Question about Evans (2003)

[ruthsinger]

Document: evans2003context Contributors: @angarikadeb Is this bit: "linguistic practices > linguistic ideologies" meant to say that Evans (2003) hypothesises that certain language practices cause certain language ideologies? I'm not sure if Evans (2003) makes this claim. This is a bit controversial, for two reasons. Firstly the causal link between language practices and language ideologies would usually be understood to go the other way (language ideologies > language practices), although some now argue it's both ways <=>. Also, from the link is usually understood as somewhat indirect, because people often don't practice what they preach. Also the phrase 'language ideologies' is conventionally used, not 'linguistic ideologies', so it might be a better name for the variable. Similarly for language(*linguistic)practices.

[seannyD]

Thank you for these comments - they are very helpful! We're not experts in this area, so we are grateful for feedback. We'll review the document and make some changes. We'll definitely make the variable name changes you suggest. (you are also welcome to make the edits yourself by pressing the 'edit' button, and you will be credited if you do).

We're interested in capturing theories about language maintenance and change in CHIELD. It would be super interesting to see your 2016 paper on the maintenance of multilingualism as a causal graph. As some motivation: anyone who adds or edits 5 documents will become a co-author on the paper we're writing about this database. (end promotional blurb)

[ruthsinger]

Hi Sean, I'm glad that those comments were useful. I would be happy to edit the entry for Evans (2003) and contribute some more papers, maybe even 5! I'm reading papers on language evolution at the moment as I'm working on a fellowship proposal on multilingualism and linguistic diversity that includes a language evolution component. I've started reading your PhD thesis, which Matt Spike suggested, it's very interesting! Any other recommendations for readings in this area, that are relatively accessible to the outsider would be great, Ruth

[angarikadeb]

Hi Ruth Thanks for your comments, I understand your point. It stand to logic that ideologies would precede the existence of certain practices. When I coded this paper, I didn't exactly mean language ideologies, but something more like linguistic categories and ideas (which were referred to as ideologies at one point in the paper) that arise from 'cultural practices'. I do agree that using a better word would make the meaning clearer - so please feel free to edit. Else, I can do the same - possibly after a discussion with you. And like Sean said, I am not an expert in the area myself so your comments will help clarify my concepts in the field.

[ruthsinger]

Hi, Good work on coding a paper with a lot of different hypotheses. The paper is very dense, and there's a lot of different ideas in there. The causal links you've identified are a good summary of them. I had a look in the paper and Nick used the phrase 'linguistic ideologies' twice. These are probably mistakes as throughout the rest of the paper he uses 'language ideologies' but perhaps he used the phrase 'linguistic ideologies' at the start as the meaning is a bit more transparent. I think 'language ideologies' will make a better variable, as they are very widely discussed in the linguistic anthropology literature so it's what people might search for, and the term is used to refer to the kinds of things you are talking about 'linguistic categories and ideas' , Ruth

[seannyD]

Thanks a lot for this! The page is updated: https://chield.excd.org/document.html?key=evans2003context.

When people click the "Discussion history" button, they'll find this discussion.