Abstract
The discourse on linguistic diversity, relativity and pluralism is currently dominant in sociolinguistics. By extension, arguments for universalism are currently unfashionable in the field, particularly within its interpretivist strand. This paper claims that interpretivist sociolinguistics promotes conflicting, often lukewarm, and at times antagonistic views on universalism as a core emancipatory value. In response, the argument is made that appreciating universalism requires a layered social ontology afforded by critical realism. To build this critique, the paper first surveys how universalism has been neglected by prominent interpretivist sociolinguists to date. It then provides a conceptual account of critical realism’s layered social ontology and its relation to sociolinguistics. A discussion on the nature and importance of values in social science and sociolinguistics follows. Finally, the paper discusses universalism as a core emancipatory value, its critique, and its relation to sociolinguistics.
Acknowledgment
I would like to thank my mother, Myriam Morissette, for her love and support, her tireless work in feminism and secularism in the province of Québec for over forty years, and for reminding me of the centrality of a universalist perspective in critical social research.
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- Titelei
- The value of language skills in Latvia: From socio-economic inequality to multilingual awareness
- Racial segregation and language variation in Louisiana Creole: Social meaning in language loss
- Sociolinguistics and Universalism
- Language Ideologies and Dialect Shift in Helvécian Portuguese
- Miscellaneous
- An interview with Suzanne Romaine
- An interview with Theo du Plessis
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- Gazzola, Michele, Federico Gobbo, David Cassels Johnson & Jorge Antonio Leoni de León (2023): Epistemological and Theoretical Foundations in Language Policy and Planning. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. 140 p.
- Franz, Sebastian (2021): Mehrsprachigkeit und Identität. Die alpindeutsche Siedlung Sappada / Pladen / Plodn [Multilingualism and Identity. The Alpine-German Settlement of Sappada / Pladen / Plodn] (Beiheft der Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik 186). Stuttgart: Steiner. 284 p.
- Hünlich, David (2022): Von ‚Gastarbeiterdeutsch‘ zu ‚Kiezdeutsch‘. Morphosyntax im Wandel [From ‘Gastarbeiterdeutsch’ to ‘Kiezdeutsch’: Changes in morphosyntax] (OraLingua 19). Heidelberg: Winter, 339 p.
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- The value of language skills in Latvia: From socio-economic inequality to multilingual awareness
- Racial segregation and language variation in Louisiana Creole: Social meaning in language loss
- Sociolinguistics and Universalism
- Language Ideologies and Dialect Shift in Helvécian Portuguese
- Miscellaneous
- An interview with Suzanne Romaine
- An interview with Theo du Plessis
- Reviews
- Gazzola, Michele, Federico Gobbo, David Cassels Johnson & Jorge Antonio Leoni de León (2023): Epistemological and Theoretical Foundations in Language Policy and Planning. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. 140 p.
- Franz, Sebastian (2021): Mehrsprachigkeit und Identität. Die alpindeutsche Siedlung Sappada / Pladen / Plodn [Multilingualism and Identity. The Alpine-German Settlement of Sappada / Pladen / Plodn] (Beiheft der Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik 186). Stuttgart: Steiner. 284 p.
- Hünlich, David (2022): Von ‚Gastarbeiterdeutsch‘ zu ‚Kiezdeutsch‘. Morphosyntax im Wandel [From ‘Gastarbeiterdeutsch’ to ‘Kiezdeutsch’: Changes in morphosyntax] (OraLingua 19). Heidelberg: Winter, 339 p.