I Won’t Speak Our Language with You : The English Privilege, English-speaking Foreigner Stereotype, and Language Ostracism in Taiwan
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Human Affairs : Postdisciplinary Humanities & Social Sciences Quarterly |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/humaff/27/1/article-p22.xml |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/humaff-2017-0003 |
| Keywords | language ostracism; social exclusion; English privilege; visually distinct minorities; Taiwan |
| Description | The present study addresses language ostracism in intercultural communication, a phenomenon when someone speaks a language but some members of this language community don’t speak to him in this language. This phenomenon is illustrated by language behaviour towards visually distinct bilingual minorities in Taiwan. Visually distinct minorities in Taiwan reported that they had been spoken to in English by small children or people who did not believe and accept that they really understood Mandarin when they spoke it. They might be spoken to in English despite actually speaking good Mandarin. Taiwanese people behave this way because of two conditions existing in Taiwan: an English-speaking foreigner stereotype where people assume that every foreign-looking person speaks English, and English privilege in Taiwanese society which leads to people being treated better if they can speak English. |