Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Schizoglossia

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Schizoglossia is a linguistic term used to refer linguistic insecurity or language complex about one's mother language. The term was coined by Einar Haugen in 1962.

Linguistic insecurity is common in societies where there are two language varieties and one is seen as incorrect and the other as proper. For example: Standard French versus Haitian French (often seen as a "creole") or Standard American English versus AfroAmerican English. In these cases, one variety is seen as "bad" and its speaker might want to correct some usages for some more prestigious alternatives. Those negative attitudes usually make the speakers ashamed of language usage that doesn't convey prestige, either openly or indirectly by using linguistic characteristics, such as pronunciation, of the other language.

  • Einar Haugen (1972) The Ecology of Language (Stanford University Press)
  • References

    Schizoglossia Wikipedia