority in the science of language Talbot J. Taylor  2. That obscure object of desire: a science of language Tony Crowley  3. Ideologizing Saussure: Bloomfields and Chomskys readings of the Cours de linguistique g?n?rale John E. Joseph  4. Demythologizing sociolinguistics: why language does not reflect society Deborah Cameron  Part 2: The Linguistics of Self-Image  5. Celso Cittadini and the origin of the vernacular: the convergence of science and subjectivity Michael T. Ward  6. Ideology and the clarity of French Pierre Swiggers  7. The ideological profile of Afrikaans historical linguistics Paul T. Roberge  Part 3: Political Linguistics  8. On freedom of speech Roy Harris  9. SWhat are words worth? Language and ideology in French dictionaries of the revolutionary period Pieter Desmet, Johan Rooryck and Pierre Swiggers  10. Reducing Pacific languages to writings Peter M?hlh?usler  11. Theory of emergence: towards a historical-materialistic approach to the histlÎ