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Part of
Modeling World Englishes: Assessing the interplay of emancipation and globalization of ESL varieties
Edited by Sandra C. Deshors
[Varieties of English Around the World G61] 2018
► pp. 163–186

“I’m an Anglophile, but …”

A corpus-assisted discourse study of language ideologies in the Netherlands

| Leiden University Centre for Linguistics

This study, at the interface of language ideologies, corpus linguistics and discourse analysis, explores perceptions of English in the Netherlands through recurrent discourse patterns in a corpus of language-attitudinal commentary by 724 Dutch informants. The informants position English as a purely utilitarian tool for international communication. Yet, a key ideological narrative revolves around the perceived “unnecessary” use and “overuse” of English within Dutch society to appear cosmopolitan, clever or “cool”. This suggests many people are (or are believed to be) mobilising the language for local interpersonal relations and identity construction. These functions go beyond mere instrumentalism, suggesting English may be being used as not just a “foreign”/“international” language but rather an additional local language for creative self-expression and identity performance.

Keywords: language ideologies, corpus-assisted discourse study, English as a foreign language, English as a second language, Netherlands
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Transnational attraction
  • 3.English in the Netherlands
  • 4.Language ideologies and CADS
  • 5.Data and methods
    • 5.1Data collection
    • 5.2Corpus
    • 5.3Analyses
    • 5.4Ideological representations of English
    • 5.5Referential discourse strategies: What “the Dutch” think and do
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Ideological representations of English
    • 6.2Referential discourse strategies: What “the Dutch” think and do
  • 7.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 13 September 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g61.07edw
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