Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Editor and Book Reviews Editor: John Edwards (St Francis Xavier University, Canada)
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Volume: 22 Number: 6 Page: 475–490
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Hiding Your Difference: How Non-global Languages are being Marginalised in Everyday Interaction
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Jim O'Driscoll
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This paper is about the effect of a particular inherited ideology on the language practices of a particular intercultural community. The ideology, outlined in the first section, may be characterised as
difference-equals-conflict. The community is a multi-national student body, and in the second section I trace the origin of one feature of its language practices to the application of the ideology.
The ultimate effect is the marginalisation of smaller languages. Like all ideologies, the difference-equals-conflict ideology affects people's behaviour independently of their conscious beliefs. In this
case, the students' positive attitudes to cultural diversity fail to prevent the diminution of this diversity. In the final section, I argue that this unwanted process results from the failure to examine
the constituent elements of the ideology. I conclude with some suggestions for undermining it.
© Multilingual Matters 2001
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