‘English a foreign tongue’:The 2011 Census in England and the misunderstanding of multilingualism

The 2011 UK Census was the first decennial census to ask a question about language in England. The period during which the census was planned coincided with a period of intense politicisation of the language issue. The census results showed that 98.3% of the adult population either spoke English as their main language, or could speak it well or very well. These statistics produced a media frenzy focussed on the number of people who supposedly could not speak English. There were misunderstandings among journalists and politicians about what the statistics meant, with ‘not speaking English as a main language’ being interpreted as ‘not speaking English’. This paper discusses the census in England and its aftermath, revealing a lack of understanding of multilingualism and literacies by the monolingual majority. Not only were the census questions possibly flawed, but the results fed into anti-immigration discourse and were used to reduce services for non-speakers of English

Named into being? Language questions and the politics of Scots in the 2011 census in Scotland

Where censuses are concerned, politics and ideology are pervasive. The 2011 census in Scotland (a semi-autonomous part of the United Kingdom) was the first to ask a question about Scots, a close relative of English, which is historically the vernacular in many parts of Scotland. While at one time Scots had high status as the national language of Scotland, it is now widely regarded as a ‘dialect’ of English, and for many people it has associations of inferiority. At the same time, it has political relevance because of its potential to be an important cultural marker for an autonomous Scotland. The policy position of the current Scottish government, which advocates independence, is to protect and celebrate Scots. Adding a question about Scots to the census was an attempt to advance this by finding out who and where the users of Scots are. Research carried out before the census had shown that the public had differing ideas about what could be called Scots and whether it was, in fact, a different language from English: according to one previous survey, 64% did not think of it as a language at all. Given this background it is unsurprising that interpretations of the census results were controversial, reflecting to some degree existing language ideologies. According to some, the census provided no useful information, while according to others it demonstrated that there was a robust Scots-speaking population and a clear public understanding of what it meant to be a speaker of Scots. This paper discusses the history and political background to the problematic language questions in the Scottish census, and how the choice of questions, their wording and even their order on the questionnaire may have affected the results. Despite the flawed questions and many difficulties of interpretation, it seems that the 2011 census, whether or not it succeeded in enumerating accurately the speakers of Scots, may nevertheless have helped to raise public awareness of the language and to legitimise it. There are lessons to be learnt from the Scottish census, too, in other situations around the world where there are unclear boundaries between ‘language’ and ‘dialect,’ or where low-status and high-status varieties of ‘the same’ language coexist

Awkward questions:language issues in the 2011 census in England

The 2011 Census in England broke new ground, as a question about language had never previously been asked. After stakeholder consultations and a series of trials, the census authority decided on two questions based on earlier censuses in the USA: one about the respondent’s ‘main language’ and another about proficiency in English. This paper provides a critique of the census questions, showing how the pressure to produce questions which were straightforward to answer and consistent with the predominant monolingual ideology led to the choice of two questions which were problematic in different ways. This raises doubts about the validity of the questions themselves and the usefulness of the data collected

Iconicity, attribution and branding in orthography

This paper discusses three processes relating to the social meaning of scripts and orthographies, all of which are potentially mediated by the role of script-as-image. One of these processes, iconisation, was introduced to the field by Irvine and Gal (2000) and is widely known. Attribution is a process which precedes iconisation, whereby a group of people associate a linguistic feature or language-related practice with a group of people who (supposedly) use that feature or engage in that practice. Orthographic branding involves a specific visual/graphical element of written language such as an alphabetic character. Through ‘branding,’ this element becomes an emblem of a group of people who use the element in question in their writing practices. Branding may involve iconisation, but the processes are distinct. This paper describes and distinguishes the three processes and provides examples from different languages and user communities

Informal orthographies, informal ideologies spelling and code switching in British Creole

This paper is concemed with the written representation of British Creole (a local British variety of Jamaican Creole) which has no standard orthography. Original writing is published from time to time (and we can assume that much unpublished writing goes on as well) using modified Standard English orthographies made up by the original writers. The paper examines what writers actually do when they write Creole and links this to an implicit ideology of "subversion" of the Standard Orthography rather than subservience to it. Some proposals are made up for moving toward a norm for spelling British Creole.This paper is concemed with the written representation of British Creole (a local British variety of Jamaican Creole) which has no standard orthography. Original writing is published from time to time (and we can assume that much unpublished writing goes on as well) using modified Standard English orthographies made up by the original writers. The paper examines what writers actually do when they write Creole and links this to an implicit ideology of "subversion" of the Standard Orthography rather than subservience to it. Some proposals are made up for moving toward a norm for spelling British Creole.This paper is concemed with the written representation of British Creole (a local British variety of Jamaican Creole) which has no standard orthography. Original writing is published from time to time (and we can assume that much unpublished writing goes on as well) using modified Standard English orthographies made up by the original writers. The paper examines what writers actually do when they write Creole and links this to an implicit ideology of "subversion" of the Standard Orthography rather than subservience to it. Some proposals are made up for moving toward a norm for spelling British Creole.This paper is concemed with the written representation of British Creole (a local British variety of Jamaican Creole) which has no standard orthography. Original writing is published from time to time (and we can assume that much unpublished writing goes on as well) using modified Standard English orthographies made up by the original writers. The paper examines what writers actually do when they write Creole and links this to an implicit ideology of "subversion" of the Standard Orthography rather than subservience to it. Some proposals are made up for moving toward a norm for spelling British Creole.This paper is concemed with the written representation of British Creole (a local British variety of Jamaican Creole) which has no standard orthography. Original writing is published from time to time (and we can assume that much unpublished writing goes on as well) using modified Standard English orthographies made up by the original writers. The paper examines what writers actually do when they write Creole and links this to an implicit ideology of "subversion" of the Standard Orthography rather than subservience to it. Some proposals are made up for moving toward a norm for spelling British Creole.This paper is concemed with the written representation of British Creole (a local British variety of Jamaican Creole) which has no standard orthography. Original writing is published from time to time (and we can assume that much unpublished writing goes on as well) using modified Standard English orthographies made up by the original writers. The paper examines what writers actually do when they write Creole and links this to an implicit ideology of "subversion" of the Standard Orthography rather than subservience to it. Some proposals are made up for moving toward a norm for spelling British Creole.This paper is concemed with the written representation of British Creole (a local British variety of Jamaican Creole) which has no standard orthography. Original writing is published from time to time (and we can assume that much unpublished writing goes on as well) using modified Standard English orthographies made up by the original writers. The paper examines what writers actually do when they write Creole and links this to an implicit ideology of "subversion" of the Standard Orthography rather than subservience to it. Some proposals are made up for moving toward a norm for spelling British Creole

Autochthonous heritage languages and social media:writing and bilingual practices in Low German on Facebook

This article analyses how speakers of an autochthonous heritage language (AHL) make use of digital media, through the example of Low German, a regional language used by a decreasing number of speakers mainly in northern Germany. The focus of the analysis is on Web 2.0 and its interactive potential for individual speakers. The study therefore examines linguistic practices on the social network site Facebook, with special emphasis on language choice, bilingual practices and writing in the autochthonous heritage language. The findings suggest that social network sites such as Facebook have the potential to provide new mediatized spaces for speakers of an AHL that can instigate sociolinguistic change

Concurrent Oral 1 - Rheumatoid Arthritis: Treatment [OP4-OP9]: OP4. Inhibition of Radiographic Progression and Improvements in Physical Function at 2 Years, with Increasing Clinical Efficacy Over Time, in Rheumatoid Arthritis (Ra) Patients Treated with Tocilizumab (Tcz): The Lithe Study

Background: Patients with moderate to severe RA who remained on methotrexate (MTX) despite inadequate response were treated with TCZ in a double-blind, randomized, controlled phase 3 trial. Results of a 2-year planned analysis from this study are presented. Methods: Patients were randomized to treatment with TCZ 4 mg/kg + MTX (TCZ4), TCZ 8 mg/kg + MTX (TCZ8) or placebo + MTX (CON) every 4 weeks. If patients failed to respond ( 60% of patients and the DAS28 remission (DAS28 < 2.6) rate was 48% at week 52 and continued to increase to week 104. By week 52, patients treated with TCZ8 had clinically significant improvements in SJC that were maintained through week 104. Rates per 100 PY for adverse events (AEs) were higher in TCZ8 and TCZ4 (263.6, 275.4) vs CON patients (251.4) while rates for serious AEs were comparable (11.4, 12.1, 10.9, respectively). Rates per 100 PY of AEs leading to withdrawal (7.4, 32.5, 4.8) and treatment modification (8.4, 30.7, 20.4) were higher in TCZ8 and TCZ4 vs CON patients, respectively and death rates were comparable (0.6, 0.2, 0.4). Conclusions: Treatment with TCZ + MTX inhibits radiographic progression over 2 years and improves physical function as shown by DAS28 remission, LDAS and low SJC, with a manageable safety profile. Disclosure statement: E.A., F. Hoffmann-La Roche - Employee. P.A., F. Hoffmann-La Roche - Employee. R.B.-V., F. Hoffmann-La Roche - Honoraria. R.F., Genentech - Research Funding, Honoraria. J.K., F. Hoffmann-La Roche - Research funding, Honorari

Concurrent Oral 1 - Therapy of rheumatic disease: OP4. Effectiveness of Rituximab in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Results from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register (BSRBR)

Background: Rituximab (RTX) in combination with methotrexate (MTX) has been licensed since 2006 for the management of severe active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients who have failed at least one anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy. Published clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of RTX in improving both clinical symptoms and patients' physical function. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of RTX in RA patients treated in routine clinical practice by examining clinical and patient reported outcomes six months after receiving a first course of RTX. Methods: The analysis involved 550 RA patients registered with the BSRBR, who were starting RTX and were followed up for at least 6 months. Change in Disease Activity Score (DAS28) and European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response were used to assess the clinical response while change in Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) score was used to assess the physical function of the patients 6 months after starting RTX. The change in DAS28 and HAQ was compared between seronegative and seropositive patients and anti-TNF naïve patients versus anti-TNF failures. The response was also compared between patients receiving RTX in combination with MTX, other non-biologic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (nbDMARDs) or no nbDMARDs. Results: The mean (s.d.) age of the cohort was 59 (12) years and 78% of the patients were females. The patients had a mean (s.d.) of 15 (10) years of disease duration. 16% were biologic naïve while 84% were anti-TNF failures. 32% of the patients were seronegative and 68% were seropositive. The mean (95% CI) DAS28 at baseline was 6.2 (6.1, 6.3) which decreased to 4.8 (4.7, 4.9) at 6 months of follow up. 16% were EULAR good responders, 43% were moderate responders and 41% were non responders. The mean (95% CI) change in HAQ was −0.1 (−0.2, −0.1) (Table 1). The mean change in DAS28 was similar in seropositive and seronegative patients (p = 0.18) while the anti-TNF naïve patients showed a greater reduction in DAS28 scores than anti-TNF failures (p = 0.05). Patients receiving RTX in combination with MTX showed similar changes in DAS28 and HAQ compared to patients receiving RTX alone or with other nbDMARDs. Conclusions: RTX has proven to be effective in the routine clinical practice. Anti-TNF naïve patients seem to benefit more from RTX treatment than anti-TNF failures. Disclosure statement: The authors have declared no conflicts of interes

Case Reports1. A Late Presentation of Loeys-Dietz Syndrome: Beware of TGFβ Receptor Mutations in Benign Joint Hypermobility

Background: Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) and dissections are not uncommon causes of sudden death in young adults. Loeys-Dietz syndrome (LDS) is a rare, recently described, autosomal dominant, connective tissue disease characterized by aggressive arterial aneurysms, resulting from mutations in the transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) receptor genes TGFBR1 and TGFBR2. Mean age at death is 26.1 years, most often due to aortic dissection. We report an unusually late presentation of LDS, diagnosed following elective surgery in a female with a long history of joint hypermobility. Methods: A 51-year-old Caucasian lady complained of chest pain and headache following a dural leak from spinal anaesthesia for an elective ankle arthroscopy. CT scan and echocardiography demonstrated a dilated aortic root and significant aortic regurgitation. MRA demonstrated aortic tortuosity, an infrarenal aortic aneurysm and aneurysms in the left renal and right internal mammary arteries. She underwent aortic root repair and aortic valve replacement. She had a background of long-standing joint pains secondary to hypermobility, easy bruising, unusual fracture susceptibility and mild bronchiectasis. She had one healthy child age 32, after which she suffered a uterine prolapse. Examination revealed mild Marfanoid features. Uvula, skin and ophthalmological examination was normal. Results: Fibrillin-1 testing for Marfan syndrome (MFS) was negative. Detection of a c.1270G > C (p.Gly424Arg) TGFBR2 mutation confirmed the diagnosis of LDS. Losartan was started for vascular protection. Conclusions: LDS is a severe inherited vasculopathy that usually presents in childhood. It is characterized by aortic root dilatation and ascending aneurysms. There is a higher risk of aortic dissection compared with MFS. Clinical features overlap with MFS and Ehlers Danlos syndrome Type IV, but differentiating dysmorphogenic features include ocular hypertelorism, bifid uvula and cleft palate. Echocardiography and MRA or CT scanning from head to pelvis is recommended to establish the extent of vascular involvement. Management involves early surgical intervention, including early valve-sparing aortic root replacement, genetic counselling and close monitoring in pregnancy. Despite being caused by loss of function mutations in either TGFβ receptor, paradoxical activation of TGFβ signalling is seen, suggesting that TGFβ antagonism may confer disease modifying effects similar to those observed in MFS. TGFβ antagonism can be achieved with angiotensin antagonists, such as Losartan, which is able to delay aortic aneurysm development in preclinical models and in patients with MFS. Our case emphasizes the importance of timely recognition of vasculopathy syndromes in patients with hypermobility and the need for early surgical intervention. It also highlights their heterogeneity and the potential for late presentation. Disclosures: The authors have declared no conflicts of interes