Monografico_2_EN_Doxa_31_Language_ideologies

The second ideology of interest here, also discussed by theory, is the representation of language as something that confirms the cultural authenticity of the speaker (Woolard 2007). This is frequent, for example in the case of Catalan in the autonomous community of Catalonia (Woolard, 2016); Spanish among New York City Spanish speakers (García and Otheguy, 2014), or Mapudungun in Chile (Gundermann, 2014). It is frequently associated with political projects around the identity of minorities or the glorification of the national. Also, authenticity converges or complements discourses of pride (Heller and Duchêne, 2012), an exacerbation of what is considered particular or exclusive of a certain human group. Pride can lead to an essentialisation of this group’s limits and the assumptions of intrinsic attributes, a tendency frequent in discourses of identity affirmation.

For the case of Chile, in particular, there is also the frequent language ideology that positions Chilean Spanish as incorrect or poorly spoken, a trope commonly reproduced inside the country but also on a transnational level, with varying implications (Sliashynskaya, 2019; Rojas, 2015). Specifically, we believe that this ideology varies according to scales: while in transnational spheres it reproduces symbolic asymmetries where certain Spanish varieties are considered superior (“central” or “standard”), on the national scale it is intimately connected to local modes to reproduce social class inequalities by the educational and cultural system. In this regard, the alleged poor quality of Chilean Spanish overlaps with an ideology of the standard language, which presupposes a hierarchy of language varieties where the most desirable form is the most similar to a supposedly neutral form (Milroy, 2001). On even smaller scales, we believe, the ideologeme of “Chilean Spanish is poor” is the consequence of micro-dynamics of power constantly updated in the practice of verbal hygiene (Cameron, 2012), subject to direct control over what is admissible in linguistic practice, rather than in the application of fixed rules. In this case, such control is linked to the perpetuation, through interpersonal interaction, of a system of symbolic and material inequalities firmly rooted in an extraordinarily unequal society.

This article discusses how these and other ideologies about language in Chile circulate on Facebook, as this digital space presents many valuable characteristics to document their negotiation. Given the textual configurations of the digital environment, language ideologies on Facebook inform about visions of Chile’s society and identity firmly rooted in its history, which, nevertheless, persist in current modes of sociocultural domination that, perhaps as never before, are in a rapid process of transformation.

2. Methodology

The methodology utilised here is rooted in the textual analysis of linguistic ideologies from the critical sociolinguistic perspective of glottopolitics. It entails an understanding of language as a political fact, necessarily involved in the constitution of power, in all its scales and radiations. Significantly, a glottopolitical approach is directed towards linguistic actions beyond institutional frames, encompassing the diverse discourses that constitute subjectivity and identity (Del Valle, 2017; Arnoux and Del Valle, 2010). In accordance with this vision, the present analysis is qualitative in nature and focuses on characterising the configurations of social discourses at specific scales and through many points of entry. It uses language ideology both as an object and an instrument of study, in a way that renders operative the complex dimensions in which contemporary discourses are constituted, i.e. as both objects separable from the production of knowledge, and as