by Ana Freitas
Definition:
The linguistic market refers to a symbolic market existing in a particular group, society, or culture where a certain language and or way of speaking is valued above others.
Description:
The linguistic market is important to study due to the implicit ranking system of languages within society, certain ways of speaking are viewed as more valuable than others. There is a profit of distinction or in other words, it’s valuable to speak in a certain way in a social aspect to gain a favorable outcome. The local linguistic market may highly influence the community’s perceived value. This further divides people by race, ethnicity, or regional divisions by the attitudes which are set forth by language ideologies. Symbolic capital refers to the highly valued way of speaking within the context, therefore, using it as a resource. Those who follow this way of speaking can often turn the symbolic capital into symbolic dominance and even eventually into symbolic violence. Symbolic dominance can be seen when a way of speaking has been upheld by institutions and make other ways of speaking as inferior. An example would be only speaking English in a school with no official federal language. When symbolic dominance turns into symbolic violence, language endangerment or even language death can occur. An example would be when colonizers came to the United States and forced Native Americans to learn English and to forget their own languages. Hegemony plays into the linguistic market which is maintained in the frame of an institution, then is then further upheld by language ideologies. This way of thinking can lead some to dismiss the way a person speaks, only due to the idea that their language is the correct one.
Application:
Without knowing, the existing power imbalance in the United States is currently being upheld by the linguistic market. The most valued way of speaking is prioritized and taught to children to reinforce the language’s dominance over other, less important ways of communicating. Understanding where these imbalances come from can help us understand the deep-rooted racism that comes with valuing one way of speaking over another.
The linguistic market is further maintained with the issue of Latin American immigrants speakers coming to the United States, they’re being told to speak English while America has no official national language. Spanish, as well as Portuguese speakers, are being pulled over, ridiculed, and asked for documentation due to the inequality within the country not only involving basic excuses of language, but again deep-rooted racism that hasn’t been challenged until recently. The existing power imbalance is being reinforced with the idea that English is the superior language due to this linguistic market and language ideologies being presented, not as opinions, but rather as facts.
In the United States, the linguistic market is seen with regular occurrences of mainly brown Spanish speakers being asked for their documentation, regardless of a public or private location. Discrimination is widely accepted in the United States and is seen as patriotic and heroic. Immigrants are often valued less than native-born citizens, as seen in the pay gap between them. Not only this, but Spanish is viewed in such a poor light, that it hardly counts as a positive in the job market due to its association with undocumented immigrants portrayed and framed by the media.
In the case of Martha Hernandez and Ana Suda, the two Hispanic women were pulled over by an officer. When the women asked why they were being pulled over, the officer has admitted it was because they were speaking Spanish in Montana, where it wasn’t common to speak a language other than English. This discriminatory act was then reported and luckily the women sued. Cases like these aren’t rare, what’s rare is that the officer has been blatant about the discrimination. The association with the Spanish language is of brown individuals who are undocumented in the United States.
Furthermore, the linguistic market has a lot to do with the ways of speaking within a community, but also with race and ethnicity. There are cases where brown Spanish speakers are ridiculed due to their skin color and language, oftentimes within the hands of the government and even the police force. Brazilians who reside in America mostly have fair skin in comparison to the Brazilians in their native country. Brazilians that have a paler complexion often have higher incomes than those that have a darker complexion, therefore, immigration is mainly obtained by the higher income community. A contrast can be seen in the United States where brown Spanish speakers get more discrimination than white Portuguese speakers. This shows that the linguistic market is upheld with more than language ideologies backing it up, but with a silent yet violent racism.
Often when coming to the United States, foreigners are ridiculed for possibly not knowing all of the English language, while being bilingual. This hatred for immigrants can be seen by the following generation, and for hopes of better opportunities, English can sometimes be the only language taught in a home. The next generation then loses part of its culture alongside the ability to speak their native language. The linguistic market often contributes to language and culture endangerment and even death by reinforcing the idea of a dominant language and culture.
Overall the linguistic market is upheld by language ideologies and supports hegemony through power imbalances. Institutions further maintain the power imbalance to continue to serve the dominant class whether that be determined by race, ethnicity, socioeconomics, sex or sexual preference. The power imbalance is often that of a binary, where one characteristic is always seen as above the other. This juxtaposition of the linguistic market and the binary shows that the structure is similar, with the dominant being on top while the lesser is on the bottom. Symbolic capital eventually turning into symbolic dominance and then symbolic violence shows and heavily exhibits how intertwined linguistic market and language ideologies are. It’s important to understand the origins of these ideologies held so as not to enforce them in a linguistic market, upholding the most valued way of speaking as the correct one and any other ways are devalued. This is where symbolic violence can destroy a language and everything associated with knowing a language, such as culture and knowledge within that language.