What is "ecolinguistics"

n. (context linguistics English) A paradigm of linguistic research which emerged in the 1990s and takes into account not only the social context in which language is embedded, but also the ecological context in which societies are embedded.

Ecolinguistics emerged in the 1990s as a new paradigm of linguistic research which took into account not only the social context in which language is embedded, but also the ecological context in which societies are embedded. Michael Halliday's 1990 paper New ways of Meaning: the challenge to applied linguistics is often credited as a seminal work which provided the stimulus for linguists to consider the ecological context and consequences of language. Among other things, the challenge that Halliday put forward was to make linguistics relevant to the issues and concerns of the 21st century, particularly the widespread destruction of ecosystems. The main example Halliday gave was that of 'economic growth', where he described how the orientation of the English language with regard to unmarked terms such as large, grow, tall, and good gives growth a positive aspect, despite the negative ecological consequences. Since Halliday's initial comments, the field of ecolinguistics has developed considerably, primarily in the direction of analysing the ecological impact of specific discourses rather than languages in general. The main online research forum for ecolinguistics, the Language & Ecology Research Forum, characterises ecolinguistics in this way:

"Ecolinguistics examines the influence of language on the life-sustaining relationships of humans with each other, with other organisms and with the natural environment. Research ranges from the impact of advertising discourse in encouraging ecologically damaging consumption to the power of nature poetry to encourage respect for the natural world."

There are two main approaches which use the term 'ecolinguistics' and they can be glossed as 'eco-critical discourse analysis' and 'linguistic ecology'.