Simpson, W;
O'Regan, JP;
(2021)
Confronting Language Fetishism in Practice.
In: Petrovic, JE and Yazan, B, (eds.)
The Commodification of Language: Conceptual Concerns and Empirical Manifestations.
(pp. 7-23).
Routledge: London, UK.
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Abstract
The notion of fetishism, in the most general interpretation of the term, is one in which an object is afforded extra-natural properties, or is animated and brought to life as an agentive “thing”. In this sense, the notion of language as a fetish (Simpson & O’Regan, 2018; Simpson, 2018) imagines languages such as English as bearing all kinds of extra-linguistic properties: As a product or service (Singh & Han, 2008), as a commodity or resource which speakers exchange (Heller, 2016), as a mythical “thing” which does this or that to people (Pennycook, 2007), and even as a cause of social suffering (Piller & Cho, 2013; Piller, Takahashi, & Watanabe, 2010). What we offer in this chapter is a critical engagement with the notion of fetishism as it relates to a larger body of work on language, language policy, and political economy, in respect of language alienated and fetishised in standard forms; the recasting of language not as a social product, but as a form of legal property, owned and traded by individuals; and the necessity of fetishised forms of language in the functioning of the “free” market. We conclude by underscoring the notion of fetishism as consisting in illusions which exist not in theory, but in practice, and with a call for future research to examine the fetishism of languages in the practice of the market. We therefore argue that calls for policy to develop critical reflexive awareness in speakers, while certainly important, are not in themselves sufficient for moving beyond fetishistic notions of language.
| Type: | Book chapter |
|---|---|
| Title: | Confronting Language Fetishism in Practice |
| ISBN: | 0367464071 |
| ISBN-13: | 9780367464073 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.4324/9781003028581 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003028581 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Language Commodification, Political Economy, Language Economics, Language Fetishism |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Culture, Communication and Media |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10126900 |
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