Linguistic insecurity corresponds to a feeling of uncertainty and depreciation that some speakers experience in relation to their own ways of expressing themselves, which are compared unfavourably to other forms of expression deemed more legitimate. Closely linked to representations, the notion is built on the parallel between the norm (correct usage according to the speaker) and self-evaluation (personal usage according to the speaker). It also plays an essential role in exchanges between languages, as Aude Bretegnier explains:
“Feelings of linguistic security and insecurity both appear to be linked precisely to the representations that speakers construct of boundaries, boundaries between languages, norms and groups, boundaries between what is within the norm and what is excluded from it, between the legitimate and the illegitimate, between the Same and the Other, between the inside and the outside” (2002: p. 12, our translation). Indeed, linguistic insecurity results from cross-linguistic relations arising from the comparison of one’s own way of speaking with legitimate language, or the status accorded to it, internalised by the speaker through comparison with the status of another language, or another way of speaking (Calvet, 1999, our translation).
Further information
More recently (Klinkenberg, 2020) explains that linguistic insecurity should be treated less as a state and more as a process to be considered from an experiential perspective. This author suggests expanding the concept of insecurity to all semiotic behaviours, not just language. Acknowledging that understanding languages requires considering their social backgrounds, the author also proposes re-evaluating the importance of existential and social variables that condition the notion of insecurity and play a role in the adjustment processes between the individual and the world.
Bretegnier A., Ledegen G. (eds.) (2022), Sécurité / insécurité linguistique – Terrains et approches diversifiés, propositions théoriques et méthodologiques, Actes de la 5e Table Ronde du Moufia, (22-24 avril 1998), LCF-UMR 6058 du CNRS, Paris, L’Harmattan, Université de la Réunion.
Calvet L.-J. (1999), Pour une écologie des langues du monde, Paris, Plon.
Klinkenberg J.-M. (2020), “De l’insécurité linguistique à l’insécurité sémiotique. Le retour du social”, in Feussi V., Lorilleux J. (dir.), (In)sécurité linguistique en francophonies. Perspectives in(ter)disciplinaires, L’Harmattan, Paris, pp. 212-223.