Michael Silverstein

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Michael Silverstein is a professor of anthropology, linguistics, and psychology at the University of Chicago. He has studied Indigenous Australian languages and Indigenous American languages. He earned his PhD at Harvard University, studying with famed semiotician Roman Jakobson, formerly active in the Prague School of linguistics/semiotics. Jakobson was also a formative influence on anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss.

Silverstein's research focuses on linguistic pragmatics, linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, indexicality, metapragmatics, and language ideology.

He is particularly credited with the development of 'language ideologies' as a field of study. Language ideologies are socially grounded beliefs and conceptualisations of language, its functions and its users. Based on work of Benjamin Lee Whorf and Charles Peirce, and incorporating insights from structuralism, philology, history and social theory, 'language ideologies' are seen as patterns that guide speakers' use of language and so, eventually, change that language. We talk on the basis of what we believe we can do with and in language, and by doing that we shape our language. Thus, language ideologies form the bridge between language patterns and social and cultural structure, as the socially grounded beliefs in what language is and does convert into particular patterns of use that are understandable, precisely because they fit these beliefs and the expectations they generate. The connections between usage and beliefs are empirically identifiable as 'metapragmatics' - the articulation of beliefs about language use in language use (as when we use polite formulae in addressing someone in a superior position).

Silverstein's work has caused a theoretical and conceptual shift in anthropology, linguistics and sociolinguistics. It has led to a renewed interest in the work of Whorf, Sapir and others. It has also added another perspective of critique of 'Chomskyan' conceptions of language and it has boosted a critical and politically sensitive trend in the study of language in society, influencing notably the study of language policy, language planning, and language in education.

NOTE: This article refers to one Michael Silverstein. There are many Michael Silversteins in the US.

[edit] References

Silverstein, Michael (1976). "Hierarchy of Features and Ergativity". Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages: 112–171.
Silverstein, Michael (1981). "Case-marking and the Nature of Language". Australian Journal of Linguistics: 227–244.
Silverstein, Michael (with Greg Urban) (1996). Natural Histories of Discourse. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0822334747.
Silverstein, Michael (2003). Talking Politics: The Substance of Style from Abe to "W". New York: Prickly Paradigm Press. ISBN 0971757550.
Silverstein, Michael (2005). Unwrapping the Sacred Bundle: Reflections on the Disciplining of Anthropology. New York: Duke University Press. ISBN 0822334747.