- What is the relationship between race and language?
Raciolinguistics is a relatively new branch of the study of language that examines how language shapes race and how race shapes language. This term was popularised by Nelson Flores, an educational linguist and Jonathan Rosa, an anthropologist in 2015. It refers to a belief that language has a role in producing racial differences and the construction of race has a role in producing differences in language. Essentially, it is a perspective that believes race and language are interrelated.
Use of non-standard English is often thought to indicate levels of intelligence or a lack thereof due to the relationship it has with formal education. Patois, specifically Jamaican patois, is an English-based creole language with West African influences. A creole language is created when two or more languages come together. Jamaican patois can be considered a ‘language’ (rather than a dialect) based on two reasons: it has the characteristic features of a language, and it performs the functions of a language. In terms of social status, Jamaican patois falls at one extreme of the linguistic spectrum while SE lies at the other end. SE is considered to be the ‘educated’ end and patois the uneducated, with speakers of it labelled as socially and linguistically inferior in both Jamaican and Britain respectfully.
Colonialism has had long-lasting effects on the modern world with modern-era European colonialism arguably having one of the most impactful. The effects of colonialism on language is the creation of creole languages, pidgin English and other mixed languages, yet these languages are often supressed in favour of formal and standard languages, creating problems such as class divides and racial tensions.
Read the full article here