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Article published In: Belgian Journal of Linguistics, Volume 37 (2023): Tangible Traces of Language Ideologies
Edited by Esther Baiwir, Janine Berns and Marie Steffens
[Belgian Journal of Linguistics 37] 2023
► pp. 74–98

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“Well-educated people speak English, but better educated people speak French as well”

Language of prestige as a linguistic representation amongst university language students in Brussels

 | Free University of Brussels (ULB)
Published online: 6 June 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/bjl.00081.tie
Abstract
With the possibility to enroll in courses in nineteen different languages, the free university of Brussels (ULB) has opted for a linguistic offer that reflects the city’s highly multilingual character. In the faculty of languages and literature, students interact in and with multiple languages on a daily basis. In a study which interrogated these students on their linguistic representations, representations related to prestige were shown to be an important part of the collected responses. This paper aims to provide an overview of the different manifestations and interpretations of the ‘language of prestige’ linguistic representation in this sample of participants regarding the languages taught at the faculty. It also explores various implications that this representation has for language learning, as well as questions raised by the possible interpretative bias of the researcher trying to observe and study linguistic representations. In addition, this paper written in English relating research conducted in French addresses the issue of ‘epistemological translation’ and the challenges it poses.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework
  • 3.Contextual and methodological aspects of the research
    • 3.1Linguistic context
    • 3.2Method
  • 4.The data
    • 4.1Ontolinguistic representations
      • 4.1.1Prestige and weight of a language
      • 4.1.2Prestige and cultural influence
    • 4.2Praxolinguistic representations
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (45)
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