Biases we live by: Anglocentrism in linguistics and cognitive sciences

Levisen, Carsten

doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2018.05.010

Cited by 43 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…While it would seem that the integration of interjections Carsten Levisen Scandinavian Studies in Language, 10(1), 2019 (110-130) into "linguistics proper" is now becoming more of a mainstream viewpoint (see Jensen, Hougaard, and Levisen, this volume), there are still remnants of marginalisation at play, even in progressive linguistic discourse. One of the current obstacles for the integration of interjections into linguistics is rooted in a descriptive bias that is deeply rooted in traditional thinking (see also Levisen 2016, Levisen 2018a. As an illustration, consider Schwenter's introduction to Die Primären Interjektionen in den Indogermanischen Sprachen (1924):"Es ist bekannt, daß manche Tiere, unter ihnen wohl am auffallendsten der Hund, ihre Gefühle der Freude, des Schmerzes, des Hungers, der Wut, der Überanstrengung usw.…”

Section: Lexical Anthropology and Interjectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laughter Interjections

Levisen

2019

Scanstudlang

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The purpose of this paper is threefold. Firstly, it seeks to fill a gap in the literature on interjections by suggesting that ‘laughter interjections’ (words such English haha or hehe) make up an important type of interjections that has so far not been accounted for in cross-linguistic work on interjections. Secondly, it argues that laughter interjections are thick with cultural meaning, and that they can play an important role for an “emic turn” in humour studies. Third, it develops a case study on “Danish funniness” with a point of departure in the Danish paradigm of laughter interjections. The paper explores humourous discourse from the perspective of these culturally specific expressive words, and provides high definition analysis of two Danish laughter interjections tøhø and hæhæ, using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage technique of explication. The general framework of the study is Lexical Anthropology, an approach to meaning analysis that combines insights from lexical semantics and linguistic anthropology.

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Section: Lexical Anthropology and Interjectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laughter Interjections

Levisen

2019

Scanstudlang

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“…Many other languages are either heavily underdocumented or not documented at all. It is all too easy to assume that grammatical functions, linguistic phenomena, or communication patterns that are relevant for the handful of well-investigated languages can be found in other languages, too (e.g., Gil 2001, Ameke 2006, Wierzbicka 2009, Bender 2011, Goddard and Wierzbicka 2014, Levisen 2018. For example, it has been shown that focused constituents are often phonetically longer in English (e.g., Cooper et al 1985).…”

Section: To Err Is Humanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preregistration in experimental linguistics: applications, challenges, and limitations

Roettger

2021

Linguistics

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The current publication system neither incentivizes publishing null results nor direct replication attempts, which biases the scientific record toward novel findings that appear to support presented hypotheses (referred to as “publication bias”). Moreover, flexibility in data collection, measurement, and analysis (referred to as “researcher degrees of freedom”) can lead to overconfident beliefs in the robustness of a statistical relationship. One way to systematically decrease publication bias and researcher degrees of freedom is preregistration. A preregistration is a time-stamped document that specifies how data is to be collected, measured, and analyzed prior to data collection. While preregistration is a powerful tool to reduce bias, it comes with certain challenges and limitations which have to be evaluated for each scientific discipline individually. This paper discusses the application, challenges and limitations of preregistration for experimental linguistic research.

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“…Through focusing on affect in situations involving language, we can approach the ways they extend or decrease the capacity of bodies, defining what a 'body' can do (Clough, 2007). For examining the 'tacit agreement' of English as lingua franca (Levisen, 2018), it is important take into account how power and its strategies are frequently invisible in everyday life interactions (Zembylas, 2016). Yet, in closer examination, power relations can be felt as subtle discomforts and nagging affects that manifest as silences, absences, or feelings of muteness.…”

Section: Affect and Capacitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Adopting an intersectional approach, which stems originally from Black feminism and Critical Race theory, we want to address the ways language operates as part of these "simultaneous, intersecting, inseparable, coterminous and multiple forces of oppression" (Chadwick, 2017, cited in Horton & Kraftl, 2018; see also Staunaes, 2003). Just as other marginalizing forces, language politics need to be talked about, as language is something we essentially live by (Levisen, 2018).…”

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confidence: 99%

Anglocentrism in the Academy: On Linguistic Privilege, Mastery and Hoito

Hohti¹,

Truman²

2021

RERM

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In this paper, we discuss the tacit agreement to use English as lingua franca in global academia. Our interest is in how Anglocentrism manifests within academic practices – seminars, conferences, and academic publishing – all of which are marked by neoliberal assumptions of mastery, quality, and efficacy. Drawing on autobiographical narratives, social media conversations, and literature, as well as recent discussions on conferencing and peer review practices, we analyse how historically shaped linguistic privilege and linguistic divides continue to be lived at the level of the body, affects and affective atmospheres. Language is not just language, rather, seemingly practical decisions about language always involve the aspects of material labour, time, money, and careers: they shape researcher subjectivities and entire domains of scientific knowledge. However, we also highlight the potentials nested in the emergence of minor language and the deterritorialising forces of humor. Articulating the speculative lines of what if, we propose more care-full academic linguistic practices.

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Biases we live by: Anglocentrism in linguistics and cognitive sciences

Cited by 43 publications

References 14 publications

Laughter Interjections

Laughter Interjections

Preregistration in experimental linguistics: applications, challenges, and limitations

Anglocentrism in the Academy: On Linguistic Privilege, Mastery and Hoito

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