Ethnicity and language Essay

1. Ethnicity Ethnicity is not a hard-hitting term. It usually describes someones racial or cultural mount but has a whole host of different connotations connected with appearance, dress, food, life-style etc. The ethnic majority in a particular conduct are, not necessarily those with the largest poem, but those with neighborly and political power. It is also the cocktail dress that frequently terms describing race are fairly meaningless. throng from the British race for example originate from many a(prenominal) other cultures and countries, depending on how utter close to back you trace their family trees.2. Prejudiced language style can be subroutined to make certain ethnic stems appear to be outsiders, or several(predicate) from the ethnic majority. Markedness It is often assumed that immigrants, and throng from ethnic minorities, must fit in with the ways and traditions of the ethnic majority. When this happens, the ethnic identity of the majority begins to app ear normal and invisible, whilst that of the minority appears, strange, worthy of mention and marked.We often develop in the media that people ethnicity is only mentioned when they are not white. So, we hear things corresponding the murdered black teenager Steven Lawrence even in instances where the description of ethnicity is irrelevant. banish labelling People are often labelled according to their colour, race or ethnicity. The problem with much(prenominal) labels is firstly that they may stop us beholding other aspects of the person as we are focussed on the assign that the label describes. The second problem is that very often these labels are associated with disconfirming stereo fibers.We often find that the most marginalized groups in our society have the largest numbers of offensive terms to describe them. In addition, the media runs relatively few stories close those from ethnic minorities, and those that are included tend to reinforce the negative stereotypes by be ing about crime or disorder. 3. Marking Ethnic identity element Language can also be used as a powerful marker of ethnic identity. The language that we speak, and how we speak it, shows the ethnic group to which we believe we belong and claim solidarity with. British Black position People of West Indian and African Caribbean origin in England use many differentvarieties depending on where about they live and how long their families have been in Britain. Those born in Britain usually speak a variety of slope and also a variety of Jamaican Creole, known as Patois. linguistic features of Patois ?Lexical items (lick (hit), kenge (weak), bex (angry) ?Use of ? and ? in determine of ? and ? e. g. t? n for n ?Plural forms without /s/ suffix (e. g. many cow) ?Verbs not marked for tense (walk in place of walked) ?Simplified pronouns (mi for I, me, my and dem for they, them and their) ?Use of fi in place of to before infinitives.African American plebeian English In the USA, the disti nct languages of people of African American origin disappeared centuries ago. Nevertheless, a distinct variety of English, called African American Vernacular English (AAVE), has developed which acts as a symbol of ethnicity. AAVE is most often heard in cities in the North of the states. lingual features of AAVE ?Absence of example copulative be (e. g. she very nice, that my book) ?Use of copula be to signal recurring actions (she be at school on weekdays) ?Multiple negation (I dont want none)? harmonical cluster simplification (aks in place of asks) ?Existential it (where standard English has there, its a boy for theres a boy) Maori English In New Zealand, it is not clear if a Maori dialect of English actually exists. What is certain is that the features listed below occur more(prenominal) often in the linguistic communication of Maoris than Pakeha (non-Polynesian New Zealanders, usually of European origin) Linguistic features of Maori English ?Use of ? and ? in place of ? an d ? e. g. t? n for n ?Use of vocabulary items such as kia ora (greeting) and kuia (old woman)?Vernacular verb forms (walk for walked) ?Present tense forms with /s/ I sees you, we gets kin) 4. Social Networks Social electronic networks can help us understand speech patterns as the language and variety we use is influenced by the people we shake off time with. You can draw a simple social network by considering the four or five people you speak to most often and drawing lines from their names to yours on a map. If any of those people know severally other independently of you, connect them with lines (preferably of a different colour) too.Then add their two or three best friends, and so on.e. g. Tom Richard Bob Barbara Sandy Dave Features of social networks Density Density refers to whether members of a persons network are in touch with apiece other separately. In the example above, only Richard and Bob know each other independently of Tom so his network is not a dense one. Plex ity Plexity refers to the type of transactions that we are involved in with other people. If, for example, Tom only ever plays squash with Barbara, the relationship would be considered a uniplex one. If however, Tom and Barbara lived, worked and socialised together it would be a multiplex one.Language and Networks The language or variety we use is influenced by the people we rag to and what we talk to them about. We may change the language or variety we are using depending on which part of our network we are currently interacting with. For example, we may be more formal at work than at home. This type of language/variety shift is probably more likely if our social network is not very dense and our relations tend to be uniplex. If our networks are dense and multiplex, the whole network is more likely to use the use the same language or variety.