A Few Notes on ‘Selfing’ and ‘Othering’ in Language

Abstract

Though speech, in general understanding, is often seen as a mere carrier of information, a bridge that connects the minds of human beings, it is also a very common tool for constructing boundaries by constituting the concept of the self and the other. The division between different language communities and the deligitimisation of non-standard speech varieties within the same language community are such commonly witnessed phenomena. However, the construction of the language based boundaries does not depend only on the degree of linguistic difference itself. Instead, it is consistently dependent on the recognition and/or validation of the difference as being significant enough to construct categories. Often the most minor linguistic differences are instrumental in creating strikingly different categories and at other times the most glaring differences in language structures are left unnoticed and are inconsequential in construction of any such categories. This paper explores how speech creates such categories and how certain norms become significant in some social groups creating margins that exclude those who are incompatible with the set norms.