Language as a Tool of Empowerment: The Role of Communication Dynamics in Subaltern Voices
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51278/anglophile.v4i1.1110Keywords:
Sociolinguistic, Resistance and Empowerment, Discourses and Counter-Narratives, Language AdaptationAbstract
This study examines how language functions as a tool of empowerment within subaltern communities by focusing on the dynamics of communication. Drawing on concepts from subaltern studies and sociolinguistics, the research delves into how marginalized groups utilize linguistic tactics to defy dominant perspectives, assert their unique identities, and cultivate a sense of unity and connection within their communities. Subaltern studies have emerged as a response to the need for greater representation and recognition of these voices. The study of subaltern voices is significant in sociolinguistics because it highlights the power dynamics inherent in language use and communication. This study combines a wealth of existing literature with in-depth theoretical analysis to provide an extensive understanding of how communication dynamics can empower subaltern voices. The findings of this research not only contribute to academic discourse but also offer practical insights. They enhance our comprehension of the innate power in linguistic practices and emphasize the potential of language to challenge and change entrenched power systems. By analyzing how communication fosters empowerment, this study highlights the essential role of language as a means of resistance and resilience for subaltern communities. Ultimately, the research aims to foster a more inclusive and equitable society by amplifying marginalized voices and challenging dominant narratives through the transformative potential of language.
Keywords: Sociolinguistic, Resistance and Empowerment, Discourses and Counter-Narratives, Language Adaptation
Orchid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6091-3173
References
Auer, P. (2013). Code-Switching in Conversation. Routledge.
Behera, N. C. (2023). The ‘subaltern speak’: can we, the experts, listen? International Affairs, 99(5), 1903–1927. https://doi.org/10.1093/IA/IIAD181
Bloome, D., Janks, H., & Olsen, A. W. (2023). Literacies, language & schooling: teaching and learning the language arts. International Encyclopedia of Education: Fourth Edition, 308–318. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.07052-4
Borde, R. (2020). Did the Subaltern Speak? Voices from the Periphery, 272–287. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.07052-4
Brownlie, S. (2021). Congolese women speak: languaging, translanguaging and discursive cross-culturing as resources for empowerment. Language and Intercultural Communication, 21(2), 207–222.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2020.1865391
Carrin, M., & Guzy, L. (2020). Voices from the Periphery. Taylor & Francis.
Clyne, M. G. (2003). Dynamics of Language Contact. Cambridge University Press.
Clare Thomas, D., Chui, P. L., Yahya, A., & Yap, J. W. (2022). Translation, cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the revised-Skin Management Needs Assessment Checklist questionnaire in Malay language. Journal of Tissue Viability, 31(3), 465–473. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JTV.2022.05.003
Durham, M. G. (2020). Subaltern voices and postcolonial schizophrenia: The political tensions of M.I.A.’s Kala. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 13(2), 151–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2020.1735487
Dutta, M. J. (2012). Voices of Resistance. Purdue University Press.
Dutta, M. J. (2018). Culture-centered Approach in Addressing Health Disparities: Communication Infrastructures for Subaltern Voices. Communication Methods and Measures, 12(4), 239–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2018.1453057
Figueroa, E. (1993). Research and empowerment: Who’s empowering’ who? Language & Communication, 13(2), 101–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/0271-5309(93)90004-7
Futch Thurston, L. A., Abbruzzese, L. D., Maxwell, B., Lee Bishop, K., Threats, T., Oluwole-Sangoseni, O., Simon, P., & Pfiefle, A. (2024). The Power of Narrative: Empowering interprofessional teams to promote health equity by reflecting on bias and unpacking stigmatizing language. Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice, 34, 100690. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.XJEP.2023.100690
Gajjala, R. (2013). Cyberculture and the Subaltern. Rowman & Littlefield.
Georgiou, M. (2018). Does the subaltern speak? Migrant voices in digital Europe. Popular Communication, 16(1), 45–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2017.1412440
Glapka, E. (2023). The social semiotic of reclaiming identity from racist discourse: investigating the subaltern identity of South African coloreds by means of intersectional discourse analysis. Language and Intercultural Communication, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2023.2256306
Harris, J. L. (1999). Silent Voices. Topics in Language Disorders, 19(4), 23–34. https://doi.org/10.1097/00011363-199908000-00006
Hirmer, S., Mazzone, A., Leonard, A., & Conforti, C. (2022). The power of language: Exploring values, empowerment dynamics and communication strategies for gender-inclusive energy service design in rural Uganda. Energy Research & Social Science, 85, 102379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102379
HyunKyungChae. (2013). Whose Voices? The ‘Independent’ Voices of the Subaltern in Korea at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. Music and Culture, null (29), 119–158. https://doi.org/10.17091/kswm.2013.29.119
Ihlen, Y., & Fredriksson, M. (2009). Public Relations and Social Theory. Routledge.
Ionov, M., Dubinina, E., Tregubenko, I., Zvartau, N., & Konradi, A. (2023). Russian-language translation and cultural adaptation of the Norwegian ‘Patient Experience Questionnaire.’ PEC Innovation, 2, 100174. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PECINN.2023.100174
Jones, G. M., & Schieffelin, B. B. (2009, January). Enquoting voices, accomplishing talk: Uses of be+like in Instant Messaging. Language & Communication, 29(1), 77–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2007.09.003
Karakaya, K., & Bozkurt, A. (2022). Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) research trends and patterns through bibliometric analysis: Empowering language learners through ubiquitous educational technologies. System, 110, 102925. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PECINN.2023.100174
Kiramba, L. K., Deng, Q., Gu, X., Yunes-Koch, A., & Viesca, K. (2023). Community language ideologies: Implications for language policy and practice. Linguistics and Education, 78, 101251. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PECINN.2023.100174
Kraisame, S. (2018). Language endangerment and community empowerment: Experience form community training in the Moken language documentation and preservation project. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 39(2), 244–253. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.KJSS.2017.05.002
Kuhle, A. (2014). Language as a tool: The analogy to primate cognition. Language & Communication, 34, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2013.08.001
Lee, J., & Kim, M. (2023). ESG information extraction with cross-sectoral and multi-source adaptation based on domain-tuned language models. Expert Systems with Applications, 221, 119726. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.KJSS.2017.05.002
Li, J., Wu, Y., & Gao, X. (Andy). (2023). Language teachers’ engagement with ideological representations as materials designers. System, 117, 103121. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SYSTEM.2023.103121
Lydia, D & Vighnarajah, S (2021). Role of English Language as a Literacy Tool in Shaping the Perception of Women’s Empowerment. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 9(3), 52. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.9n.3p.52
Monod, E., Mayer, A. S., Straub, D., Joyce, E., & Qi, J. (2024). From worker empowerment to managerial control: The devolution of AI tools’ intended positive implementation to their negative consequences. Information and Organization, 34(1), 100498. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.INFOANDORG.2023.100498
Morgan, T. V. (2023). Reifying subaltern voices: a visual communication and figurative discourse of headloading practices in Nigeria. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02462-8
Morris, R. (2010). Can the Subaltern Speak? Columbia University Press.
Murata, K. (2011). Voices from the unvoiced: a comparative study of hidden values and attitudes in opinion-giving. Language and Intercultural Communication, 11(1), 6–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2010.507817
Nazon, M., Moisan, P., Jourdain, N., Rioux-Trottier, É., Saad, L., Grimard, G., Hupin, M., & Nault, M. L. (2023). Development and validation of a French-language cross-cultural adaptation of the Pedi-IKDC Questionnaire. Orthopaedics & Traumatology: Surgery & Research, 109(8), 103718. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.OTSR.2023.103718
Nellas, S. (2023). Transforming the Subaltern Voices of the Global World. Annales Missiologici Posnanienses, 28, 7–28. https://doi.org/10.14746/amp.2023.28.1
Neu, D. (2001). Banal Accounts: Subaltern Voices. Accounting Forum, 25(4), 319–333. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6303.00069
Nguyen, H. thi, & Nguyen, M. T. T. (2022). Talking language ideologies into being in parent-child conversations in Singapore. Language & Communication, 87, 244–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.LANGCOM.2022.08.004
Nguyen, T. (2014). Code Switching: A sociolinguistic perspective.
Paul, R. (2008). “[U]ngrateful, discontented, disobedient, and rebellious” Subaltern Voices in the Writings of Oscar Wilde. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 7(2), 19. https://doi.org/10.35360/njes.81
Pillay, M. (2013). Can the subaltern speak? Visibility of international migrants with communication and swallowing disabilities in the World Report on Disability. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15(1), 79–83. https://doi.org/10.3109/17549507.2012.757708
Reyes, A. (2015). Building intimacy through linguistic choices, text structure, and voices in political discourse. Language & Communication, 43, 58–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2015.05.002
Rickford, J. R. (1993). Comments on ‘ethics, advocacy, and empowerment.’ Language & Communication, 13(2), 129–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/0271-5309(93)90011-b
Riach, G. K. (2017). Can the Subaltern Speak? Can the Subaltern Speak?, 1–96. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781912281770
Silva, D., & Maia, J. (2022). Digital rockets: Resisting necropolitics through defiant languaging and artivism. Discourse, Context & Media, 49, 100630. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.DCM.2022.100630
Spivak, G. C. (2023). Can the Subaltern Speak? Imperialism, 171–219. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003101536-9
Shohamy, E. (2013). The discourse of language testing as a tool for shaping national, global, and transnational identities. Language and Intercultural Communication, 13(2), 225–236. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2013.770868
Spivak, G. (1988) Can the Subaltern Speak? In Cary Nelson and Larry Grossberg (eds) Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, Chicago, University of Illinois Press, 271-313.
Sierens, S. & van Avermaet, P (2013). ‘Language Diversity in Education: Evolving multilingual education to functional multilingual learning’. In D. Little, C.Leung and P. van Avermaet (eds) Managing Diversity in Education: Languages, Policies, Pedagogies. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Tajeddin, Z., Kerfoot, C., & Fereydoonfar, M. (2023). Language learners’ linguistic investment in ideologically framed language institutes: Forms of capital, ideology, and identity. Linguistics and Education, 77, 101220. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.LINGED.2023.101220
Trömel-Plötz, S. (1981). Languages of oppression. Journal of Pragmatics, 5(1), 67–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(81)90048-5
Venegas-Weber, P., & Negrette, G. M. (2023). From ideological clarity to Linguistic Ideological Clarity: Critical reflections, examination of language ideologies & interrogation of pedagogical practices. Linguistics and Education, 77, 101201. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.LINGED.2023.101201
Young, J. C., & Gilmore, M. P. (2013). Subaltern Empowerment in the Geoweb: Tensions between Publicity and Privacy. Antipode, 46(2), 574–591. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12056
Zani, B., & Momesso, L. (2021). Can the subaltern feel? An ethnography of migration, subalternity, and emotion. Emotion, Space and Society, 39, 100786. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.EMOSPA.2021.100786
Zahin, A. U. R. (2022). Performative Act of the Subaltern: A Postcolonial Figure of Subaltern Resistance in Mahasweta Devi’s Draupadi. Journal of Women Empowerment and Studies, 25, 29–35. https://doi.org/10.55529/jwes.25.29.35
Zembylas, M. (2018). Revisiting Spivak’s “Can the Subaltern Speak” through the lens of affect theory: Can the subaltern be felt? Qualitative Research Journal, 18(2), 115–127. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRJ-D-17-00048/FULL/XML
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Devaki V
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
