Standard language ideology 標準語というイデオロギー
Reflection/discussion task
(1) Do you yourself speak a local variety of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, English, or another language?
(2) If so, when do you use it? Why?
(3) Why would a speaker of a “dialect” or ”local variety” want to adopt a “standard language”?
(4) How might speakers of a “standard language” discriminate against speakers of a “dialect” or ”local variety”? Why?
How are "standard languages" produced, and how do they come into existence as the accepted standard variety? This happens when a certain local variety or dialect starts to be used in written form and becomes the preferred variety beyond its original area of use. In other words, one specific local variety (such as the Tokyo variety of Japanese, or the London-Oxford-Cambridge variety of English in England, or the Florence variety of Italian in Italy, and so on) becomes, over time, preferred in government, administration, the military, business, education, and literature.
As a local variety becomes standardised and popularised, dictionaries and grammar books are created to establish norms of language use based on the new standard variety. Teachers and education systems play their part in setting the new standard and in correcting language use. The mass media will also play a major role in reproducing the standard variety and making it natural and normal.
But what about "standard language ideology"? What might that mean? That is to do with the belief that the standard variety is in some way superior to other varieties. One result of such assumptions is that people come to believe that users of the standard variety are superior and should have powerful positions in society (just as people may believe that those who do not use the standard variety are in some way inferior and should not hold powerful positions).
This long article by Shimoda (2010) takes a critical look at the standardisation of Japanese from the Meiji era onwards, while the following blog post by Ingrid Piller (2015) in English provides an explanation of "standard language ideology":
"... The standard language ideology refers to the belief that a particular variety—usually the variety that has its roots in the speech of the most powerful group in society, that is often based on the written language, that is highly homogeneous, and that is acquired through long years of formal education—is aesthetically, morally, and intellectually superior to other ways of speaking the language. While only relatively few members of a society can speak that particular variety, its recognition as superior is universal and thus serves to justify social inequalities. The standard language ideology can make it seem fair and equitable—both to those who benefit from it and to those who are disadvantaged by it—that speakers of that variety should occupy privileged positions in society, while nonspeakers should be excluded from such positions...."
Use the links below to find out more about issues to do with standard language ideologies.
References
Encyclopaedia Britannica (no date). Standard languages. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/dialect/Standard-languages#ref393732
hellog ~ English history blog (16 November 2014). # 2029. 日本の方言差別と方言コンプレックスの歴史 [The history of Japanese dialect discrimination and dialect complex] [dialect][japanese][standardisation][history]. Retrieved from http://user.keio.ac.jp/~rhotta/hellog/2014-11-16-1.html
Piller, Ingrid (2015). Language ideologies. The International Encyclopedia of Language and Social Interaction. Retrieved from http://www.languageonthemove.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Piller_Language-ideologies.pdf