Empowerment or control? Attitudes and ideologies towards (non-)standard language among London’s Spanish speakers

In this paper, I seek to identify contemporary patterns of linguistic normativity in London, a superdiverse, multilingual context where Spanish exists as a migrant/heritage language. This hitherto under-researched area will be examined from the perspective of standard and non-standard varieties of Spanish, particularly as these are present in the visual environment concentrated around areas with established migrant populations such as Elephant & Castle and Seven Sisters (Latin Americans) and Notting Hill (Spaniards). The paper will reflect on how Linguistic Landscapes (Blommaert 2013, Gorter 2006, Landry & Bourhis 1997) as an approach helps us to understand issues of urban multilingualism, namely: (1) the visual environment or production of texts, and (2) the practices of Spanish language users as they engage with the visibility of the language or consumption of texts. How does language ‘transform the social landscape’ (Vertovec 2007), how do Spanish speakers make claims on these multilingual spaces, and to what extent can/do sociolinguistic methods and practices show us how? This study will also draw upon qualitative interviews with Spanish-English bilinguals to illustrate speakers’ attitudes regarding the value of standard and non-standard language varieties they (and others) use in superdiverse London. I will go on to ask what perceptions of normativity or ‘verbal hygiene’ (Cameron 2012) exist among migrant populations in situations of language contact, both in terms of their attitudes towards ‘other’ national varieties of Spanish, as well as the perceived need to acquire the dominant language in that setting, English. The voices of policy makers, migrants, support organisations, as well as teachers and learners of both Spanish and English will inform this discussion