Report to the class on what you learned about the culture
and language ideology of the country in question.
Most Americans feel they know the basics about England.
In class, discuss what you know about the use of English
in Great Britain. Do you know where people believe the
best English is spoken, or by whom? Which regional or
social varieties of English are most likely to be made fun
of?
In so far as possible, repeat the third exercise with persons
who are natives of Great Britain. Try to find a range of
people from different parts of England, Wales or Scotland.
In class, discuss how close (or far away) the class was in
the estimation of prestigious and stigmatized varieties of
British English.Notes
1 http://goo.gl/WdkR0.
2 ACLU Briefing Paper at http://www.aclu.org/library/pbp20.html.
3 Report on pending English-Only legislation in California, CBS
Evening News, October 1986.
4 http://goo.gl/dLFrt.
Suggested Further Reading
Edwards, J. (2009) Language and Nationalism. In Language and Identity: An Introduction. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Language and Nationalism in Nineteenth-century Europe (summary), available at:
http://goo.gl/4Kh5i.
May, S. (2008) Language and Minority Rights: Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Politics of
Language. 2nd edn. New York: Routledge.
McCarty, T. and Zepeda, O. (2010) Native Americans. In J.A. Fishman and O. Garcia (eds.)
Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: Disciplinary and Regional Perspectives. 2nd edn.
New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 324–339.
Wiley, T. (2010) The United States. In J.A. Fishman and O. Garcia (eds.) Handbook of Language
and Ethnic Identity: Disciplinary and Regional Perspectives. 2nd edn. New York: Oxford
University Press, pp. 302–323.