Re: The Linguo-Racial Complex


"InspiredPoet" <inspired_great_poet@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1130242468.529170.6110@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> The Linguo-Racial Complex
>
> The Linguo-Racial complex is a phenomenon that I (and many other
> people, I guess) discovered while learning foreign languages. It refers
> to how average people associate a language with people's racial
> characteristics and have confusing reactions to the speaker of the
> language if he/she does not have the appearance that a "normal" speaker
> of such language has. Here are some examples:

I think you've misdiagnosed if you think it's limited to physical racial
characteristics. It's about defining a group, and look is only part of that.
For instance, some of my relatives in India are still completely shocked
when I speak Hindi: they know that I have been born and brought up in
English-speaking countries and, despite the fact that I look racially
identical to them (we are close blood relations, after all) the 'complex'
still kicks in. You should ask other second-gens what their experiences are
like in their parents' homelands.

All the same, I'd say this is a topic for psychologists of group theory, not
for linguists.

Neeraj Mathur


.

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