Thomas Ricento
Biographic Data
| ID | 746276 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomas Ricento |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thomas |
| FAMILY NAME | Ricento |
| SIGNATURE | RICENTO T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Calgary |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 292 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1986 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
English Worldwide and Linguistic Justice
This opening article of the special issue “English worldwide and linguistic justice” starts from the premise that more interdisciplinary work is needed that bridges sociolinguistic research with linguistic justice theories to provide deeper, more nuanced understandings of the position and functions of English around the world today. A chronological review of the literature is provided to, first, go over the sociolinguistic models and frameworks t…
Critiques of Language Policy and Planning
We need to make a distinction at the outset between language policy and planning (LPP) as a purposeful activity carried out by elected officials, ministries of government, officially sanctioned bodies (such as school boards and language academies), community groups and organizations (such as churches), businesses, and families (who may, for example, wish to maintain the learning and use of a particular language which might not be taught in the sc…
Towards a political economy of immigrant languages and multilingualism
Introductory comments
The challenges faced by scholars and community activists supporting language revitalisation efforts are multifaceted and complex; whether members of communities with a common (including ancestral) language, shared values and histories choose to maintain their language depends in large measure on how that community—individually and collectively—responds to the forces that tend to devalue and marginalise their language and/or culture. There is no e…
Language Policy and Political Economy
As English emerges as the first worldwide lingua franca, countries whose native language is not English increasingly face the following dilemma: either they will have to lose their soul (by switching off the protection of their national language and culture) or they will have to lose their heart (by scaling down the redistributive component of their welfare state). This conclusion rests on the following premises, which the chapter presents and vi…
Passing the Torch
Language policies in education
This is the second edition of a book first published in 2002. The layout and topics covered are similar, and 6 of the 14 authors here were contributors to the first edition. Most of the chapters ar
Introduction to the thematic issue
Thinking about language
Dis-Citizenship for Refugees in Canada
In this article, a case study is used to illustrate how the construct of dis-citizenship may be applied to the circumstances of refugees in a Canadian city. Based on findings from a year long ethnography of refugee families in Calgary, Canada, I focus on the experiences of one of the participants, Fernando, a highly trained surgeon from Colombia, to illustrate some of the ways that a person's identity can be diminished—at times, erased—when his s…
The consequences of official bilingualism on the status and perception of non-official languages in Canada
The year 2011 marked the 40th Anniversary of Canadian Multiculturalism as an official federal policy. It also marked the 42nd anniversary of passage of the Official Languages Act (1969) that gave English and French equal status in the government of Canada. Much has been written, both positive and negative, about the impetus for and subsequent effects of official bilingualism and multiculturalism on Canadian society. More recently, scholars have r…
Conceptual and theoretical perspectives in language planning and policy
In this article we examine the theoretical and conceptual history of Language Planning and Policy (LPP) and situate the ethnography of language policy within the historical trajectory of the field. This is offered as a reprise to Ricento's (2000a) overview of the field, in which he examined the theoretical and conceptual contributions up to 2000. We review that piece, focusing on the three major epochs that Ricento identifies, and then examine de…
Americanization, Language Ideologies and the Construction of European Identities
Few of us today would question the centrality of ideology in matters concerning language status and use. In fact it has become increasingly clear to many of us who work in language policy and planning (LPP) that it is impossible to look at social structures and processes apart from ideologies, which van Dijk (1998: 8), defines as the ‘shared framework(s) of social beliefs that organize and coordinate the social interpretations and practices of gr…
On Race, Language, Power and Identity
Intercultural Communication: An Advanced Resource Book. A. Holliday, M. Hyde, and J. Kullman Language Policy: Theory and Method. T. Ricento Ebonics: The Urban Education Debate (2nd Edition). J. Ramirez, T. Wiley, G. de Klerk, E. Lee, and W. Wright
Problems with the ‘language‐as‐resource’ discourse in the promotion of heritage languages in the U.S.A
In the United States, language ‘rights’ have been tethered to ethnic or racial entitlements as a means to redress historical patterns of discrimination and exclusion. The perception that language ‘rights’ are about the redress of past wrongs has had negative effects on efforts to gain broad public support for the teaching and maintenance of languages other than English. The language‐as‐resource orientation ( Ruiz 1984 ) is considered as an altern…
Press “ONE” for English
Journal Article Press “ONE” for English: Language Policy, Public Opinion, and American Identity Get access Press “ONE” for English: Language Policy, Public Opinion, and American Identity by Deborah J. Schildkraut. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2005. 264 pp. $35.00. Thomas Ricento Thomas Ricento University of Texas, San Antonio Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume…
The Discursive Construction of Americanism
This study focuses on the construction of American national identity which emerged during the Americanization campaign, roughly 1914-1924. Period texts are analyzed using techniques of pragmatic and rhetorical analysis within a discourse-historical framework (Wodak, 2001). Three representations of Americanism are described. Two of these representations presuppose consensus on particular views of American identity, whereas the third finds such vie…
Ideology, Politics and Language Policies
This volume critically examines the effects of the spread of English from colonialism to the ‘New World Order’. The research explores the complex and often contradictory roles English has played in national development. Historical analyses and case studies by leading researchers in language policy studies reveal that deterministic relationships between imperial languages, such as English, and societal hierarchies are untenable, and that support o…
Language, Literacy, Politics, and Access
Language, Literacy, Politics, and Access: Literacy, Access, and Libraries Among the Language Minority Population.: Rebecca Constantino (Ed). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1998. Pp. viii + 252. Language, Literacy, Politics, and Access: Language and Politics in the United States and Canada: Myths and Realities.: Thomas Ricento and Barbara Burnaby (Eds.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1998. Pp. xv + 357. Language, Literacy, Politics, and Access: Dialects in S…
Historical and theoretical perspectives in language policy and planning
This paper explores the evolution of language policy and planning (LPP) as an area of research from the end of World War II to the present day. Based on analysis of the LPP literature, three types of factors are identified as having been instrumental in shaping the field. These factors - macro sociopolitical, epistemological, and strategic - individually and interactively have influenced the kinds of questions asked, methodologies adopted, and go…
Language and Politics in the United States and Canada
Language Policy
1. Foreword: Palmam qui meruit ferat (by Kaplan, Robert B.) 3. Introduction (by Wren, Helen) 4. I. The Dominance of English and National Language Policies: An Overview 5. 1. Making a difference in language policy agendas (by Wren, Helen) 6. 2. The English language metaphors we live by (by Eggington, William) 7. II. Language and Language-in-Education Policies in English-Dominant Nations 8. 3. The grown-ups know best: Language policy-making in Brit…
Linguistic Imperialism
Perspectives on Official English
H A number of important issues crystalize in movement to declare English official language of United States; among these are role of bilingual education in public schools, status of minority languages and their speakers, constitutional questions of free speech and civil rights, immigration policy, and language planning and policy. Educators, sociolinguists, and jurists may respond to these issues according to their areas of expertise and provide …
Clausal ellipsis in multi-party conversation in english
Historical and theoretical perspectives in language policy and planning
This paper explores the evolution of language policy and planning (LPP) as an area of research from the end of World War II to the present day. Based on analysis of the LPP literature, three types of factors are identified as having been instrumental in shaping the field. These factors - macro sociopolitical, epistemological, and strategic - individually and interactively have influenced the kinds of questions asked, methodologies adopted, and go…
Problems with the ‘language‐as‐resource’ discourse in the promotion of heritage languages in the U.S.A
In the United States, language ‘rights’ have been tethered to ethnic or racial entitlements as a means to redress historical patterns of discrimination and exclusion. The perception that language ‘rights’ are about the redress of past wrongs has had negative effects on efforts to gain broad public support for the teaching and maintenance of languages other than English. The language‐as‐resource orientation ( Ruiz 1984 ) is considered as an altern…
The Discursive Construction of Americanism
This study focuses on the construction of American national identity which emerged during the Americanization campaign, roughly 1914-1924. Period texts are analyzed using techniques of pragmatic and rhetorical analysis within a discourse-historical framework (Wodak, 2001). Three representations of Americanism are described. Two of these representations presuppose consensus on particular views of American identity, whereas the third finds such vie…
Press “ONE” for English
Journal Article Press “ONE” for English: Language Policy, Public Opinion, and American Identity Get access Press “ONE” for English: Language Policy, Public Opinion, and American Identity by Deborah J. Schildkraut. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2005. 264 pp. $35.00. Thomas Ricento Thomas Ricento University of Texas, San Antonio Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume…
The consequences of official bilingualism on the status and perception of non-official languages in Canada
The year 2011 marked the 40th Anniversary of Canadian Multiculturalism as an official federal policy. It also marked the 42nd anniversary of passage of the Official Languages Act (1969) that gave English and French equal status in the government of Canada. Much has been written, both positive and negative, about the impetus for and subsequent effects of official bilingualism and multiculturalism on Canadian society. More recently, scholars have r…
Introduction to the thematic issue
Thinking about language
Dis-Citizenship for Refugees in Canada
In this article, a case study is used to illustrate how the construct of dis-citizenship may be applied to the circumstances of refugees in a Canadian city. Based on findings from a year long ethnography of refugee families in Calgary, Canada, I focus on the experiences of one of the participants, Fernando, a highly trained surgeon from Colombia, to illustrate some of the ways that a person's identity can be diminished—at times, erased—when his s…
Conceptual and theoretical perspectives in language planning and policy
In this article we examine the theoretical and conceptual history of Language Planning and Policy (LPP) and situate the ethnography of language policy within the historical trajectory of the field. This is offered as a reprise to Ricento's (2000a) overview of the field, in which he examined the theoretical and conceptual contributions up to 2000. We review that piece, focusing on the three major epochs that Ricento identifies, and then examine de…
"Comments on Bernard A. Mohan and Winnie Au-Yeung Lo's "Academic Writing and Chinese Students
Thomas Ricento, Comments on Bernard A. Mohan and Winnie Au-Yeung Lo's "Academic Writing and Chinese Students: Transfer and Developmental Factors". A Reader Reacts, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Sep., 1986), pp. 565-568
Clausal ellipsis in multi-party conversation in english
Clausal ellipsis in multi-party conversation in english
Perspectives on Official English
H A number of important issues crystalize in movement to declare English official language of United States; among these are role of bilingual education in public schools, status of minority languages and their speakers, constitutional questions of free speech and civil rights, immigration policy, and language planning and policy. Educators, sociolinguists, and jurists may respond to these issues according to their areas of expertise and provide …
Linguistic Imperialism
Language Policy
1. Foreword: Palmam qui meruit ferat (by Kaplan, Robert B.) 3. Introduction (by Wren, Helen) 4. I. The Dominance of English and National Language Policies: An Overview 5. 1. Making a difference in language policy agendas (by Wren, Helen) 6. 2. The English language metaphors we live by (by Eggington, William) 7. II. Language and Language-in-Education Policies in English-Dominant Nations 8. 3. The grown-ups know best: Language policy-making in Brit…
Language and Politics in the United States and Canada
Ideology, Politics and Language Policies
This volume critically examines the effects of the spread of English from colonialism to the ‘New World Order’. The research explores the complex and often contradictory roles English has played in national development. Historical analyses and case studies by leading researchers in language policy studies reveal that deterministic relationships between imperial languages, such as English, and societal hierarchies are untenable, and that support o…
Language, Literacy, Politics, and Access
Language, Literacy, Politics, and Access: Literacy, Access, and Libraries Among the Language Minority Population.: Rebecca Constantino (Ed). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1998. Pp. viii + 252. Language, Literacy, Politics, and Access: Language and Politics in the United States and Canada: Myths and Realities.: Thomas Ricento and Barbara Burnaby (Eds.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1998. Pp. xv + 357. Language, Literacy, Politics, and Access: Dialects in S…
Historical and theoretical perspectives in language policy and planning
This paper explores the evolution of language policy and planning (LPP) as an area of research from the end of World War II to the present day. Based on analysis of the LPP literature, three types of factors are identified as having been instrumental in shaping the field. These factors - macro sociopolitical, epistemological, and strategic - individually and interactively have influenced the kinds of questions asked, methodologies adopted, and go…
The Discursive Construction of Americanism
This study focuses on the construction of American national identity which emerged during the Americanization campaign, roughly 1914-1924. Period texts are analyzed using techniques of pragmatic and rhetorical analysis within a discourse-historical framework (Wodak, 2001). Three representations of Americanism are described. Two of these representations presuppose consensus on particular views of American identity, whereas the third finds such vie…
Problems with the ‘language‐as‐resource’ discourse in the promotion of heritage languages in the U.S.A
In the United States, language ‘rights’ have been tethered to ethnic or racial entitlements as a means to redress historical patterns of discrimination and exclusion. The perception that language ‘rights’ are about the redress of past wrongs has had negative effects on efforts to gain broad public support for the teaching and maintenance of languages other than English. The language‐as‐resource orientation ( Ruiz 1984 ) is considered as an altern…
Press “ONE” for English
Journal Article Press “ONE” for English: Language Policy, Public Opinion, and American Identity Get access Press “ONE” for English: Language Policy, Public Opinion, and American Identity by Deborah J. Schildkraut. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2005. 264 pp. $35.00. Thomas Ricento Thomas Ricento University of Texas, San Antonio Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume…
Americanization, Language Ideologies and the Construction of European Identities
Few of us today would question the centrality of ideology in matters concerning language status and use. In fact it has become increasingly clear to many of us who work in language policy and planning (LPP) that it is impossible to look at social structures and processes apart from ideologies, which van Dijk (1998: 8), defines as the ‘shared framework(s) of social beliefs that organize and coordinate the social interpretations and practices of gr…
On Race, Language, Power and Identity
Intercultural Communication: An Advanced Resource Book. A. Holliday, M. Hyde, and J. Kullman Language Policy: Theory and Method. T. Ricento Ebonics: The Urban Education Debate (2nd Edition). J. Ramirez, T. Wiley, G. de Klerk, E. Lee, and W. Wright
Dis-Citizenship for Refugees in Canada
In this article, a case study is used to illustrate how the construct of dis-citizenship may be applied to the circumstances of refugees in a Canadian city. Based on findings from a year long ethnography of refugee families in Calgary, Canada, I focus on the experiences of one of the participants, Fernando, a highly trained surgeon from Colombia, to illustrate some of the ways that a person's identity can be diminished—at times, erased—when his s…
The consequences of official bilingualism on the status and perception of non-official languages in Canada
The year 2011 marked the 40th Anniversary of Canadian Multiculturalism as an official federal policy. It also marked the 42nd anniversary of passage of the Official Languages Act (1969) that gave English and French equal status in the government of Canada. Much has been written, both positive and negative, about the impetus for and subsequent effects of official bilingualism and multiculturalism on Canadian society. More recently, scholars have r…
Conceptual and theoretical perspectives in language planning and policy
In this article we examine the theoretical and conceptual history of Language Planning and Policy (LPP) and situate the ethnography of language policy within the historical trajectory of the field. This is offered as a reprise to Ricento's (2000a) overview of the field, in which he examined the theoretical and conceptual contributions up to 2000. We review that piece, focusing on the three major epochs that Ricento identifies, and then examine de…
Introduction to the thematic issue
Thinking about language
Language Policy and Political Economy
As English emerges as the first worldwide lingua franca, countries whose native language is not English increasingly face the following dilemma: either they will have to lose their soul (by switching off the protection of their national language and culture) or they will have to lose their heart (by scaling down the redistributive component of their welfare state). This conclusion rests on the following premises, which the chapter presents and vi…
Passing the Torch
Language policies in education
This is the second edition of a book first published in 2002. The layout and topics covered are similar, and 6 of the 14 authors here were contributors to the first edition. Most of the chapters ar
Introductory comments
The challenges faced by scholars and community activists supporting language revitalisation efforts are multifaceted and complex; whether members of communities with a common (including ancestral) language, shared values and histories choose to maintain their language depends in large measure on how that community—individually and collectively—responds to the forces that tend to devalue and marginalise their language and/or culture. There is no e…
Towards a political economy of immigrant languages and multilingualism
Multilingual Education and Policy (22 works) · Sociology (20 works) · Linguistics (19 works) · Political science (17 works) · Philosophy (14 works) · Politics (14 works) · Law (12 works) · Second Language Learning and Teaching (10 works) · Pedagogy (9 works) · Language policy (8 works)