Michael Silverstein
Encyclopedia
Michael Silverstein is a professor of anthropology
, linguistics
, and psychology
at the University of Chicago
. He is a theoretician of semiotics
and linguistic anthropology
. Over the course of his career he has drawn together research on linguistic pragmatics
, sociolinguistics
, language ideology
, and grammatical theory into a comprehensive account of language in culture . Among other achievements, he has been instrumental in introducing the semiotic terminology of Charles Sanders Peirce, including especially the notion of indexicality
, into the linguistic and anthropological literature; with coining the terms metapragmatics
and metasemantics in drawing attention to the central importance of metasemiotic phenomena for any understanding of language or social life; and with developing language ideology
as a field of study. His works are noted for their terminological complexity and technical difficulty.
Silverstein earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University
, and earned his Ph.D. at Harvard under the Russian linguist, semiotician and literary critic Roman Jakobson
, a former member of the Prague School, where he also studied under the logician and philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine
. In 1982 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in the second year of the prize's existence, and was the youngest person, at the time, to be awarded the grant. He was also a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows
, in Anthropology
.
He has been a prime influence in defining 'language ideologies
' as a field of study Language ideologies are socially grounded beliefs and conceptualisations of language, its functions and its users. Based on work of Benjamin Lee Whorf and Charles Sanders Peirce, and incorporating insights from structuralism, philology, history and social theory, he sees 'language ideologies' as patterns that guide speakers' use of language and so, eventually, change that language. We talk on the basis of what we believe we can do with and in language, and by doing that we shape our language. Thus, language ideologies form the bridge between language patterns and social and cultural structure, as the socially grounded beliefs in what language is and does convert into particular patterns of use that are understandable, precisely because they fit these beliefs and the expectations they generate. The connections between usage and beliefs are empirically identifiable as 'metapragmatics' - the articulation of beliefs about language use in language use (as when we use polite formulae in addressing someone in a superior position).
Silverstein's work has caused a theoretical and conceptual shift in anthropology, linguistics and sociolinguistics. It has led to a renewed interest in the study of linguistic relativity
. It has also added another perspective of critique of 'Chomskyan' conceptions of language and it has boosted a critical and politically sensitive trend in the study of language in society, influencing notably the study of language policy, language planning, and language in education.
He has also studied the indigenous languages of Australia and the Americas.
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, and psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. He is a theoretician of semiotics
Semiotics
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...
and linguistic anthropology
Linguistic anthropology
Linguistic anthropology is the interdisciplinary study of how language influences social life. It is a branch of anthropology that originated from the endeavor to document endangered languages, and has grown over the past 100 years to encompass almost any aspect of language structure and...
. Over the course of his career he has drawn together research on linguistic pragmatics
Pragmatics
Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature, talk in interaction and other approaches to language behavior in philosophy, sociology, and linguistics. It studies how the...
, sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society...
, language ideology
Language ideology
In sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, a language or linguistic ideology is a systematic construct about how particular ways of using languages carry or are invested with certain moral, religious, social, and political values, giving rise to implicit assumptions that people have about a...
, and grammatical theory into a comprehensive account of language in culture . Among other achievements, he has been instrumental in introducing the semiotic terminology of Charles Sanders Peirce, including especially the notion of indexicality
Indexicality
In linguistics and in philosophy of language, an indexical behavior or utterance points to some state of affairs. For example, I refers to whoever is speaking; now refers to the time at which that word is uttered; and here refers to the place of utterance...
, into the linguistic and anthropological literature; with coining the terms metapragmatics
Metapragmatics
Metapragmatics is a term from linguistics and the semiotically-informed linguistic anthropology of Michael Silverstein, describing language that characterizes or describes the pragmatic function of some speech. Discussions of linguistic pragmatics—that is, discussions of what speech does in a...
and metasemantics in drawing attention to the central importance of metasemiotic phenomena for any understanding of language or social life; and with developing language ideology
Language ideology
In sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, a language or linguistic ideology is a systematic construct about how particular ways of using languages carry or are invested with certain moral, religious, social, and political values, giving rise to implicit assumptions that people have about a...
as a field of study. His works are noted for their terminological complexity and technical difficulty.
Silverstein earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, and earned his Ph.D. at Harvard under the Russian linguist, semiotician and literary critic Roman Jakobson
Roman Jakobson
Roman Osipovich Jakobson was a Russian linguist and literary theorist.As a pioneer of the structural analysis of language, which became the dominant trend of twentieth-century linguistics, Jakobson was among the most influential linguists of the century...
, a former member of the Prague School, where he also studied under the logician and philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine
Willard Van Orman Quine
Willard Van Orman Quine was an American philosopher and logician in the analytic tradition...
. In 1982 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in the second year of the prize's existence, and was the youngest person, at the time, to be awarded the grant. He was also a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows
Harvard Society of Fellows
The Harvard Society of Fellows is a group of scholars selected at the beginning of their careers by Harvard University for extraordinary scholarly potential, upon whom distinctive academic and intellectual opportunities are bestowed in order to foster their individual growth and intellectual...
, in Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
.
He has been a prime influence in defining 'language ideologies
Language ideology
In sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, a language or linguistic ideology is a systematic construct about how particular ways of using languages carry or are invested with certain moral, religious, social, and political values, giving rise to implicit assumptions that people have about a...
' as a field of study Language ideologies are socially grounded beliefs and conceptualisations of language, its functions and its users. Based on work of Benjamin Lee Whorf and Charles Sanders Peirce, and incorporating insights from structuralism, philology, history and social theory, he sees 'language ideologies' as patterns that guide speakers' use of language and so, eventually, change that language. We talk on the basis of what we believe we can do with and in language, and by doing that we shape our language. Thus, language ideologies form the bridge between language patterns and social and cultural structure, as the socially grounded beliefs in what language is and does convert into particular patterns of use that are understandable, precisely because they fit these beliefs and the expectations they generate. The connections between usage and beliefs are empirically identifiable as 'metapragmatics' - the articulation of beliefs about language use in language use (as when we use polite formulae in addressing someone in a superior position).
Silverstein's work has caused a theoretical and conceptual shift in anthropology, linguistics and sociolinguistics. It has led to a renewed interest in the study of linguistic relativity
Linguistic relativity
The principle of linguistic relativity holds that the structure of a language affects the ways in which its speakers are able to conceptualize their world, i.e. their world view...
. It has also added another perspective of critique of 'Chomskyan' conceptions of language and it has boosted a critical and politically sensitive trend in the study of language in society, influencing notably the study of language policy, language planning, and language in education.
He has also studied the indigenous languages of Australia and the Americas.
Publications
- 1976a. "Hierarchy of features and ergativity." In Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages (R.M.W. Dixon, ed.), 112–171.
- 1976b. "Shifters, linguistic categories and cultural description."
- 1979. "Language structure and linguistic ideology." In The Elements: A Parasession on Linguistic Units and Levels (R. Cline, W. Hanks, and C. Hofbauer, eds.), 193-247. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
- 1981a. "Case marking and the nature of language." Australian Journal of Linguistics, 227-244.
- 1981b. "The limits of awareness."
- 1985a. "Language and the culture of gender: at the intersection of structure, usage, and ideology." In Semiotic Mediation: Sociocultural and Psychological Perspectives (E. Mertz and R. Parmentier, eds.), 219-259. Orlando: Academic Press.
- 1985b. "The functional stratification of language and ontogenesis."
- 1987a. "The three faces of function: preliminaries to a psychology of language."
- 1987b. "Cognitive implications of a referential hierarchy."
- 1987c. "Monoglot 'Standard' in America: standardization and metaphors of linguistic hegemony."
- 1992. "The indeterminacy of contextualization: when is enough enough?" In The Contextualization of Language (Auer, Peter & Aldo Di Luzio, eds.), 55-76.
- 1992. "Of nominatives and datives: universal grammar from the bottom up."
- 1993. "Metapragmatic discourse and metapragmatic function." In Reflexive Language: Reported Speech and Metapragmatics (J. Lucy, ed.), 33-58.
- 1996. Natural Histories of Discourse (editor, with Greg UrbanGreg UrbanGreg Urban is an American anthropologist who specializes in indigenous peoples of South America and on general theoretical problems in linguistic and cultural anthropology. Much of his work has been oriented toward the development of a discourse-centered theory of culture. Urban is the Arthur...
). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0822334747.- Includes chapter, "The Secret Life of Texts," 81-105.
- 1997a. "Encountering languages and languages of encounter in North American ethnohistory."
- 1997b. "The Improvisational Performance of Culture in Realtime Discursive Practice". In Creativity in Performance (R. K. Sawyer, ed.). Greenwich, CT: Ablex Publishing Corp., 265-312.
- 1998. "Contemporary transformations of local linguistic communities." Annual Review of Anthropology.
- 2000. "Whorfianism and the linguistic imagination of nationality." In Regimes of Language.
- 2003a. "Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life."
- 2003b. "The Whens and Wheres—as well as Hows—of Ethnolinguistic Recognition."
- 2003c. Talking Politics: The substance of style from Abe to “W”. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press. ISBN 0971757550.
- 2004a. "'Cultural' Concepts and the Language-Culture Nexus". Current Anthropology 45(5), 621-652.
- 2004b. "Boasian cosmographic anthropology and the sociocentric component of mind." In Significant Others: Interpersonal and Professional Commitments in Anthropology" (Richard Handler, ed.), 131-157.
- 2005a. "Axes of Evals: Token versus Type Interdiscursivity." Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 15.1:6-22.
- 2005b. "Languages/Cultures are Dead! Long Live the Linguistic-Cultural!" In D. Segal & S. Yanagisako, eds., Unwrapping the Sacred Bundle: Reflections on the Disciplining of Anthropology. Durham: Duke University Press, 99-125. ISBN 0822334747.
- 2005c. "The Poetics of Politics: 'Theirs' and 'Ours'."
- 2006a. "How we look from where we stand" (review article).
- 2006b. "Old wine, new ethnographic lexicography." Annual Review of Anthropology.