Language politics and the linguist

Rajagopalan, Kanavillil

doi:10.1590/S1984-63982005000100005

Abstracts

This paper focuses on language politics as it is currently unfolding in Brazil. Thanks to a legislative bid by a member of the House of Representatives to curb the wide-spread use of English in the country, large segments of the country's population have suddenly become interested in language-related issues. Professional linguists were taken by surprise and have, by and large, been reduced to the status of mere spectators. In an attempt to address the issue, I argue that there is an urgent need to attend to the wider public and engage them in a fruitful dialogue.

Este trabalho tem como foco a política lingüística tal qual ela vem se processando no Brasil. Graças a uma tentativa empenhada por um deputado no sentido de coibir o uso descontrolado de inglês no país, grandes setores da população têm mostrado interesse repetino em assuntos relativos à questão linguística. Os lingüistas profissionais foram pegos de calças curtas e, de forma geral, foram reduzidos à condição de meros espectadores. Ao tentar compreender o desenrolar dos acontecimentos, argumento que há uma necesidade urgente de atender aos anseios do público e dialogar com ele.

Language politics and the linguist

Kanavillil Rajagopalan

UNICAMP

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on language politics as it is currently unfolding in Brazil. Thanks to a legislative bid by a member of the House of Representatives to curb the wide-spread use of English in the country, large segments of the country's population have suddenly become interested in language-related issues. Professional linguists were taken by surprise and have, by and large, been reduced to the status of mere spectators. In an attempt to address the issue, I argue that there is an urgent need to attend to the wider public and engage them in a fruitful dialogue.

RESUMO

Este trabalho tem como foco a política lingüística tal qual ela vem se processando no Brasil. Graças a uma tentativa empenhada por um deputado no sentido de coibir o uso descontrolado de inglês no país, grandes setores da população têm mostrado interesse repetino em assuntos relativos à questão linguística. Os lingüistas profissionais foram pegos de calças curtas e, de forma geral, foram reduzidos à condição de meros espectadores. Ao tentar compreender o desenrolar dos acontecimentos, argumento que há uma necesidade urgente de atender aos anseios do público e dialogar com ele.

Texto completo do artigo disponível apenas em PDF.

Article full text available only in PDF format.

Aitchison, J. Misunderstandings about language: a historical view. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 5/4, p. 61-620, 2001.
Bloomfield, L. Why a linguistic society. (text of the lecture delivered on the occasion of the founding of the Linguistic Society of America). Language, 1.1, p. 1-5, 1925.
Chomsky, N. A. Language and nature. Mind v. 104, n. 413, p. 1-61, 1995.
Faraco, C.A. Guerras em torno da língua. Folha de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2001. Caderno Mais, p. 30-31.
Fishman, J. Nationality-nationalism and nation-nationism. In: Fishman, J.; Ferguson, C. A.; Das-Gupta, J. (Ed.). Language Problems of Developing Nations New York: Wiley, 1968. p. 98-112.
Henningsen, M. The politics of purity and exclusion: literary and linguistic movements of political empowerment in America, Africa, the South Pacific, and Europe. In: In Jernudd, B. H.; Shapiro, M. J. (Ed.) The Politics of Language Purism New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1989. p. 31-52.
Hutton, C. Law lessons for linguists? Accountability and acts of professional classification. Language & Communication 16.3, p. 205-214, 1996.
Johnson, S. Who's misunderstanding whom? Sociolinguistics, public debate and the media. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 5.4, p. 591-610, 2001.
Nunberg, G. Linguists and the official language movement. Language 65.6, p. 579-595, 1989.
Rajagopalan, K. National languages as flags of allegiance; or the linguistics that failed us: a close at emergent linguistic chauvinism in Brazil. Journal of Language & Politics v. 1, n. 1, p. 115-147, 2002a.
Rajagopalan, K. Resenha do livro FARACO, C. A. (Org.). Estrangeirismos: Guerras em Torno da Língua D.E.L.T.A, v. 18, n. 2,. p. 339-344, 2002b.
Rajagopalan, K. Sobre a especificidade da pesquisa no campo da pragmática. Cadernos de Estudos Lingüísticos, v. 42, p. 89-98, 2002c.
Rajagopalan, K. Por uma pragmática voltada à prática lingüística. In: Zandwais, Ana (Org.). A relação entre pragmática e enunciação Porto Alegre, R.S.: Ed. Sagra Luzzatto, 2002d. p. 22-35.
Rajagopalan, K. Politics of language and the ambivalent role of English in Brazil. World Englishes, v. 22, n. 2, p. 91-101, 2003a.
Rajagopalan, K. The philosophy of applied linguistics. In: Davies, A.; Elder, C. (Ed.). Handbook of Applied Linguistics. Blackwell Publishers, 2003b. p. 397-420.
Rajagopalan, K. The language issue in Brazil: when local knowledge clashes with expert knowledge. In: Canagarajah, S. (Org.). Local Knowledge, Globalization, and Language Teaching. Forthcoming-1. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers.
Rajagopalan, K. Emotion and language politics: the Brazilian case. Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development. Forthcoming-2.
Rajagopalan, K. Social aspects of pragmatics. In: Mey, J.L. (Ed.). Pragmatics Encyclopedia of Language and Linguitics Forthcoming-3. UK: Elsevier.
Vogt, C. Português, língua universal. Scientific American - Brasil, 1.1, p. 29, 2002.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
28 Jan 2013
Date of issue
2005

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

[1] Aitchison, J. Misunderstandings about language: a historical view. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 5/4, p. 61-620, 2001.

[2] Bloomfield, L. Why a linguistic society. (text of the lecture delivered on the occasion of the founding of the Linguistic Society of America). Language, 1.1, p. 1-5, 1925.

[3] Chomsky, N. A. Language and nature. Mind v. 104, n. 413, p. 1-61, 1995.

[4] Faraco, C.A. Guerras em torno da língua. Folha de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2001. Caderno Mais, p. 30-31.

[5] Fishman, J. Nationality-nationalism and nation-nationism. In: Fishman, J.; Ferguson, C. A.; Das-Gupta, J. (Ed.). Language Problems of Developing Nations New York: Wiley, 1968. p. 98-112.

[6] Henningsen, M. The politics of purity and exclusion: literary and linguistic movements of political empowerment in America, Africa, the South Pacific, and Europe. In: In Jernudd, B. H.; Shapiro, M. J. (Ed.) The Politics of Language Purism New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1989. p. 31-52.

[7] Hutton, C. Law lessons for linguists? Accountability and acts of professional classification. Language & Communication 16.3, p. 205-214, 1996.

[8] Johnson, S. Who's misunderstanding whom? Sociolinguistics, public debate and the media. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 5.4, p. 591-610, 2001.

[9] Nunberg, G. Linguists and the official language movement. Language 65.6, p. 579-595, 1989.

[10] Rajagopalan, K. National languages as flags of allegiance; or the linguistics that failed us: a close at emergent linguistic chauvinism in Brazil. Journal of Language & Politics v. 1, n. 1, p. 115-147, 2002a.

[11] Rajagopalan, K. Resenha do livro FARACO, C. A. (Org.). Estrangeirismos: Guerras em Torno da Língua D.E.L.T.A, v. 18, n. 2,. p. 339-344, 2002b.

[12] Rajagopalan, K. Sobre a especificidade da pesquisa no campo da pragmática. Cadernos de Estudos Lingüísticos, v. 42, p. 89-98, 2002c.

[13] Rajagopalan, K. Por uma pragmática voltada à prática lingüística. In: Zandwais, Ana (Org.). A relação entre pragmática e enunciação Porto Alegre, R.S.: Ed. Sagra Luzzatto, 2002d. p. 22-35.

[14] Rajagopalan, K. Politics of language and the ambivalent role of English in Brazil. World Englishes, v. 22, n. 2, p. 91-101, 2003a.

[15] Rajagopalan, K. The philosophy of applied linguistics. In: Davies, A.; Elder, C. (Ed.). Handbook of Applied Linguistics. Blackwell Publishers, 2003b. p. 397-420.

[16] Rajagopalan, K. The language issue in Brazil: when local knowledge clashes with expert knowledge. In: Canagarajah, S. (Org.). Local Knowledge, Globalization, and Language Teaching. Forthcoming-1. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers.

[17] Rajagopalan, K. Emotion and language politics: the Brazilian case. Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development. Forthcoming-2.

[18] Rajagopalan, K. Social aspects of pragmatics. In: Mey, J.L. (Ed.). Pragmatics Encyclopedia of Language and Linguitics Forthcoming-3. UK: Elsevier.

[19] Vogt, C. Português, língua universal. Scientific American - Brasil, 1.1, p. 29, 2002.