(Standard) Language Ideology as a Theoretical Framework

The third chapter introduces the concept of using language ideology as a theoretical framework for research, beginning by looking at its nascence in scholarship in the 1970s and 1980s. We go on to outline the relevance of language ideology for the institutionalisation of grammar. In particular, we look at features of a ‘standard language culture’ and the phenomenon of ‘enregisterment’. The relevance of performance and performative language is also considered before our conclusion, in which we discuss how studying language ideology does not always bring one closer to actual linguistic practice on the ground. Rather, it brings one closer to users’ thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings about the language, even if they contradict the linguistic behaviour of real speakers. As such, it serves as the theoretical framework through which we examine the primary material in the rest of the book.