Globalizing Languages: Ideologies and Realities of the Contemporary Global System
Author(s)
Friedman, Jonathan
Abstract
Globalization is best understood as a phase of decentralization of wealth and power in the world arena that is a hallmark of a decline in economic hegemony, a phase accompanied by enormous dislocations and migrations of people, by class polarization and cultural fragmentation, and by the rise of new powerful regions. The current period of globalization is also characterized by a decline in the capacity of states to nationalize, and, consequently, by the upsurge of a series of alternative identifications, such as those based on indigenousness, regional location, and immigrant status. These fluctuations in power, as well as the formation of new identities that accompanies them, have significant implications for understanding contemporary linguistic ideologies and practices: Reconfigurations of identification lead to the formation of hierarchical spaces reflected in ranked local usages of languages. Using the example of Hawaii, this article outlines fundamental relations between contemporary global processes and cultural identity with an eye to assessing their significance for understanding linguistic change.
