Linguicism

Language is a key dimension in the complex processes of hierarchizing groups in society and maintaining and reproducing patterns of dominance. Increasingly, language is used instead of or alongside other means of control to maintain, legitimate, effectuate, and reproduce unequal divisions of structural power and material and nonmaterial resources between elites and the dominated. The world’s haves and have-nots are also partially constructed on the basis of their ethnic origins and culture (their cultural capital) and on the basis of which languages they know or do not know (their linguistic capital). These new -isms––culturally and ethnically argued racism (ethnicism) and linguistically argued racism (linguicism)––are akin to traditional biologically argued racisms and are even in the process of replacing them. Thus, the way we label, talk about, and attribute characteristics to individuals and groups legitimates the unequal division of power and resources. In this way, people are divided into those with greater or lesser access to material resources and structural power, not only on the basis of their skin color but also on the basis of their ethnicity, culture, religion, and language: their mother tongue(s) and their competence, or lack of competence, in official and/or “international” languages.

Linguicism, a concept coined by Skutnabb-Kangas, refers to the ideologies, structures, and practices that are used to legitimate, effectuate, and reproduce an unequal division of power and resources between groups defined on the basis of language. Linguicism is a major factor in determining whether speakers of particular languages are allowed to enjoy their linguistic human rights: not only the “negative right” to be protected against abuse but also the “positive right” to enjoy appropriately supportive state policies. Lack of these rights—for instance, the absence of one’s language from school timetables—makes these languages invisible. Linguicism is a more sophisticated way of preventing the use of a language than punishment, which is usually brutal, open, and visible.

Linguicism can take many forms in creating hierarchies between groups of speakers/signers. Linguicism also creates hierarchies between and within languages. (Indeed the very concept of “language” is unclear: dialects based on geography and power, sociolects, and genderlects may also be understood as “languages.” In fact, the very existence of “languages” is increasingly questioned, because of this lack of clarity.)

There are hierarchies among languages. Generally, the more speakers a language has, the [Page 583]higher in the hierarchy it is. For instance, Aanaar Sami in northern Finland (with some 350 speakers) is lower in the hierarchy than Finnish (with nearly 6 million speakers). Globally, Finnish is mostly seen as lower than Arabic, and English is seen as higher. But the number of users is far from the only criterion, as we can see from the list of the 20 languages with the highest numbers of first-language speakers: Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, Bengali, Russian, Japanese, Javanese, German, Lahnda, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, French, Vietnamese, Korean, Urdu, and Italian. Economic, political, and military power are much more decisive than numbers in deciding the place of a language in the hierarchy. One instance of linguicism can be called linguistic imperialism.

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