Signs of Difference
Language and Ideology in Social Life

An important study of how signs and sign relations create social and linguistic differences - and unities.

Susan Gal (Author), Judith T. Irvine (Author)

9781108741293, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 June 2019

326 pages, 3 b/w illus. 8 tables
22.8 x 15.3 x 2 cm, 0.49 kg

'… the book walks the reader through the semiotic experience of everyday life, making it possible to see meaning-making as it happens, a quality that makes it particularly valuable for students.' Cambridge University Press

How are peoples' ideas about languages, ways of speaking and expressive styles shaped by their social positions and values? How is difference, in language and in social life, made - and unmade? How and why are some differences persuasive as the basis for action, while other differences are ignored or erased? Written by two recognised authorities on language and culture, this book argues that ideological work of all kinds is fundamentally communicative, and that social positions, projects and historical moments influence, and are influenced by, people's ideas about communicative practices. Neither true nor false, ideologies are positioned and partial visions of the world, relying on comparison and perspective; they exploit differences in expressive features - linguistic and otherwise - to construct convincing stereotypes of people, spaces and activities. Using detailed ethnographic, historical and contemporary examples, this outstanding book shows readers how to analyse ideological work semiotically.

Prologue: questions and exhibits
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I. Ethnography: 1. Wolof in Senegal
2. German-Hungarians in Hungary
Part II. Semiotics: 3. Ingredients: signs, conjectures, perspectives
4. Comparison: the semiotics of differentiation
5. Dynamics of change in differentiation
Part III. Sites: 6. Situating ideological work
7. Among and between sites
8. Scales and scale-making: connecting sites
Part IV. Pasts: 9. Library to field: ideologies in nineteenth-century linguistic research
Coda: avenues of inquiry.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Sociolinguistics [CFB], Linguistics [CF], Language: history & general works [CBX], Language: reference & general [CB]