Rationalist or romantic model in
      globalisation?

Polzenhagen, Frank; Dirven, René

doi:10.1515/9783110199154.3.237

Cited by 19 publications

(25 citation statements)

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“…The question why English is used in job advertising in particular and in corporate communication in general as such leads us all the way up to the encompassing debate on the role and spread of English as an international language. For some, it is considered nothing but a practical tool (House, 2003), for others its spread is indicative of linguistic genocide (Skutnabb-Kangas & Phillipson, 1994) (see Polzenhagen & Dirven, 2008 for a neutral overview). Naturally, our study cannot provide substantial contributions to this ideology-loaded debate on why and whether English should be used as a means of communication.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, we restricted our analysis to the more recent years of the database constructed for Zenner et al (2013). Given that English-only ads are more typical for this more recent period (with a rise from 2.6% English-only ads in the period 1989-1995to 13.2% in 2007-2008see Zenner et al, 2013), excluding the older ads only leads to a minimal loss of information.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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English-only job advertising in the Low Countries

Zenner

Speelman²,

Geeraerts³

2015

DuJAL

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This paper presents a multifactorial quantitative corpus-based analysis of the distribution of English-only ads in the Low Countries. The dataset consists of approximately one thousand job ads, published in Vacature (a Belgian Dutch job ad magazine) and Intermediair (a Netherlandic Dutch job ad magazine) in 2007 and 2008. About one in seven ads are written entirely in English. Using logistic regression analysis, we find that the occurrence of English-only advertising is mainly linked to occupational contexts where English plays a practical role: the phenomenon is typical for companies with headquarters located outside of the Low Countries (specifically US/UK-based companies), for companies with English-oriented corporate communication and for companies that are recruiting for IT and technical staff. Finally, more English-only ads are published in Flanders than in The Netherlands. Keywords: job advertising; Dutch; English as a lingua franca; English as a foreign language; corporate language use; English-only advertising 1. From English in the workplace to English-only advertising 1.1 Background Resulting from the interplay between (economic) globalization and advances in communication technology, the linguistic ecosystem of current workplaces has become increasingly complex (Angouri, 2014). More often than not people from different nationalities and from different cultural backgrounds have to work together and communicate, at least occasionally. Over the past decades, English

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

English-only job advertising in the Low Countries

Zenner

Speelman²,

Geeraerts³

2015

DuJAL

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“…Although the work by several scholars on language ideology, such as Schieffelin, Woolard and Kroskrity (1998) and Irvine and Gal (2000) has unravelled and denaturalised iconic links between language, place, people and the values ascribed to them, the monolingual orientation still holds its hegemonic position in language and educational policies and practices across Europe and beyond (e.g. Canagarajah 2013; Carter and Sealey, this volume; Creese and Blackledge 2010;Cummins 2008;García and Li Wei 2014;Geeraerts 2003;Kulbrandstad, Bakke, Danbolt, Engen 2008;Polzenhagen and Dirven 2008). The monolingual view is embedded in what Polzenhagen and Dirven (2008) call the 'romantic' and the 'rationalist' cultural models, which can be distinguished by their underlying linguistic assumptions of language as a medium of communication (rationalist model) and language as a medium of expressing identity (romantic model) (cf.…”

Section: Towards a Translingual Orientationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A ‘new’ speech style is born

Svendsen

Marzo

2015

European Journal of Applied Linguistics

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A 'new' speech style is bornThe omnipresence of structure and agency in the life of semiotic registers in heterogeneous urban spaces Abstract: The aim of this paper is to contribute to the sociolinguistic discussion about the need for a unified sociological theory, by applying realist social theory (RST) (Carter and Sealey, this volume) to the total linguistic fact (TLF) (Silverstein 1985) or to the semiotics of 'new' speech styles in heterogeneous urban spaces. We explore, with data from Belgium (Flanders, Limburg) on Citétaal and Norway on so-called kebabnorsk, the ways structure and agency are omnipresent in the enregisterment of these semiotic registers. Through media discourse analyses, we investigate essential parts of this enregisterment process, in particular the invention and diffusion of labels and the assignment of stereotypical indexical values to these speech styles and to their alleged speakers. We demonstrate, in line with other studies, that media in interplay with scholars is a key force in the enregisterment of these speech styles. In the analysed media discourse, kebabnorsk and Citétaal are constructed as a 'mixed language', as a countable and uniform entity, the use of which inevitably results in unemployment. The alleged language users are constructed as a homogeneous group, namely 'young people with migrant backgrounds'. It is shown that social structure, including asymmetric power relations and language hegemonies, are omnipresent in the valorisation of these registers and that media discourses rely on language ideologies of unity and purity, ideologies central to a monolingual orientation. We advocate a translingual orientation towards language and communication in which communication transcends languages and involves negotiation of mobile resources. This orientation captures the ontology of language and communication and has, as such, the potential to empower the language users' individual agencies. Bente A. Svendsen: Professor of Norwegian as a second language and Scandinavian linguistics and the Deputy Director of MultiLing Centre for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan, MOUTONBrought to you by | Harvard University Authenticated Download Date | 6/29/15 10:28 AM grijke schakel vormt in het enregisterment van de deze omgangsvormen. Zo blijkt dat kebabnorsk en Citétaal worden geconstrueerd als 'mengtalen', als telbare en uniforme entiteiten, waarvan het gebruik onvermijdelijk leidt tot werkloosheid. De vermeende gebruikers van deze registers worden ook beschouwd als een specifieke en homogene groep, namelijk de 'jongeren met een migratie-achtergrond'. We tonen aan dat de sociale structuur, waaronder asymmetrische machtsverhoudingen en taalhegemonieën, fundamenteel is in de valorisatie van deze taalregisters en dat het media discours gebaseerd is op taalideologieën van eenheid en zuiverheid, die typerend zijn voor een monolinguale visie op taal. Ten slotte pleiten we voor een translinguale visie die de ontologie van taal en communicatie dekt en meer aandacht schenkt aan de agency...

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“…a rationalist and a romantic one. Polzenhagen and Dirven (2006) apply this conceptual dichotomy to the current debate pertaining to the sociopolitical issues of language policy and language planning. In this vein, the Domination of English Paradigm is more in line with a rationalist view where language is seen as a medium of communication and the dominating European languages (English, French, etc.)…”

Section: Theoretical Considerations: Power Elite Closure and Models mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here language serves as a means of expression (rather than communication) whereby a global European language is seen as a medium of social exclusion 238 Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development and a threat to local identities and cultures. Polzenhagen and Dirven (2006) point out that language policy proponents and language planning agencies can be situated along a continuum with the rationalist and romantic models at opposing ends and furthermore, that these opposing models can be captured by taking account of the two conceptual metaphors language as a tool (rationalist) and language as an identity marker (romantic). The language policy situation as it unfolds in Nigeria, as in many other African states, at first sight is clearly related to the rationalist model where English and now also French as official languages serve as tools of wider communication or linguae francae.…”

Section: Theoretical Considerations: Power Elite Closure and Models mentioning

confidence: 99%