Like racism is the belief that your race is superior, is there a term for the belief that, say English is superior than every other language?
2006-12-07 10:58:31 · 6 answers · asked by muckracker 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Lexo-centric? Or as observed by many, 'French'.
2006-12-07 11:03:22 · answer #1 · answered by J9 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
As far as I can tell, there isn't really a good term for it.
'Ethnocentrism' is the belief in the superiority of one's own culture, which generally includes the language. Though it isn't specific to language, it's the most commonly understood term relevant to it.
Some people use the terms 'linguacentrism' or 'linguocentrism' but they're very uncommonly used and aren't recognized as words by many. 'Glottocentrism' is perhaps the most common, but is still very rarely used and isn't found in most dictionaries or encyclopedias.
It may work to just use the term specific to the origin of the language being presented as superior--"Eurocentrism" for European languages, "Sinocentrism" for Chinese, etc.
2006-12-07 11:33:55 · answer #2 · answered by Pazu 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentricity is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture. This term was coined by William Graham Sumner, a social evolutionist and professor of Political and Social Science at Yale University. He defined it as the viewpoint that “one’s own group is the center of everything,” against which all other groups are judged. Ethnocentrism often entails the belief that one's own race or ethnic group is the most important and/or that some or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of other groups. Within this ideology, individuals will judge other groups in relation to their own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behaviour, customs, and religion. These ethnic distinctions and sub-divisions serve to define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity.
2006-12-07 11:23:21 · answer #3 · answered by lobur12n12 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋
are you mad? the english is not superior!! neither language it's superior!! all languages are good but the english is the most used in our times
2006-12-07 11:04:27 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋
that's just words ,people like that say.
2006-12-07 11:03:39 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
No, not really. But that's just my opinion.
2006-12-07 11:00:09 · answer #6 · answered by ~{las rosas son rojas}~ 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋