The purpose of this essay is to overview the study of language and ethnic identity. The general role of language in social categorisation and the influence of social categorisations on language attitudes, as well as the specific influence of ethnic identity on the microsociolinguistic, macrosociolinguistic, and social psychological aspects of language use, language attitudes, sociolinguistic stereotypes, ethnolinguistic vitality, and speech accommodation are reviewed. The contributions to the present volume also are outlined in the context of these areas of research.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ball, P.
, Giles, H., and Hewstone, M. (1984) The intergroup theory of second language acquisition with catastrophic dimensions. In H. Tajfel (ed.), The Social Dimension (Vol. 2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2.
Ball, P.
, Giles, H., and Hewstone, M. (1985) Interpersonal accommodation and situational construals: An integrative formulation. In H. Giles & R. St. Clair (eds), Recent Advances in Language, Communication, and Social Psychology. London: Lawrence Erlbaum.
3.
Beebe, L. M.
(1981) Social and situational factors affecting the strategy of dialect codeswitching. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 32, 139-149.
4.
Beebe, L. M.
and Giles, H. (1984) Speech accommodation theories: A discussion in terms of second-language acquisition. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 46, 5-32.
5.
Bell, A.
(1982) Radio: The style of news language. Journal of Communication, 32, 150-164.
6.
Bond, M. H.
(1983) How language variation affects inter-cultural differentiation of values by Hong Kong bilinguals. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 2, 57-66.
7.
Bond, M. H.
(1985) Language as a carrier of ethnic stereotypes in Hong Kong. The Journal of Social Psychology, 125, 53-62.
8.
Bond, M. H.
and King, A. Y. C. (1985) Coping with the threat of Westernization in Hong Kong. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 9, 351-364.
9.
Bond, M. H.
and Yang, K. S. (1982) Ethnic affirmation versus cross-cultural adaptation: The variable impact of questionnaire language on Chinese bilinguals in Hong Kong. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 13, 169-185.
10.
Bourhis, R. Y.
(1979) Language in ethnic interaction. In H. Giles & R. Saint-Jacques (eds), Language and Ethnic Relations. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon.
11.
Bourhis, R. Y.
(ed.) (1984a) Conflict and Language Planning in Quebec. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
12.
Bourhis, R. Y.
(1984b) Cross-cultural communication in Montreal: Two field studies since the Charter of the French language. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 46, 33-47.
13.
Bourhis, R. Y.
(1985) The sequential nature of language choice. In R. Street & J. Capella (eds), Sequence and Pattern in Communicative Behaviour. London: Edward Arnold.
14.
Bourhis, R. Y.
(1987) Linguistic Work Environments and Language Usage in Bilingual Settings. Paper presented at the Second World Basque Congress, Basque Language Conference, San Sebastian, Spain.
15.
Bourhis, R. Y.
and Giles, H. (1976) The language of co-operation in Wales. Language Sciences, 42, 13-16.
16.
Bourhis, R. Y.
and Giles, H. (1977) The language of intergroup distinctiveness. In H. Giles (ed.), Language, Ethnicity and Intergroup Relations. London: Academic Press.
17.
Bourhis, R. Y.
, Giles, H. and Rosenthal, D. (1981) Notes on the construction of a 'subjective vitality questionnaire' for ethnolinguistic groups. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2, 145-155.
18.
Bourhis, R. Y.
and Sachdev, I. (1984) Vitality perceptions and language attitudes: Some Canadian data. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 3, 97-126.
19.
Clement, R.
and Kruidenier, B. G. (1983) Orientations in second language acquisition. Language Learning, 33, 273-291.
20.
Dittmar, N.
(1976) Sociolinguistics. London: Edward Arnold.
21.
Eastman, C. M.
(1985) Establishing social identity through language use. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 4, 1-26.
22.
Edelman, M.
, Cooper, R. L. and Fishman, J. A. (1966) The contextualization of schoolchildren's bilingualism. Irish Journal of Education, 2, 106-111.
23.
Fishman, J. A.
(1967) Bilingualism with and without diglossia: Diglossia with and without bilingualism. The Journal of Social Issues, 23, 29-38.
24.
Gallois, C.
, Franklyn-Stokes, A., Giles, H. and Coupland, N. (in press) Communication accommodation theory and intercultural encounters: Intergroup and interpersonal considerations. In Y. Y. Kim & W. B. Gudykunst (eds), Theory in Intercultural Communication. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
25.
Gardner, R. C.
(1985) Social Psychology and Second Language Learning. London: Edward Arnold.
26.
Genesee, F.
and Bourhis, R. Y. (1982) The social psychological significance of code-switching in cross-cultural communication. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 1, 1-27.
27.
Giles, H.
(ed.). (1977) Language, Ethnicity, and Intergroup Relations. London: Academic Press.
28.
Giles, H.
(1979) Ethnicity markers in speech. In K. R. Scherer & H. Giles (eds), Social Markers in Speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
29.
Giles, H.
, Bourhis, R. and Taylor, D. M. (1977) Towards a theory of language in ethnic group relations. In H. Giles (ed.), Language, Ethnicity and Intergroup Relations. London: Academic Press.
30.
Giles, H.
and Byrne, J. (1982) An intergroup approach to second language acquisition. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 3, 17-40.
31.
Giles, H.
, Garrett, P. and Coupland, N. (1987) Language Acquisition in the Basque Country: Invoking and Extending the Intergroup Model. Paper presented at the Second World Basque Conference, Basque Language Conference, San Sebastian, Spain.
32.
Giles, H.
and Johnson, P. (1981) The role of language in ethnic group relations. In J. Turner & H. Giles (eds), Intergroup Behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
33.
Giles, H.
and Johnson, P. (1987) Ethnolinguistic identity theory: A social psychological approach to language maintenance. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 68, 69-99.
34.
Giles, H.
, Mulac, A., Bradac, J. J. and Johnson, P. (1986) Speech accommodation theory: The next decade and beyond. In M. McLaughlin (ed.), Communication Yearbook 10. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
35.
Giles, H.
and Powesland, P. F. (eds) (1975) Speech Style and Social Evaluation. London: Academic Press.
36.
Giles, H.
, Rosenthal, D. and Young, L. (1985) Perceived ethnolinguistic vitality: the Anglo-and Greek-Australian setting. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 6, 253-269.
37.
Giles, H.
and Saint-Jacques, B. (eds) (1979) Language and Ethnic Relations. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
38.
Giles, H.
and Smith, P. M. (1979) Accommodation theory: Optimal levels of convergence. In H. Giles & R. St. Clair (eds), Language and Social Psychology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
39.
Giles, H.
, Taylor, D. M. and Bourhis, R. Y. (1973) Toward a theory of interpersonal accommodation through speech: Some Canadian data. Language in Society, 2, 177-192.
40.
Gudykunst, W. B.
and Kim, Y. Y. (1984) Communicating with Strangers: An Approach to Intercultural Communication. New York: Random House.
41.
Gudykunst, W. B.
and Ting-Toomey, S. (in press) Language and social categories. In H. Giles & P. Robinson (eds), Handbook of Social Psychology and Language. London: Wiley.
42.
Gumperz, J.
(1982a) Discourse Strategies. London: Cambridge University Press.
43.
Gumperz, J.
(ed.) (1982b) Language and Social Identity. London: Cambridge University Press.
44.
Gumperz, J.
and Hymes, D. (eds) (1972) Directions in Sociolinguistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
45.
Hall, B. J.
and Gudykunst, W. B. (1986) The intergroup theory of second language ability. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 5, 291-302.
46.
Herman, S.
(1961) Explorations in the social psychology of language choice. Human Relations, 14, 149-164.
47.
Hewstone, M.
and Giles, H. (1986) Social groups and social stereotypes in intergroup communication. In W. B. Gudykunst (ed.), Intergroup Communication. London: Edward Arnold.
48.
Hogg, M. A.
, Joyce, N. and Abrams, D. (1984) Diglossia in Switzerland? A social identity analysis of speaker evaluations. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 3, 185-196.
49.
Hymes, D.
(1972) Models of the interaction of language and social life. In J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (eds), Directions of Sociolinguistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
50.
John, C.
, Young, L., Giles, H. and Hofman, J. E. (1984) Language, values, and intercultural differentiation in Israel. The Journal of Social Psychology, 125, 527-529.
51.
Kimble, J., Jr.
, Cooper, R. L. and Fishman, J. A. (1969) Language switching and the interpretation of conversations. Lingua, 23, 127-134.
52.
Labrie, N.
and Cloment, R. (1986) Ethnolinguistic vitality, self-confidence and second language proficiency: An investigation. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 7, 269-282.
53.
Lambert, W. E.
, Mermigis, L. and Taylor, D. M. (1986) Greek Canadian's attitudes toward own group and other Canadian ethnic groups: A test of the multiculturalism hypothesis. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Sciences, 18, 35-51.
54.
Lukens, J.
(1979) Interethnic conflict and communicative distance. In H. Giles & R. Saint-Jacques (eds), Language and Ethnic Relations. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon.
55.
Marin, G.
, Triandis, H. C., Betancourt, H. and Kashima, Y. (1983) Ethnic affirmation versus social desirability. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 14, 173-186.
56.
McNamara, T. F.
(in press) Language and social identity: Some Australian studies. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics.
57.
Pak, A.
, Dion, K. L. and Dion, K. K. (1985) Correlates of self-confidence with English among Chinese students in Toronto. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Sciences, 17, 369-378.
58.
Rubin, J.
(1968) National Bilingualism in Paraguay. The Hague: Mouton.
59.
Ryan, B. E.
and Carranza, M. A. (1977) Ingroup and outgroup reactions to Mexican-American language varieties. In H. Giles (ed.), Language, Ethnicity and Intergroup Relations. London: Academic Press.
60.
Scherer, K. R.
and Giles, H. (eds) (1979) Social Markers in Speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
61.
Sechrest, L.
, Flores, L. and Arellano, L. (1968) Language and social interaction in a bilingual culture. Journal of Social Psychology, 76, 155-161.
62.
Simard, L. M.
, Taylor, D. M. and Giles, H. (1976) Attributional process and interpersonal accommodation in a bilingual setting. Language and Speech, 19, 374-387.
63.
Street, R.
and Giles, H. (1982) Speech accommodation theory. In M. Roloff & C. Berger (eds), Social Cognition and Communication. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
64.
Tajfel, H.
(1978) Social categorization, social identity, and social comparison. In H. Tajfel (ed.), Differentiation between Social Groups. London: Academic Press.
65.
Tajfel, H.
(1981) Human Categories and Social Groups. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
66.
Taylor, D. M.
and McKirnan, D. (1984) A five-stage model of intergroup relations. British Journal of Social Psychology, 23, 291-300.
67.
Thakerar, J. N.
, Giles, H. and Cheshire, J. (1982) Psychological and linguistic parameters of speech accommodation theory. In C. Fraser & K. Scherer (eds), Advances in the Social Psychology of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge Unversity Press.
68.
Turner, J.
(1987) Rediscovering the Social Group. London: Basil Blackwell.
69.
van den Berg, M. E.
(1986) Language planning and language use in Taiwan: Social identity, language accommodation, and language choice behavior. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 59, 97-115.
70.
Young, L.
, Giles, H. and Pierson, H. (1986) Sociopolitical change and perceived vitality, International Journal of Intercultural Relations. 10, 459-469.
