Moral foundations and language ideologies

How different moral concerns predict endorsement of linguistic diversity, prescriptivism, and purism

Bibliographic Data

ID11293754
AuthorsHasan Berkcan Şimşek (0000-0001-5467-7664, Doctoral School of Philology , 68192 HSE University , Moscow , Russia, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume45
Issue1
Pages89-121
Publication date2026-01-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMultilingua (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0167-8507 • E-ISSN: 1613-3684
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/multi-2025-0180
OpenAlexW4416276481
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited53

Public debates on language use often take on moral overtones. Observing how moral concerns permeate these debates has led scholars to interpret them as a rhetorical strategy or as an indicator of a link between morality and language beliefs. Yet, it remains unclear whether such a link truly exists and, if so, in what ways. This study applies Moral Foundations Theory to examine associations between six moral foundations and three language ideologies in Turkey using a validated survey-based design ( N = 275). Findings show that language ideologies align consistently with how individuals prioritize certain moral values. Participants prioritizing moral foundations associated with in-group interests, social hierarchies, and purity (binding foundations) were significantly more likely to hold more restrictive language ideologies, compared to those prioritizing moral foundations concerning well-being, equality, and liberty (individualizing foundations). Contrary to the hypotheses, moral purity (which emphasizes avoiding physical and/or spiritual contamination) did not emerge as a significant predictor of linguistic purism, nor did moral deference to authority and tradition significantly predict the belief that there must be a legitimate authority in language use. The findings indicate that effectively addressing linguistic inequality must account for the role of moral reasoning. Future directions for research on morality and language as an area of inquiry are discussed

Deference · Ideology · Moral authority · Moral disengagement · Morality · Rhetorical question · Social cognitive theory of morality · Gender Studies in Language · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy

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