For this essay, you will explore issues in language and power, in particular why some languages and dialects are perceived as better than others.  This can be referred to as linguistic inequality.
Instructions:

  1. Think about a social issue that is impacted by linguistic inequality, find evidence for it in the form of a news article or academic paper. (A news article is an article from a media source like a newspaper or magazine tsuch as the New York Times, FOX, The Washington Post, VICE, etc. that addresses a current event. It does not include sources like Wikipedia, eHow, dictionaries, or other information websites.)
  2. Write a 300 word essay that answers the following questions:
    1. What is human language?  From an anthropological perspective, are some languages or dialects better than others?
    2. What are language inequality and language ideologies and where do they come from?
    3. What is an example of language inequality or language ideologies and what evidence is available to show it exists?
  3. Discuss with details and tie the findings in the article to what you learned.
  4. Your essay should be:
    • A total of 300 words or more.
    • Use factual information from the textbook and/or appropriate articles and websites.
    • Original work and will be checked for plagiarism.
    • Cite your sources – type references according to the APA Style Guide.
      • Essays without proper citations and/or large portions copied from other sources will receive a zero.
  5. Upload your file by clicking “Browse My Computer” for Attach File.
  6. View the grading rubric above (Points Possible).