Language and Power

Bibliographic Data

ID22370987
AuthorsNelson Flores (0000-0003-3864-7806, California University of Pennsylvania), Mark C Lewis (0000-0002-7451-5176, California University of Pennsylvania)
Year2020
Pages1-13
Publication date2020-11-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeOTHER
VenueThe International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology (JOURNAL)
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/9781118786093.iela0199
OpenAlexW619686314
ISBN9781118786093
LanguageEN
References cited52

In this entry we use the work of Michel Foucault as a starting point for theorizing a discursive approach to the study of the relationship between language and power. We combine Foucault's theorizations of the grid of intelligibility and governmentality to develop a coherent framework for analyzing the relationship between language and power in two ways. For one, language is the primary mediator of the subject positions produced within the grid of intelligibility. In addition, particular ideologies about the nature of language play an integral role in the production of these subject positions. We examine the ways that these two aspects of the relationship between language and power have coalesced in the production of governable subjects to fit the needs of modern society. We also examine the many forms of resistance that have emerged that seek to expand the grid of intelligibility by both legitimizing currently delegitimized subject positions and by developing new subject positions. We end with some implications of this theorization of the relationship between language and power for linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics

Epistemology · Governmentality · Ideology · Language ideology · Linguistics · Michel foucault · Political science · Politics · Sociolinguistics · Sociology · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Law · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy

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