Rationale D11: How much influence can the Focus Group exert in domain X?

Goal

By this question, we wish to investigate whether any group has the potential for greater influence over the other group(s) within this domain. Put another way, we are interested in power differences between and across groups. We take the existence of hierarchy between groups as a sign that power differences of some kind are likely to exist.

Definitions

  • Influence is practically always exerted: In essence, Focus Group people alone decide the terms.
  • Influence is very much exerted: Focus Group people will have a say, and there is a good chance that they will get their way.
  • Influence is somewhat exerted: Focus Group people may have a say, but it is not predictable whether they will get their way.
  • Influence is exerted very little: Focus Group people may have a say, but it is unlikely that they will get their way.
  • Influence is practically never exerted: Focus Group people are essentially excluded from decision making.

Theoretical & Empirical Support

Many works in sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics have presented data and analyses on linguistic variation as a means of negotiating power in situations where social hierarchies exist. For example, the common finding that women are more likely than men to speak standard varieties is analysed as a linguistic means of accessing social power (see Romaine 2008; Rau et al. 2009 for the Yami of Taiwan).

The power associated with the variety may be related to so-called overt prestige in formal domain, such as the workplace. Power may also pertain to locally meaningful forms of influence, as is stated in the notion of covert prestige (Trudgill 1972; Dodsworth 2011 in the context of social class). In this case, the hierarchies may not be those pertaining to formal institutions and economic power, but valuing certain social meanings over others (e.g. Salmon & Gómez Menjivar 2016 on Belizean Kriol; Toribio 2000 on Dominican Republic Spanish). The key here is some conceptualisation of “better” vs “lesser” along some value axis.

Linguistic behaviours appear to be strongly affected when localised power differences exist between speakers of certain linguistic groups. For example, language stigmatisation is a characteristic of places where there is some kind of superior/inferior relationship stemming from economic, political, and other kinds of social power. Language shift often occurs when minority languages are viewed as being of lower prestige (cf. Loureiro-Rodriguez et al. 2013; Potowski 2013). On the other hand, places that have relatively similar kinds of powers in various domains have been observed as having egalitarian attitudes towards other languages, which in turn sustain environments conducive to multilingualism (e.g. Singer & Harris 2016 for Aboriginal northern Australia; François 2012 for Vanuatu). In this sense, this question is closely tied to the B-set of questions in this questionnaire (BA, BH, BI), which asks about speakers' beliefs and attitudes towards languages.

    Questions