Curated Theme: Approaches to ecolinguistics
Ecolinguistics, often also referred to as ecological linguistics, is a field that centers is initiatives on examining the relationship between language and the environment. Ecolinguistics is interdisciplinary in the sense that it combines knowledge from studies of the environment, language, and ecology. Studies in ecolinguistics are multitudinous meaning that there are an of approaches and goals depending on the researcher and their objectives. For this reason, it is important to understand each individual's definition for the field and how they approach this definition within their work.
Approaches can include making generalizations about the way a speech community employs language and how their applications of language lead to ideologies about the environment as well as analyzing the relationship of human beings and language in the larger ecosystem. Works analyzing the relationship between the environment and language surfaced already in the 70s and 80s with works of Einar and X, however, the field of ecoloinguistics began taking shape and gaining ground formally in the 90s out of the need to examine language beyond the boundaries of sociolinguistics so that it could include the physical environment in which language is interdependent.
The International Ecolinguistics Association defines the study of ecolinguistics as, “Ecolinguistics explores the role of language in the life-sustaining interactions of humans, other species and the physical environment. The first aim is to develop linguistic theories which see humans not only as part of society, but also as part of the larger ecosystems that life depends on. The second aim is to show how linguistics can be used to address key ecological issues, from climate change and biodiversity loss to environmental justice.”[1]
To study this relationship, researchers can take a variety of approaches including but not limited to:
