Ecolinguistics

Ecolinguistics emerged in the 1990s as a new paradigm of linguistic research which took into account not only the social context in which language is embedded, but also the ecological context in which societies are embedded. Michael Halliday's 1990 paper New ways of Meaning: the challenge to applied linguistics is often credited as a seminal work which provided the stimulus for linguists to consider the ecological context and consequences of language. Among other things, the challenge that Halliday put forward was to make linguistics relevant to the issues and concerns of the 21st century, particularly the widespread destruction of ecosystems. The main example Halliday gave was that of 'economic growth', where he described how the orientation of the English language with regard to unmarked terms such as large, grow, tall, and good gives growth a positive aspect, despite the negative ecological consequences. Since Halliday's initial comments, the field of ecolinguistics has developed considerably, primarily in the direction of analysing the ecological impact of specific discourses rather than languages in general. The main online research forum for ecolinguistics, the Language & Ecology Research Forum, characterises ecolinguistics in this way:

"Ecolinguistics examines the influence of language on the life-sustaining relationships of humans with each other, with other organisms and with the natural environment. Research ranges from the impact of advertising discourse in encouraging ecologically damaging consumption to the power of nature poetry to encourage respect for the natural world."

There are two main approaches which use the term 'ecolinguistics' and they can be glossed as 'eco-critical discourse analysis' and 'linguistic ecology'.

Eco-critical discourse analysis

Eco-critical discourse analysis includes, but is not limited to, the application of critical discourse analysis to texts about the environment and environmentalism, in order to reveal hidden assumptions and hidden messages and comment on the effectiveness of these in achieving environmental aims (e.g. Stibbe 2012, Harré et al. 1999). In its fullest formation, it includes analysis of any discourse which has potential consequences for the future of ecosystems, such as neoliberal economic discourse and discursive constructions of consumerism, gender, politics, agriculture and nature (e.g. Goatly 2000, Stibbe 2004). Eco-critical discourse analysis does not just focus on exposing potentially damaging ideologies, but also searches for discursive representations which can contribute to a more ecologically sustainable society. Approaches such as ecosemiotics (Selvamony 2007), environmental communication and ecocriticism have broadly similar aims and techniques to eco-critical discourse analysis.

Linguistic ecology

The term 'linguistic ecology' was first used in an article on the "language situation" in Arizona (Voegelin, Voegelin and Schutz, 1967). It was taken up by Einar Haugen, who pioneered a form of linguistics which used the metaphor of an ecosystem to describe the relationships among the diverse forms of language found in the world, and the groups of people who speak them. Whether Linguistic Ecology is a form of ecolinguistics or is more suitably characterised as sociolinguistics is a controversial issue. Linguistic Ecology looks at how languages interact with each other and the places they are spoken in, and frequently argues for the preservation of endangered languages as an analogy of the preservation of biological species. Some claim that this is not ecolinguistics because the focus is on language rather than the impact of language on actual biological/physical ecosystems. However, others have argued that separation of the metaphorical 'linguistic ecology' from ecolinguistics would be reductionist (Steffensen 2007), because high linguistic diversity is associated with high biological diversity (see Bastardas-Boada 2002). The relationship between linguistic diversity and biodiversity is claimed to arise since local ecological knowledge is built into local language varieties and threatened if the local language is threatened by a more dominant language (see Mühlhäusler 1995). A compromise position is that Linguistic Ecology is a form of ecolinguistics if the 'end' being sought is the preservation of the actual ecosystems that support life and the 'means' is through preserving language diversity, but a form of sociolinguistics if language diversity itself is the only 'end' sought (Stibbe 2010).

Resources

Language & Ecology Research Forum (http://www.ecoling.net) contains a wide range of resources including the online journal Language & Ecology, and an international network of ecolinguists

The Ecolinguistics Website (http://www-gewi.kfunigraz.ac.at/ed/project/ecoling)

References

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