LITERATURE THEORIES

Literature Theories

Language as means of Mobilizing or Maintaining Power

Introduction

Language has till yet been the most significant tool developed and used till yet. Language is the art of articulating the expression of thoughts and conveying what meant to be delivered. Language has been the symbol of pride for many societies be it be considered as part of colonial cast, trace of bliss, or by any mean. Language has been a tool which is still and shall always be a requirement in different customs, traditions, and variances of any society in order to provide convince. Languages are like any other object. It travel between places, across contexts, and along with their speakers.

A focus on literacy as linguistic activity highlights the way that language as a semiotic tool interacts with social contexts in making meaning. Language is the primary re source for meaning making both in emergent and advanced literacy contexts. Hence a theory of language needed for a full understanding of the demands and challenges of advanced literacy. The theory of language is informing much of this work on literacy as a linguistic activity as M. A. K. Halliday's systemic functions of linguistic theory (Halliday, 1994; Martin, 1992; Matthiessen, 1995). Halliday suggests that language is a “theory of human experience” that children learn as they enact their culture, and that understanding language better can help us understand how this learning happens (Halliday, 1993c). From the linguistic activity perspective, then, literacy is both product and process (Peter, 2002).

Language as a source of mobilizing

The present phase of globalization is enhancing this movement, as flows of migration, new communication technologies and new forms and forums of work, capital, and culture mobilize languages (Kelly-Holmes 2006; Jacquemet 2005). This mobility stirs existing language relations and hierarchies and creates new language environments, domains, and users. In these processes, the values and functions of languages re-evaluated and reallocated (Blommaert et al. 2005). Thus, an examination of language mobility sheds light on the multilayered and polycentric nature of multilingualism. This is because in multilingual contexts linguistic and semiotic resources move around, transform and overlap. By using this polycentric environment, people have multiple simultaneous and sometimes conflicting points of navigation. This done to orient themselves with multiple choices they make (McMenamin, 2002).

The polycentric environment that this article focuses on is that of a multilingual Sámi and, Sapmi. This area, also know as Lapland and North Calotte, stretches from the northernmost part of Norway, Sweden, and Finland to northeast Russia. It has always been a place of mobility, not only because livelihoods centre on reindeer herding, hunting, and fishing, but also because of cultural practices such as the seasonal move between summer and winter habitats and trade (in furs, tar, and dried fish). Contemporary mobility is much more related to tourism, amplified by the temporary job opportunities created and the new media environments it needs (Ann, 1986).

The ''old'' and ''new'' mobility means that Sa´pmi is a multilayered multilingual area—a constantly shifting contact zone (Pratt 1987) between various levels and layers ...