Main Article Content

Victor M. Longa Martínez
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
Spain
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5729-5749
Vol 29 (2023), Notes
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15304/moenia.id9321
Submitted: 28-07-2023 Accepted: 03-10-2023 Published: 06-02-2024
Copyright How to Cite

Abstract

Human beings assume all kinds of prejudices; unfortunately, language, as a key human feature, is not free of them. Many linguistic prejudices and myths on language and languages pervade human societies. Linguistic prejudices are really harmful, for they promote the discrimination against individuals or groups, and, beyond that, are an expression of racism. As language professionals, one of the linguists’ tasks is to fight against them, for reasons having to do with the linguists’ social commitment and responsibility. This paper shows some of those efforts, by selecting and commenting 136 references that critically discuss and reject linguistic prejudices, misconceptions and myths concerning language, languages, and varieties.

Cited by

Article Details

References

Ainsworth, J. (2010): “Language, power, and identity in the workplace: Enforcement of ‘English-Only’ rules by employers. Seattle Journal for Social Justice 9/1: 233-257.
Aitchison, J. (2001): Language Change: Progress or Decay?, 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Akmajian, A., R. A. Demers, A. K. Farmer & R. M. Harnish (2010): Linguistics. An Introduction to Language and Communication, 6th ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Allport, G. W. (1954): The Nature of Prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Amodio, D. M. (2014): “The neuroscience of prejudice and discrimination”. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 15: 670-682.
Amorrortu, E., A. Ortega, I. Idiazabal & A. Barreña (2009): Actitudes y prejuicios de los castellanohablantes hacia el euskera. Vitoria-Gasteiz: Eusko Jaurlaritzaren Argitalpen Zerbitzu Nagusia (Servicio Central de Publicaciones del Gobierno Vasco).
Anderson, S. R. (2004): Doctor Dolittle’s Delusion. Animals and the Uniqueness of Human Language. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Andersson, L.-G. & P. Trudgill (1990): Bad Language. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Armstrong, N. & I. E. Mackenzie (2013): Standardization, Ideology and Linguistics. Basingtoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bagno, M. (2007): Preconceito lingüístico. O que é, como se faz, 49 ed. (1ª ed. de 1999). São Paulo: Edições Loyola.
Battistella, E. (2005): Bad Language. Are Some Words Better Than Others? New York: Oxford University Press.
Bauer, L., J. Holmes & P. Warren (2006): Language Matters. Basingtoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bauer, L. & P. Trudgill (eds.) (1998): Language Myths. London: Penguin.
Baugh, J. (1988): “Language and race: Some implications for linguistic science”. En F. J. Newmeyer (ed.): Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey. Vol. IV: Language: The Socio-Cultural Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 64-74.
Baugh, J. (2000): Beyond Ebonics: Linguistic Pride and Racial Prejudice. New York: Oxford University Press.
Baugh, J. (2003): “Linguistic profiling”. En S. Makoni, G. Smitherman, A. F. Ball & A. K. Spears (eds.): Black Linguistics. Language, Society, and Politics in Africa and the Americas. London: Routledge, 155-168.
Bex, T. & R. J. Watts (eds.) (1999): Standard English. The Widening Debate. London: Routledge.
Bernárdez, E. (1999): ¿Qué son las lenguas? Madrid: Alianza Editorial.
Bourhis, R. Y. & A. Maas (2005): “Linguistic prejudice and stereotypes”. En U. Ammon, N. Dittmar, K. J. Mattheier & P. Trudgill (eds.): Sociolinguistics. An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society, 2nd ed., vol. 2. Berlin: Walter De Gruyter, 1587-1601.
Brown, R. (2010): Prejudice. Its Social Psychology, 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Burridge, K. (2002): Blooming English. Observations on the Roots, Cultivation and Hybrids of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Burton, S., R.-M. Déchaine & E. Vatikiotis-Bateson (2012): Linguistics for Dummies. Ontario: John Wiley & Sons Canada.
Calvet, L.-J. (1974): Linguistique et colonialisme. Petit traité de glottophagie. Paris: Éditions Payot. Cit. por Linguistica y colonialismo. Breve tratado de glotofagia. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2005.
Cameron, D. (2007): The Myth of Mars and Venus: Do Men and Women Really Speak Different Languages? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Campos Bandrés, I. O. (2018): “Lengua minorizada y medios de comunicación: prejuicio, activismo y fragmentación lingüística. El caso del aragonés”. Stvdivm. Revista de Humanidades 24: 173-196.
Clark, A. D. & N. M. Hayward (eds.) (2013): Talking Appalachian. Voice, Identity, and Community. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky.
Collins, K. A. & R. Clément (2012): “Language and prejudice: Direct and moderated effects”. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 31/4: 376-396.
Costas, H. (Prolingua) (dir.), con A. Mª. Outón Barral, A. Mª. Iglesias Álvarez, X. M. Pérez Sardiña, X. L. Regueira Fernández, A. Fernández Paz, F. Fernández Rei, X. Cordal Fustes, X. Mª. Lema Suárez, M. Queixas Zas, S. Fernández Acevedo, A. Tobar Salazar & X. P. Docampo (2009): 55 mentiras sobre a lingua galega. Análise dos prexuízos máis común que difunden os inimigos do idioma. Bertamiráns (A Coruña): Laiovento.
Cramer, J. (2014): “Is Shakespeare still in the holler? The death of a language myth”. Southern Journal of Linguistics 38/1: 195-207.
Crowley, T. (2003): Standard English and the Politics of Language, 2nd ed. Basingtoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Crystal, D. (2000): Language Death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, D. (2010) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dąbrowska, A., W. Pisarek & G. Stickel (eds.) (2017): Stereotypes and Linguistic Prejudices in Europe. Contributions to the EFNIL (European Federation of National Institutions for Language) Conference 2016 in Warsaw. Budapest: Research Institute for Linguistics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Daniels, H. A. (1983): Famous Last Words. The American Language Crisis Reconsidered. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
De Andrés, R. (2002): Juicios sobre la lengua asturiana. Algunas cuestiones básicas acerca del debate lingüístico en Asturias. Oviedo: Ámbitu.
De Andrés Díaz, R. (2012): “El asturiano y el aragonés en la taxonomía lingüística peninsular: ciencia e ideología”. Alazet 24: 11-30.
DeGraff, M. (2001): “On the origin of Creoles: A Cartesian critique of Neo-Darwinian linguistics”. Linguistic Typology 5/2-3: 213-310.
DeGraff, M. (2005): “Linguists’ most dangerous myth: The fallacy of Creole exceptionalism”. Language in Society 34: 533-591.
Deutschmann, M. & A. Steinvall (eds.) (2020): “Special Issue: Language and Prejudice”. Open Linguistics 6. Disponible en: https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/opli/6/1/html
Dueñas González, R. (ed.) (& I. Melis) (2000-2001): Language Ideologies. Critical Perspectives on the Official English Movement. Vol. 1: Education and the Social Implications of Official Language. Vol. 2: History, Theory, and Policy. Urbana, IL & Mahwah, NJ: National Council of Teachers of English & Lawrence Erlbaum.
Erker, D. & R. Otheguy (2021): “American myths of linguistic assimilation: A sociolinguistic rebuttal”. Language in Society 50/2: 197-233.
Evans, N. & T. Osada (2005): “Mundari: The myth of a language without word classes”. Linguistic Typology 9/3: 351-390.
Ferguson, C. A. (1959): “Myths about Arabic”. En R. S. Harrell (ed.): Georgetown University Languages and Linguistic Monographs Series XI: 75-82. Cit. por la reimpr. en K. Belnap & N. Haeri (eds.) (1997): Structuralist Studies in Arabic Linguistics. Charles A. Ferguson’s Papers, 1954-1994. Leiden: Brill, 250-256.
Genesee, F. (2015): “Myths about early childhood bilingualism”. Canadian Psychology / Psychologie Canadienne 56/1: 6-15.
Ghomeshi, J. (2010): Grammar Matters. The Social Significance of How We Use Language. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing.
Gómez Berrocal, C. (2009): “Lenguaje, procesos psicosociales y prejuicio contra los gitanos en España”. Anales de Historia Contemporánea 25: 133-147.
González Cruz, M.-I. (1995): “Lengua, prestigio y prejuicios lingüísticos: algunas consideraciones sobre el español”. Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire 73/3: 715-723.
Hall, R. A. (1950): Leave Your Language Alone! Ithaca, NY: Linguistica.
Harris, R. (1981): The Language Myth. London: Duckworth.
Harrison, K. D. (2007): When Languages Die. The Extinction of the World’s Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hartman, A. (2003): “Language as oppression: The English-only movement in the United States”. Socialism and Democracy 17/1: 187-208.
Hill, A. A. (1952): “A note on primitive languages”. International Journal of American Linguistics 18/3: 172-177.
Humphries, T., P. Kushalnagar, G. Mathur, D. J. Napoli, C. Padden, C. Rathmann & S. Smith (2017): “Discourses of prejudice in the professions: The case of sign languages”. Journal of Medical Ethics 43/9: 648-652.
Joan i Marí, B. (2017): “Trenta prejudicis lingüístics”. Eivissa 61: 38-52.
Johnson, D. (2008): How Myths About Language Affect Education. What Every Teacher Should Know. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Johnstone, M.-J. & O. Kanitsaki (2008): “Cultural racism, language prejudice and discrimination in hospital contexts: An Australian study”. Diversity in Health and Social Care 5: 19-30.
Kaplan, A. (2016): Women Talk More Than Men … And Other Myths About Language Explained. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Krausneker, V. (2015): “Ideologies and attitudes toward Sign Languages: An approximation”. Sign Language Studies 15/4: 411-431.
Labov, W. (1969): “The logic of nonstandard English”. En J. E. Alatis (ed.): 20th Annual Round Table. Linguistics and the Teaching of Nonstandard English to Speakers of Other Languages or Dialects. Georgetown Monographs on Language and Linguistics 22: 1-44.
Linell, P. (2005): The Written Language Bias in Linguistics. Its Nature, Origins and Transformations. Abingdon: Routledge.
Linguistic Society of America (1997): “LSA resolution on the Oakland ‘Ebonics’ issue”. Disponible en: https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/lsa-resolution-oakland-ebonics-issue
Linguistics Department, University of Michigan (2021): “Statement about standard language ideology and equity among languages”. Disponible en: https://lsa.umich.edu/content/dam/linguistics-assets/Linguistics-Documents/Standard%20Language%20Ideology%20Statement.pdf
Lippi-Green, R. (1994): “Accent, standard language ideology, and discriminatory pretext in the courts”. Language in Society 23: 163-198.
Lippi-Green, R. (2012): English with an Accent. Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States, 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge.
Longa, V. M. (2019): “Dialectos menospreciados en un manual de dialectología. Análisis crítico de algunos trabajos recogidos en Alvar (dir., 1996)”. Dialectologia 22: 81-99.
Longa, V. M. & J. J. López Rivera: “Sobre la (vana) tarea de evaluar lenguas”. Boletín de Filología LVIII/1: 395-424.
Martin, L. (1986): “’Eskimo words for snow’: A case study in the genesis and decay of an anthropological example”. American Anthropologist 88/2: 418-423.
Massini-Cagliari, G. (2004): “Language policy in Brazil: Monolingualism and linguistic prejudice”. Language Policy 3: 3-23.
Matsuda, M. J. (1991): “Voices of America: Accent, antidiscrimination law, and a jurisprudence for the last reconstruction. The Yale Law Journal 100: 1329-1407.
McWhorter, J. (1998): The Word on the Street: Fact and Fable About American English. New York: Plenum Trade.
McWhorter, J. (2014): The Language Hoax. Why the World Looks the Same in Any Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Milroy, J. (2001): “Language ideologies and the consequences of standardization”. Journal of Sociolinguistics 5/4: 530-555.
Milroy, J. & L. Milroy (1985): Authority in Language. Investigating Language Prescription and Standardisation. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Moreno Cabrera, J. C. (2000): La dignidad e igualdad de las lenguas. Crítica de la discriminación lingüística. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.
Moreno Cabrera, J. C. (2003): “Síntesis y análisis en las lenguas. Crítica de la tipología morfológica clásica y de algunas de sus aplicaciones sincrónicas y diacrónicas". Estudios de Lingüística. Universidad de Alicante 17: 465-504.
Moreno Cabrera, J. C. (2005): Las lenguas y sus escrituras. Tipología, evolución e ideología. Madrid: Síntesis.
Moreno Cabrera, J. C. (2007-2008): “Sobre la complejidad y dificultad de las lenguas. El caso del euskera”. Revista de Lenguas y Literaturas Catalana, Gallega y Vasca 13: 199-216.
Moreno Cabrera, J. C. (2008): El nacionalismo lingüístico. Una ideología destructiva. Barcelona: Península.
Moreno Cabrera, J. C. (2012): “El aragonés, la lingüística y el imperialismo filológico”. Alazet 24: 59-75.
Moreno Cabrera, J. C. (2012): “La manipulación de la lingüística al servicio del nacionalismo españolista. El caso del andaluz en la fonología de la Nueva Gramática de la RAE y la Asale”. En Actas de la VI Hunta d’ehkritoreh en andalú. Miha / Mijas: ZEA (Sociedad para el Estudio del Andalú), 11-29.
Moreno Cabrera, J. C. (2013): Cuestiones clave de la lingüística. Madrid: Síntesis.
Moreno Cabrera, J. C. (2015): Errores y horrores del españolismo lingüístico. Cinco vocales para conquistar el mundo. Tafalla: Txalaparta.
Moreno Cabrera, J. C. (2016): Multilingüismo y lenguas en contacto. Madrid: Síntesis.
Muhr, R. (2018): “Misconceptions about pluricentric languages and pluricentric theory – an overview of 40 years”. En R. Muhr & B. Meisnitzer (eds.): Pluricentric Languages and Non-Dominant Varieties Worldwide. New Pluricentric Languages – Old Problems. Berlin: Peter Lang, 17-56.
Myrick, C. & W. Wolfram (eds.) (2019): The 5 Minute Linguist. Bite-Sized Essays on Language and Languages, 3rd ed. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing.
Nelson, T. D. (ed.) (2009): Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination. New York & Hove: Psychology Press (Taylor & Francis).
Neves, M. (2018): Dicionário de erros falsos e mitos do português. Lisboa: Guerra & Paz.
Nida, Eugene A. (1954): “What is a primitive language?”. The Bible Translator 5/3: 106-112.
Noémi, F. (2015): “Language myths and ideologies in the new media”. Revue Internationale d’Études en Languages Modernes Apliquéees 8: 102-113.
O’Neill, P. & G. Massini-Cagliari (2019): “Linguistic prejudice and discrimination in Brazilian Portuguese and beyond: Suggestions and recommendations”. Journal of Language and Discrimination 3/1: 32-62.
Orelus, P. (2021): “Accents matter: An anticolonial examination of the effects of standard accent hegemony on linguistic minorities in the United States”. Postcolonial Directions in Education 19/1: 139-167.
Pac, T. (2012): “The English-only movement in the US and the world in the twenty-first century”. Perspectives on Global Development and Technology 11: 192-210.
Peterson, E. (2020): Making Sense of ‘Bad English’. An Introduction to Language Attitudes and Ideologies. Abingdon: Routledge.
Phillipson, R. (2017): “Myths and realities of ‘global’ English”. Language Policy 16: 313-331.
Pinker, S. (1994): The Language Instinct. How the Mind Creates Language. New York: William Morrow. Cit. por El instinto del lenguaje. Cómo crea el lenguaje la mente. Madrid: Alianza, 1995.
Pinto Pajares, D. (2022): Lenguas de España: combatiendo los prejuicios en torno a la realidad lingüística española. Gijón: Trea.
Preston, D. R. (2015): “The silliness of the standard”. En V. M. Longa (ed.): “Representaciones sobre la variación lingüística: lenguaje, prescripción y discriminación”. Número especial de Representaciones. Revista de Estudios sobre Representación en Arte, Ciencia y Filosofía XI/2: 59-80.
Pullum, G. K. (1989): “The great Eskimo vocabulary hoax”. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 7: 275-281.
Pullum, G. K. (1999): “African American Vernacular English is not standard English with mistakes”. En R. S. Wheeler (ed.): The Workings of Language: From Prescriptions to Perspectives. Westport, CT: Praeger: 39-58
Pullum, G. K. (2004): “Ideology, power, and linguistic theory”. Revised version of the presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Modern Language Association, December 30, 2004, Philadelphia. Disponible en: https://people.ucsc.edu/~pullum/MLA2004.pdf
Reagan, T. (2011): “Ideological barriers to American Sign Language: Unpacking linguistic resistance”. Sign Language Studies 11/4: 606-636.
Reagan T. (2019): Linguistic Legitimacy and Social Justice. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Regueira, X. L. (2012): “Autenticidade e calidade da lingua: purismo e planificación lingüística no galego actual”. Estudos de Lingüística Galega 4: 187-201.
Rickford, J. R. & S. King (2016): “Language and linguistics on trial: Hearing Rachel Jeantel (and other vernacular speakers) in the courtroom and beyond”. Language 92/4: 948-988.
Rosa, J. & N. Flores (2017): “Unsettling race and language: Toward a raciolinguistic perspective”. Language in Society 46/5: 621-647.
Rutten, G. (2016): “Standardization and the myth of neutrality in language history”. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 242: 25-57.
Sapir, E. & M. Swadesh (1946): “American Indian grammatical categories”. Word 2/2: 103-112.
Senz, S. & M. Alberte (eds.) (2011): El dardo en la academia. Esencia y vigencia de las Academias de la Lengua Española, 2 vols. Barcelona: Melusina.
Siegel, J. (2008): “Pidgin in the classroom”. Educational Perspectives 41/1-2: 55-65.
Silva, F. L. da & H. M. de M. Moura (eds.) (2000): O direito à fala. A questão do preconceito lingüístico. Florianápolis: Insular.
Stokoe, W. C. Jr. (1960): “Sign language structure: An outline of the visual communication systems of the American Deaf”. Studies in Linguistics. Occasional Papers, Vol. 8. Buffalo, NY: University of Buffalo. Cit. por la versión en Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 10/1 (2005): 3-37.
Stollznow, K. (2014): Language Myths, Mysteries and Magic. Basingtoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Stollznow, K. (2018): “How many languages do you speak?: Perceptions and misconceptions about linguistics and linguists”. Lingua 205: 15-28.
Stollznow, K. (2020): On the Offensive. Prejudice in Language Past and Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thomason, S. & W. Poser (2020): “Fantastic linguistics”. Annual Review of Linguistics 6: 457-468.
Tieken-Boon van Ostade, I. (2020): Describing Prescriptivism. Usage Guides and Usage Problems in British and American English. Abindgon: Routledge.
Torrealdai, J. M. (2018): Asedio al euskera. Más allá del libro negro. Donostia: Txertoa.
Tovar, A. (1980): Mitología e ideología sobre la lengua vasca. Historia de los estudios sobre ella. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.
Trudgill, P. (1975): Accent, Dialect and the School. London: Edward Arnold.
Trudgill, P. (1999): “Standard English: What it isn’t”. En T. Bex & R. J. Watts (eds.): Standard English: The Widening Debate. London: Routledge, 117-128.
Trudgill, P. (2016): Dialect Matters. Respecting Vernacular Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Trudgill, P. & H. Giles (1978): “Sociolinguistics and linguistic value judgements: correctness, adequacy and aesthetics”. En F. Coppieters & D. L. Goyvaerts (eds.): Functional Studies in Language and Literature. Gent: Story-Scientia, 167-180. Cit. por la versión en P. Trudgill (1983): On Dialect. Social and Geographical Perspectives. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 201-225.
Tusón, J. (1988): Mal de llengües. A l’entorn dels prejudicis lingüístics. Barcelona: Empùries. Cit. por Los prejuicios lingüísticos. Barcelona: Octaedro, 1996.
Urcioli, B. (1996): Exposing Prejudice: Puerto Rican Experiences of Language, Race, and Class. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Wardhaugh, R. (1987): Languages in Competition. Dominance, Diversity, and Decline. Oxford & London: Basil Blackwell & André Deutsch.
Wardhaugh, R. (1999): Proper English: Myths and Misunderstandings About Language. Oxford: Blackwell.
Watts, R. J. (2011): Language Myths and the History of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Watts, R. J. & P. Trudgill (eds.) (2002): Alternative Histories of English. Abingdon: Routledge.
Weber, J.-J. (2015): Language Racism. Basingtoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wei, K., D. J. López & S. Wu (2019): “The role of language in anti-immigrant prejudice: What can we learn from immigrants’ historical experiences?”. Social Sciences 8, 93.
Wiley, T. G. & M. Lukes (1996): “English-only and standard English ideologies in the U.S.”. TESOL Quarterly 30/3: 511-535.
Wolfram, W. (2007): “Sociolinguistic folklore in the study of African American English”. Language and Linguistic Compass 1/4: 292-313.
Wolfram, W. & N. Schilling-Estes (2016): American English. Dialects and Variation, 3rd ed. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Wolfram, W., C. Temple Adger & D. Christian (1999): Dialects in Schools and Communities. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Zuckermann, G. (2003): Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Basingtoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Zuidema, L. A. (2005): “Myth education: Rationale and strategies for teaching against linguistic prejudice”. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 48/8: 666-675.