Language and Ethnicity
C. Fought
Cambridge
Cambridge University Press
2006
pp.vii + 249
ISBN 0-521-84843-1 (hbk).
ISBN 0-521-61291-8 (pbk).

Reviewed by Kelli Bivins, University of Georgia at Athens

Language and Ethnicity serves as both an introduction to the issues for beginners and as a user-guide for experts in the field, allowing readers to either sample topics or indulge in the complex, multilayered concepts of language and ethnicity.

The book, divided into three parts and ten chapters, begins by defining complex terms such as ethnicity, race and language. Fought affirms that ethnicities are socially constructed categories that are impossible to measure. Likewise, although race does not exist biologically, it does exist as a social construct and has consequences attached. She also clarifies popular misconceptions such as the difference between race and ethnicity; for example, Irish Americans and Italian Americans both appear similar to outsiders (phenotypically or racially), but are actually different ethnic groups. She also asserts that the study of ethnicity and language are content-specific. These can be fluid terms and vary based upon gender, social class, and age or stage in life, and also according to the multiple identities individuals and groups assume in different situations. Constructing ethnicity also relies upon self-identification by group members and perceptions and attitudes of others or outsiders. By detailing such nuanced definitions of key terms from the field, this book is valuable to the beginner as well as the expert. Fought invites readers to take as much or as little as they like.

Part Two of the book indexes the processes of constructing ethnicity through language across specific groups, such as African-Americans and Latino groups in the U.S., and multi-ethnic spaces including Cajuns and creoles in Louisiana, the various South African groups, and Maoris and the dominant majority in New Zealand. Fought also examines how whiteness and dominance relates to ethnicity, and how ethnic boundaries exist and disappear.

In Part Three of the book, Fought focuses on language in action and the role language plays in culture. In particular, she focuses on the pragmatics and discourse features associated with ethnicity, and the results of borrowing language and identity from another ethnic group. Similarly, Fought explores what happens when interactional differences occur among ethnic groups. When multi-ethnic groups intermingle, with each group having their own discourse features and styles, the results vary from speakers/ listeners simply noticing the differences, to considering the others impolite, or worse yet to causing misunderstandings, biases or outright prejudices. As Fought points out, some cultures prefer subtlety, while others are more direct.

Children learn these ethnic discourse patterns early in life, for the most part, even before they reach school age. These social norms include how direct or indirect one should be with questions, for example. They also include how and when to end a conversation, whether to interrupt or not, and how much or how little feedback, or backchanneling to offer when interacting. These discourse features, transmitted early in the cultural assimilation, have important consequences during multi-ethnic communication.

Looking closely at language and ethnicity, and what occurs when they interact, is crucial in the field of language and education, as it is often a crossroad of multi-ethnic students and teachers. She includes sections on language varieties and interactional styles in the classroom and the politics of teaching a standard dialect to speakers of vernacular varieties. Multi-ethnic discourse patterns merit attention in other situations, too, such as during job interviews, in courtrooms, and in retail stores. However, Fought is quick to point out that discourse norms are relative and can vary depending on the individual speaker. Fought also examines borrowing, crossing, and passing with regards to language and ethnicity.

Fought provides both a broad overview of language issues with regards to ethnicity and specific details of the process of constructing an ethnic identity through language by both groups and individuals, including a comprehensive glossary of key terms. She provides examples from all over the world, making this a truly international work. If this book were a meal, it would be a feast--or as we say in the southeastern USA an all-you-care-to-eat buffet – allowing the reader to become merely acquainted with the topics or to indulge and explore thorough explanations.