Language and Social Identity: A Psychosocial Approach

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.LANGUAGE seems to have two principal functions; it is, of course, an instrument of commu- nication, but it can also constitute a means of asserting one’s identity or one’s distinctive- ness from others. A common language may be the ideal vehicle to express the unique character of a social group, and to encourage common social ties on the basis of a common identity (Dieckhoff, 2004). Here it is argued that language can be a robust marker of social identity, capable of binding and dividing groups and that its salience may displace other (e.g. ethnic or religious) identities (Jaspal & Coyle, in press). It is primarily sociolinguistics which has concerned itself with questions of language and identity (e.g. Rampton, 1995; Harris, 2006) but here it is argued that a variety of social psychological theories of identity may complement and enrich the ongoing, primarily sociolinguistic, debate on the relationship between language and social identity