Commodification Of Language Research Articles

Study abroad, human capital development, language commodification, and social inequalities

Abstract Neoliberal discourse has seeped into various practices of higher education and study abroad (SA), emphasizing the value of human capital development through international education and foreign language learning. Applied linguists have been strongly critiquing neoliberal ideologies, and how they reproduce social inequalities. In this study, the examples of Albert, Theresa, and Rebecca, three U.S. undergraduates in Spain, exhibit how elements of neoliberal discourse and the consumerist notion of second language education as a commodity perpetuate social inequalities abroad and at home. These students were part of an ethnographic study (2007–2008) that included 117 U.S. undergraduates enrolled in four academic SA programs in Spain. The stories of Albert, Theresa, and Rebecca are significant because they had traction within their SA cohort. The consumerist notion of education as a commodity was employed as the analytical framework in conjunction with Bourdieu’s concept of capital (1986). This study problematizes the neoliberal logic and the promise of human capital development associated with language learning through SA. It calls for more diversity, equity, inclusion in SA. A social justice pedagogical paradigm is discussed as a valid, alternative approach to help students emphasize humanistic imperatives over individualist imperatives, gain global understanding, and contribute to world justice.

“In the name(s) of the moon!”: ‘Japaneseness’ & Reader Identity in Two Translations of Sailor Moon

Manga has become increasingly popular in the United States since the 1990s, and over time, the strategies employed in translating these texts for English-speaking audiences have shifted. As translation practices have changed, so too has the status of the sociocultural construct of 'Japaneseness' – a commodified branding of Japanese elements – in translated manga. A striking example of this shift can be seen in two English translations of Naoko Takeuchi's 1991 manga Bishôjo Senshi Sêrâ Mûn (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon) for the U.S. market, released 13 years apart: the 1998 Mixx/TokyoPop translation and the 2011 Kodansha translation. In this paper, we examine the use of four linguistic features – loanwords, honorifics, onomatopoeia, and iconicity – in both translations, and find that each version broadly employs a different strategy to either erase (in the case of the earlier translation) or amplify and actively create (in the case of the later translation) 'Japaneseness' within the text. These strategies in turn afford two different ways for readers to engage with Sailor Moon, so following our analysis of the texts themselves, we then examine fan discourse to show how readers construct distinct identities by drawing on salient linguistic features of each translation. The shift from a preference for domesticated reading experiences to a desire for translations to retain as much Japanese character as possible reveals the construct of 'Japaneseness' as central to the commodification of Japanese language and culture in both manga publishing and Anglophone fandom more broadly.

Developing a Social Critique of Hegemony of English

The language pyramid in the post-colonial territories as propounded by Melchers and Shaw in 2003 aptly reflects on the status of different languages in Pakistan. At the top is English, with its heritage as a colonial language. Then is the ‘national’ language Urdu which has nationalist value and is spoken by the majority as a lingua franca; while at the bottom of this hierarchy are the regional languages and their dialects. This hierarchy of languages has deeper repercussions enrooting stratification based on social class and commodification of languages. In this paper, this claim is substantiated by semiotic analysis of a social media text− an amateur video clip that went viral on Facebook in January 2021− in which owners of a high-end cafe in Islamabad mock their manager’s English. The video is only the tip of the iceberg of the symbolic and linguistic capitals of English in Pakistan. This analysis is further pleaded by the literature on the critical approach to language policy and planning (LPP). This critical approach can be traced back to the 1980s and Tollefson’s oft-cited book in 1991 that endeavors to situate LPP as a part of ongoing conflicts between the elites and the common masses. He regards that the evolution of the critical approach has widened its scope rendering it primarily sociocultural, dealing with the dynamics of status and prestige. Thus stated, this research attempts to converge the critical relational theory of Bourdieu with semiotics to address this issue of class discrimination based on the hegemony of English in Pakistan through a multimethodological approach.

Virtue Signaling and the Linguistic Repertoire of Anti‐Blackness: or, “I Would Have Voted for Obama for a Third Term”

AbstractIncreasing commodification of progressive language in public discourse over the past four decades has resulted in users’ indexical alignment with anti‐racist politics becoming unmoored from expectations of legitimate action toward dismantling white supremacy. In this essay, we describe how this process is enacted through virtue signaling—highlighting one’s morality through the use of language and other signs that invoke progressive sociopolitical values—and the ways it mobilizes the linguistic repertoire of anti‐Blackness. Theorizing this behavior provides a framework to locate and confront the mechanisms that maintain white supremacy and the actors who align themselves with it.

Beyond market and language commodification: Contemplating social-market value and social-welfare concerns in language education policy and practice in Pakistan

This study demonstrates how stakeholders’ treatment of English language as the sole marketable/saleable commodity in educational setting can have implications for multilingualism and existing linguistic diversity in Pakistan. Language commodification refers to the valuation of languages as marketable/saleable commodities and their relative exchange value. The findings are based on semi-structured interviews with students, teachers, and administrators/principals conducted in schools and a university during three different PhD studies. This article specifically focusses on how stakeholders view English-medium education and indigenous languages. Given stakeholders’ diversity-as-a-problem orientations and rationalization of English-medium education, we propose an epistemic reorientation in which the social-market value of languages and social-welfare considerations may become the basis of language-in-education policy and planning. Social-market value refers to the role languages play as social, educational, cultural, and pedagogical resources for the larger social development, peace, and integration of society. The social-market perspective upholds multilingualism as a resource rather than as a problem. The article concludes that academic researchers could use intellectual activism as change agents to foster critical multilingual awareness and expose stakeholders to alternative competing epistemologies. This awareness is expected to help redress the conceptual myths and fallacies most stakeholders hold about the social potential of languages and multilingualism.

How Perceptions of the English Language Have Changed in Kazakhstan: A Narrative Analysis

Abstract This study provides an overview of how perceptions of the English language in Kazakhstan have altered over time due to political, economic, social and technological changes. The sociocultural framework includes language commodification and critical pedagogy concerning Indigenous languages; the methodological approach is narrative analysis combined with Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism. Three generational shifts were identified, each reflective of sociocultural changes that have occurred as Kazakhstan has transitioned from Soviet republic to modern Indigenous nation: from the Soviet Era/Soviet Man; to Independent Kazakhstan/Patriots and Outsiders; to Modern Kazakhstan/Young Cosmopolitans. The ongoing popularity of English may eventually threaten the Kazakh language.

Policing language in the world of new work: the commodification of workplace communication in organizational consulting

Abstract This paper examines how the shift to knowledge and innovation economy has created new sites for the commodification of language and communication in the context of organizational consulting. The data come from a consultant-led development and training program of the management teams of a Finnish educational organization. In the study, the year-long training was videotaped (45 h) and followed ethnographically. By using rhetorical discourse analysis as a method, we examine how the consultant-led training activities present the role of language and communication in changing working life. The results show how the activities factualize the transformation of work and the centrality of language in this transformation. They conceptualize language and communication as key elements of professional competence and resources for organizational improvement. Moreover, they construct causal relations between organizational success and the ability to assess and modify one’s own communicative behavior. With its focus on language awareness and contextual variation the training differs from settings examined in previous studies where the mechanisms of commodification are based on standardization practices. In conclusion, we reflect the training programs both as indicators and vehicles for social change and discuss how they act as spaces where the new worlds of work are discursively construed.

Commodification or shared ownership? A case study of Chinese communities in the linguistic landscape of Bendigo

Abstract Current linguistic landscape studies of tourism are primarily concerned with the commodification of languages, and less attention is focused on ownership discourses that are constructed in tourist spaces through varied semiotic resources. This study employs a spatial perspective to analyse commodification and ownership in the linguistic landscape of Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, focusing on how these discourses materialise in the conceived, perceived, and lived spaces through the semiotic resources of Chinese communities. Built on a comprehensive dataset of photographs, field notes, interviews, and archived materials, this study reveals the agency of Bendigo’s Chinese community members, who claim ownership of semiotic resources despite the institutional forces seeking to commodify Chinese cultural heritage for tourist consumption. Examination of Chinese heritage sites demonstrates the possibility of shared ownership of Chinese semiotic resources among Chinese and non-Chinese residents in an Australian cultural tourism context. This balancing act of commodification and ownership constitutes a critical part of the lived experiences of Chinese communities in today’s era of mobility and globalisation.

Power and Branding: Language Commodification of Tourist Resorts

Exploitation of language in commercial sector is inexorable. Language does not only work to articulate meaning but also to send and build image. In this sense, language has been commodified. This fact becomes more obvious in tourism industry in which language plays vital role to construct brand as well as to reach targeted profit. Based on these premises, this research aims to unravel the phenomenon of language commodification in Baturraden Tourism areas within the framework of Linguistic Landscape. The descriptive qualitative research was conducted through observation, documentation and interview. Data in the forms of photographs were gathered to be analyzed and interpreted to capture the language commodification manifested in the selected areas. The analysis shows that language commodification is materialized through the use of Indonesian, English and Javanese. English serves a dominant language in this tourism industry. Most tourist destinations prefer using English to Indonesian as national language to label their place. The issue of branding therefore becomes obvious to elevate the market and effectively attract the visitors. English, rather than functions as referential meaning, serves economic functions. Here, English is more powerful than other given languages. English offers higher prestige, modernity and promising brand to be beneficial for this industry. Then, Javanese is maintained to introduce the history or local legend as well as to bring the sense of authenticity.

Mapping the linguistic landscape from a multi-factor perspective: the case of a multi-ethnolinguistic city in China

ABSTRACT This paper explores the linguistic landscape (LL) of a multi-ethnolinguistic city in China, namely Shangri-La City, where Tibetan, Han (Mandarin Chinese), English and several other minority languages are used. As one of the most well-known Chinese tourist cities by Western travellers, a city with rapid socioeconomic development, and a city that issued a signage policy recently, the LL of Shangri-La is affected by multiple factors (e.g. tourism, globalisation, language policy). In light of this, the study purposefully examines the LL of four different functional areas of the city, including a local community, a central administrative street, a tourist spot and a commercial street, to demonstrate different factors and their degree of influence on local LL. Data includes 1,064 signage photos and 53 interviews with government officials and sign-owners. The findings indicate that although the recent signage policy has increased the presence of Tibetan, it has also re-consolidated the existing linguistic hierarchy and further marginalised other minority languages in the region. The findings also reveal the negative views of local residents on the abuse of Tibetan in tourist domains. As such, a critical lens on the commodification of minority languages in tourism is proposed in the study.

Patterns of individual multilingualism in Estonia

ABSTRACT This article presents an empirical analysis of patterns of individual multilingualism in Estonia based on 2015 survey results. We hypothesize that individual multilingualism is situated at the intersection of three major overlapping social factors: 1) geographic locale, the space where individuals interact daily, measurable primarily by its ethno-demographic characteristics, 2) mostly economic factors, the commodification of languages, and 3) patterns of civic participation in a particular locale. To explore patterns of multilingualism as multi-competence, we used the self-reported command of the three dominant languages and mapped this against those three factors. The article interprets and discusses the findings in light of language policy implications.

Neoliberal ideology, discursive paradox and communicative language teaching

This paper deals with the relationship between neoliberalism and communicative language teaching in language-in-education policy. Neoliberalism, or the deregulation of state based on meritocracy, or equal competition, gives rise to paradoxical discourses. On the one hand, sociolinguistic superdiversity shows us the unprecedented mixing and switching of languages by transnational migrants. On the other, language commodification requires us to use standard or monolingual language forms to access high-paying jobs in the global market. Parallel discourses in communicative language teaching pedagogy that distinguish between weak and strong forms also give rise to monolingual and multilingual language practices, respectively. This paper examines how language commodification and sociolinguistic superdiversity relate to the method-related problem of identity, a tension in the literature between the monolingual language practices of weak communicative language teaching, and post-structuralist language learner identities that are delineated by language. By drawing discursive and epistemic links between language commodification and sociolinguistic superdiversity and weak and strong communicative language teaching, I argue that language commodification emerges as a hegemonic discourse in weak communicative language teaching policy precepts, responsible for the method-related problem of identity. I attribute the discursive hegemony to a positivist epistemic framework that imposes preconceived language structures and identities on post-structuralist language learners in second and foreign language learning through monolingualism. This paper discusses important implications of sociolinguistic superdiversity as a counter-hegemonic discourse in superdiverse communicative language teaching contexts, as well as directions for future research.

The Commodification of Chinese in Thailand’s Linguistic Market: A Case Study of How Language Education Promotes Social Sustainability

In recent decades, the commodification of the English language has aroused intensive research interest in the sociolinguistics on a global scale, but studies on the commodification of the Chinese language are relatively rare. Most studies take a critical approach in relation to its adverse impacts on minority rights and social justice. This study examined the language landscape in Chiangmai, Thailand, and the linguistic beliefs of local Thai Chinese language learners. Based on their feedback, this study investigated the commodification of Chinese language education in the community of Chinese language learners in Chiangmai. We found that from a less critical perspective, the commodification of a second language provides more accessible and affordable educational opportunities for learners, especially those from low-income families, and at the same time language proficiency can broaden learners’ career choices and provide employees with additional value in industries, such as tourism, commerce, and services. This finding implies that language commodification, rather than typically being associated with linguistic imperialism and unbalanced socio-economic status, can be a contributing factor in promoting higher-education availability and social sustainability in certain circumstances. There may be some mediating factors between the commodification of language and changes in the sustainable balance of language, opening up space for future research to explore.

Alphabet city: orthographic differentiation and branding in late capitalist cities

ABSTRACT This article examines the emergence and design of letter-based city logos in order to discuss what they reveal about writing and cities, and the dynamics between them. Developing a political economic and social semiotic analysis, I suggest that these letter-based logos respond to an increased competition for attention in society—strongly linked to new media technology and patterns of mobility in late capitalist economies. I further argue that they illustrate globalizing linguistic processes such as the truncation, commodification and adaptation of language to global audiences and technologies, and thereby contribute to mask the social and material reality of the branded cities. The article contributes to the broader examination of the ways in which cities and writing interact by drawing attention to the continued spread of abstract and standardized register forms for representing institutional power and distinction within globalized markets, and by discussing their local socio-economic embedding.

Linguistic landscape in a city of migrants: a study of Souk Naif area in Dubai

ABSTRACT This paper presents the first in-depth analysis of linguistic landscape (LL) of a migrant area in Dubai. While Arabic is the official language of the country, few foreigners learn it and English has become the lingua franca that allows migrant communities to communicate. Nonetheless, English and Arabic are mother tongues to a minority of resident population. A multitude of other languages are spoken among expatriates. Despite that variety, the visibility and salience of particular languages in LL is a reflection of, most often, their differing social standing. As such, this research shows how multilingualism, language contact, social hierarchy as well as official policies with regards to language use in UAE, have led to the minimisation of third languages use in LL. Through a multilingual analysis of signs in Souk Naif area, this research provides important insights on the meaning of linguistic landscapes in cosmopolitan cities in the Arabian Gulf, specifically, how bottom-up sign makers negotiate the public space, why English is the primary language used, and finally, why high levels of multiculturalism lead to deterritorialisation and commodification of languages in LL.

Global ambitions and local identities: new speakers’ access to linguistic markets and resources

ABSTRACT A growing body of literature has addressed the ‘complex layers and nuances of today’s multilingual, mobile and global society’ [Barakos & Selleck, 2019, Elite multilingualism: Discourses, practices, and debates. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 40(5), 361]. Heller [2010. The commodification of language. Annual Review of Anthropology, 39, 101–114] argues that the globalised new economy is bound up with transformations of language and identity in many different ways [e.g. Bauman, 1997. Postmodernity and its discontents. London: Routledge; Castells, 2000. The information age: Economy, society and culture (3 vols). Oxford: Blackwell; Giddens, 1990. The consequences of modernity. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University California Press]. This paper examines how these themes play out in Wales, in the relative value placed on Welsh and English by ‘new’ or ‘learner’ speakers of Welsh. These ‘new’ or ‘learner’ speakers have learnt a minority language often through non-traditional routes and this article seeks to understand what linguistic varieties are capitalised by these learners, how they characterise their own language knowledge, and how these ‘new speakers’ position themselves in relation to mobility and the new globalised economy. Additionally, the paper seeks to explore how disparities in terms of access to resources can impact on new speakers’ trajectories – in other words, how different routes to bilingualism are perceived as opening or closing metaphorical doors.

Chestnut beer, Corsica-Cola, and wine bottles: The commodification of Corsican in the linguistic and semiotic landscapes of the island’s drinks industry

Abstract Within sociolinguistics, work on the commodification of language has gathered pace in recent decades. Monica Heller, in “Globalisation, the new economy, and the commodification of language and identity”, published in 2003 in the Journal of Sociolinguistics, contends that in the new globalized economy, language is commodified as a measurable skill, an inalienable characteristic of group members, and a marker of authenticity. Whilst the ability to speak Corsican is a potential aspect of the commodification of the language on the island, this article will explore in particular the extent to which the Corsican language is a characteristic of Corsican-ness, as well as a marker of value and authenticity in the economic market on the island (see Monica Heller and Alexandre Duchêne, “Pride and profit: changing discourses of language, capital, and nation-state”, published in 2012 in Language in late capitalism: pride and profit). Based on a corpus of product labelling from Corsican soft and alcoholic drinks, I investigate the extent to which Corsican, as a named language, and other visual resources are used for meaning-making in the presentation of local products. In doing so, I consider here the unevenness in the use of Corsican in the labelling of drinks which reflects the contours of regional language revitalisation and the shifting cultural value attributed to both French and Corsican depending on the product that retailers are seeking to sell.

Jезички рад: произвођење естетске и финансијске вредности

This essay analyzes how the process of financial quantification of linguistic labor affected the development of the social form of literature in capitalist societies. My methodological framework is cultural materialism, through which the classical communication model of literature is reinterpreted in accordance with the objective relations which make it possible. It proceeds from the intersection of language and money as universal equivalents, the emergence of linguistic labor power, through the commodification of language, formation of use and exchange values in the said context, and the formation of literary discourse. Along these lines, I attempt to show how the modern understanding of literature emerges at the beginning of the 19th century opposing the institutions of private linguistic property, as a specific form of labor which is not labor, which thus cannot be subsumed under capital, and whose concrete articulation aims to have a universal reach, in spite of the fact that its products necessarily become commodities in order to reach the public. Literature, therefore, up until the middle of the 20th century, understands itself as a strategy of resistance to the capitalist mode of production that simultaneously cannot sustain itself without its institutional mediation. Finally, this essay aims to show how the given process was crucial in the articulation of linguistic forms of modern literature, as well as the autonomous norms for its evaluation, which we know by the name of aesthetic value.

Commodification of African languages in linguistic landscapes of rural Northern Cape Province, South Africa

AbstractEnglish has been portrayed in linguistic landscape literature as the definitive language of commodification. However, using linguistic landscape images from two rural communities in the Northern Cape, South Africa, this article shows how indigenous African languages and localised English are entangled as commodities – whether used independently or in hybridised form – for the sale of various goods and services. We show that the commodification of the languages and hybridised forms speaks to semiotic choices of local authorship of signage and to the influence of local communities’ languaging practices. We propose that commodity status of languages or their linguistic features is variable, since commodified languages or linguistic features as modes derive meanings from the assembled multimodal resources, whose design features as languages or translanguaged “blends”, and their statuses as being in and out of favour, depend on communicative purposes, the kinds of goods and services being marketed and the intended consumers. We conclude that languages, or their linguistic features as modes in signage, should be valued as mobile socio-culturally given and multimodally shaped semiotic resources deployed for communicative impact on consumers in local contexts of use.

Digital media communication, intellectual property, and the commodification of language

AbstractFocusing on fansubbing, the production of unauthorized subtitles by fans of audiovisual media content, this paper calls for a more serious sociolinguistic analysis of the political economy of digital media communication. It argues that fansubbing’s contentious position within regimes of intellectual property and copyright makes it a useful context for considering the crucial role of language ideology in global capitalism’s expanding reach over communicative activity. Through a critical analysis of Korean discourses about fansubbing, this paper considers how tensions between competing ideological conceptions of fansub work shed light on the process by which regimes of intellectual property incorporate digital media communication as a site for profit. Based on this analysis, the paper argues for the need to look beyond the affordances of digital media in terms of translingual, hybrid, and creative linguistic form, to extend our investigations towards language ideologies as a constitutive element in the political economy.