20 The Linguist Vol/60 No/3 2021
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little specificity in the corpus. Erasure is reflected in
the use of indefinite determiners, collective nouns and
the passive voice, as in the following example: "In some
regions of the world, the rapid expansion of palm oil
production has threatened environmentally sensitive areas
of tropical forests and peatlands and has resulted in some
incidents where the rights of workers and indigenous
peoples have been infringed." Such vagueness is also
reflected in the Spanish version. These linguistic patterns
fail to give visibility to those who are affected and mask
the responsibility of the companies causing the damage.
A more helpful way to portray the participants is to
avoid homogenisation by giving them salience. For
instance, this can be done by using the active voice and
basic-level words, such as 'orangutans', 'elephants' and
'rhinos', to activate images and emotions in order to raise
awareness. Similarly, naming the indigenous peoples
affected by palm oil production – the Ibans people and
the Orang Rimba – foregrounds their uniqueness.
With this knowledge, we can be better equipped to
help clients make informed decisions for future projects
and warn them when the source text may be promoting
ecologically harmful messages. One approach to
educating clients is to clearly outline the problem and
provide them with a couple of recommended solutions
or text options, and to specify whether content editing,
transcreation or other drastic measures may be required.
TEACHING FUTURE GENERATIONS
Language teachers also have an important role to play.
The TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) field
has often been criticised for encouraging linguistic
imperialism and spreading consumerist ideas that can
undermine local ecological knowledge. Language
teachers can find in ecolinguistics a useful linguistic
framework that can help them critically engage with
environmental content in their language classes and
assess their teaching materials. Similarly, teachers can use
this framework for identifying positive stories that can
bring a change to the language class by adapting content
to their local context. Goulah and Katunich, for instance,
offer useful insights on how environmental content can –
and should – be included in the language curriculum.
8
Overall, ecolinguistics offers some useful insights into
the deep connections that exist between language and
ecology. People of all backgrounds can engage with the
field and discover how they could apply it to their
everyday practice.
Notes
1 Lakoff, G (2010) 'Why it Matters How We Frame the
Environment.' In Environmental Communication, 4.1, 70-81
2 Naess, A (1995) 'The Shallow and the Long Range, Deep
Ecology Movement.' In Drengson, A and Inoue, Y (eds)
The Deep Ecology Movement: An introductory anthology,
Berkley: North Atlantic Books
3 ecolinguistics-association.org
4 storiesweliveby.org.uk; see also, Roccia, M (2019)
'Changing Lives and Professional Practice: A report on the
impact of ecolinguistics.' In Language & Ecology
5 Spinney, L (2017) Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and
How it Changed the World, Jonathan Cape: London
6 cutt.ly/UnileverSustainable and cutt.ly/PGenvironmental
7 Martin, J and White, P (2005) The Language of Evaluation:
Appraisal in English, New York: Palgrave Macmillan
8 Goulah, J and Katunich, J (2020) TESOL and
Sustainability: English language teaching in the
anthropocene era, Bloomsbury
MAKING AN
IMPRESSION
The language that is
used to talk about
environmental issues,
such as deforestation
for palm oil production
(bottom), can spread
misconceptions. A
worker collects palm
oil at a plantation in
Indonesia (below)
IMAGES
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SHUTTERSTOCK
