LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:10 October 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2014
M. S. Thirumalai
Custom Search

Standard Dialect Ideology in Bangladesh: A Field Study

Sheikh Mehedi Hasan, Ph.D. in English
Adilur Rahaman, M.A. in English

Abstract

Standard dialect ideology (hereafter SD ideology) as a significant concept in linguistic anthropology affects linguistic behavior and belief system of speakers of a speech community. In addition, SD ideology appears to fetishize ‘standard’ variety and stigmatize ‘non-standard’ variety of a language. In this study, we attempt to explore the symptoms of SD ideology in the linguistic behavior of Bangla speakers in Bangladesh. Field data suggest that SD ideology exists in the psyche of Bangla speakers in distinctive forms and seems to manifest itself differently in rural and urban areas of Bangladesh.

Key words: Standard Dialect Ideology, Bangla speakers in Bangladesh, dialectal distinctions, rural and urban differences.

1.0 Introduction

Issues pertaining to standard language ideology are generally addressed by linguistic anthropologists and sociolinguists. It has become an object of study since the assumptions of SD ideology seem to discriminate and stigmatize a large number of speakers in a society. Moreover, SD ideology appears to create a binary between ‘standard’ and ‘non-standard’ variety by situating standard variety at the center of a particular language. In the process of this binary function, speech of ‘non-standard variety’ becomes stigmatized. Besides, power-relations seem to play a significant role in distributing standard language and SD ideology in society. In Bangladesh, the manifestations of standard language ideology can be traced in interactions between speakers of Bangla, in opinion and judgment about ‘other’ speakers, and in making decisions about learning different varieties of the Bangla language.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Sheikh Mehedi Hasan, Ph.D. in English
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Southeast University
Banani, Dhaka-1213
Bangladesh
mehedi_08@hotmail.com

Adilur Rahaman, MA in English
Adjunct Faculty
Department of English
Southeast University
Banani
Dhaka-1213
Bangladesh

Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.