Thinking About Languages Between Fixity and Fluidity
What can a Translingual Perspective Teach us About Language Policies in the Global South?
Keywords:
translanguaging, fixity, fluidity, language policyAbstract
Moving away from the tradition of treating multilingualism as a problem and language as an autonomous system, current theoretical approaches have shifted from monolingual principles toward translingual perspectives to investigate the relationship between language policy and ideology. In this text, I take on such a position to explore how multilinguals’ attitudes toward their languages are shaped by ideologies that highlight both the fixity and fluidity of contemporary communicative practices. In order to do so, I analyze data taken from a larger study that problematized online translingual practices of individuals from post-colonial countries through the use of questionnaires and interviews. Drawing on the notions of translanguaging, languagised worlds and Bakhtin’s concept of centripetal and centrifugal forces, I argue that in order to better account for the impact of language policies in multilinguals’ lives, scholars should turn their attention to the implications of fixed and fluid notions of language for the negotiation of competing language ideologies.
Downloads
References
ARCHANJO, R. Language and Power in Language Policies in the Brazilian context. In: FINARDI, K. R. (ed.). English in Brazil: Views, Policies and Programs. Londrina, PR: Eduel, 2016, p. 33-52.
AUER, P. ‘Translanguaging’ or ‘Doing Languages’? Multilingual Practices and the Notion of ‘Codes’. In: MCSWANN, J. (ed.). Language(s): Multilingualism and its Consequences. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2019, p. 1-31.
BANDA, F. Translanguaging and English-African Mother Tongues as Linguistics Dispensation in Teaching and Learning in a Black Township School in Cape Town. Current Issues in Language Planning, v. 19, n. 2, p. 198-217, 2018.
BAKHTIN, M. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by M. M. Bakhtin. Translation Michael Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin, TX: Texas University Press, 1981.
BLACKLEDGE, A.; CREESE, A. Heteroglossia as Practice and Pedagogy. In: BLACKLEDGE, A.; CREESE, A. (eds.). Heteroglossia as Practice and Pedagogy. Dordrecht, NL: Springer, 2014, p. 1-20.
BLACKLEDGE, A.; CREESE, A. Translanguaging in mobility. In: CANAGARAJAH, A. S. (ed.). The Handbook of Migration and Language. New York, NY: Routledge, 2017, p. 31-46.
BLOCK, D. The Political Economy of Language Education Research (or the Lack Thereof): Nancy Fraser and the Case of Translanguaging. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, v. 15, n. 4, p. 237-257, 2018.
BONFIGLIO, T. H. Mother Tongues and Nations: The Invention of the Native Speaker. New York, NY: Mouton de Gruyter, 2010.
BOURDIEU, P. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
CANAGARAJAH, A. S. Reclaiming the Local in Language Policy and Practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 2005.
CANAGARAJAH, A. S. Translingual Practice: Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations. New York, NJ: Routledge, 2013.
CANAGARAJAH, A. S. Translingual Practices and Neoliberal Policies: Attitudes and Strategies of African Skilled Migrants in Anglophone Workplaces. New York, NY: Springer, 2017.
CANAGARAJAH, A. S.; DOVCHIN, S. The Everyday Politics of Translingualism as a Resistant Practice. International Journal of Multilingualism, v. 16, n. 2, p. 127-144, 2019.
CENOZ, J.; GORTER, D. Teaching English through Pedagogical Translanguaging. World Englishes, v. 39, n. 2, p. 300-311, 2020.
DEL VALLE, H.; GABRIEL-STHEEMAN, L. Nationalism, Hispanismo, and Monoglossic Culture. In: DEL VALLE, H.; GABRIEL-STHEEMAN, L. (eds.). The Battle over Spanish between 1800 and 2000. London, UK: Routledge, 2001, p. 1-13.
DOVCHIN, S.; PENNYCOOK, A.; SULTANA, S. Popular Culture, Voice and Linguistic Diversity: Young Adults On- and Offline. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
DOVCHIN, S. Language, Social Media and Ideologies: Translingual Englishes, Facebook and Authenticities. Cham, CH: Springer, 2019.
GARCÍA, O.; LI, W. Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism, and Education. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan, 2014.
GARCÍA, O. Language Policy and Planning in Language Education: Legacies, Consequences, and Possibilities. The Modern Language Journal, v. 100, n. 1, p. 48-63, 2016.
GARCÍA, O.; JOHNSON, S. I.; SELTZER, K. The Translanguaging Classroom: Leveraging Student Bilingualism for Learning. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2017.
GRAMLING, D. The Invention of Monolingualism. New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2016.
GRAMLING, D. The Invention of Multilingualism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2021.
HAMID, M. O.; RAHMAN, A. Language in Education Policy in Bangladesh: A Neoliberal Turn? In: KIRKPATRICK, A.; LIDDICOAT, A. J. (eds.). The Routledge International Handbook of Language Education Policy in Asia. New York, NY: Routledge, 2019, p. 382-398.
JASPERS, J.; MADSEN, L. M. Sociolinguistics in a Languagised World. Introduction. Applied Linguistics Review, v. 7, p. 235-258, 2016.
JASPERS, J.; MADSEN, L. M. (eds.). Critical Perspectives on Linguistic Fixity and Fluidity: languagised lives. New York, NY: Routledge, 2019.
JØRGENSEN, J. N. Languaging: Nine Years of Poly-Lingual Development of Young Turkish-Danish Grade School Students. Copenhagen, DK: University of Copenhagen, 2010. I-II v. (Copenhagen Studies in Bilingualism).
KHUBCHANDANI, L. M. Defining Mother Tongue Education in Plurilingual Contexts. Language Policy, v. 2, p. 239-254, 2003.
KOZINETS, R. V. Netnografia: realizando pesquisa etnográfica online. Translation Daniel Bueno. Porto Alegre, RS: Penso, 2014.
KOZINETS, R. V. Netnography: The Essential Guide to Qualitative Social Media Research. London, UK: Sage, 2020.
KUBOTA, R. The Multi/Plural Turn, Postcolonial Theory, and Neoliberal Multiculturalism. Applied Linguistics, v. 37, n. 4, p. 474-494, 2014.
LEFFA, V. Prefácio. In: NICOLAIDES, C.; SILVA, K. A.; TILIO, R.; ROCHA, C. H. (eds.). Políticas e políticas linguísticas. Campinas, SP: Pontes, 2013, p. 7-10.
LEWIS, M. P.; SIMONS, G. F.; FENNIG, C. D. (eds.). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 19. ed. Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2016.
LI, W. Translanguaging as a Practical Theory of Language. Applied Linguistics, v. 39, n. 1, p. 9-30, 2018.
MACSWAN, J. A Multilingual Perspective on Translanguaging. American Educational Research Journal, v. 54, p. 167-201, 2017.
MAHER, T. M. Ecos de resistência: políticas linguísticas e línguas minoritárias no Brasil. In: NICOLAIDES, C.; SILVA, K. A.; TILIO, R.; ROCHA, C. H. (eds.). Políticas e políticas linguísticas. Campinas, SP: Pontes, 2013, p. 117-134.
MAKONI, S.; PENNYCOOK, A. Disinventing and Reconstituting Languages. In: MAKONI, S.; PENNYCOOK, A. (eds.). Disinventing and Reconstituting Languages. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2007, p. 1-41.
MAKONI, S.; MAKONI, B.; ABDELHAY, A.; MASHIRI, P. Colonial and Postcolonial Language Policies in Africa: Historical and Emerging Landscapes. In: SPOLSKY, B. (ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Language Policy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2012, p. 523-543.
OTHEGUY, R.; GARCÍA, O.; REID, W. Clarifying Translanguaging and Deconstructing Named Languages: A Perspective from Linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review, v. 6, n. 3, p. 281-307, 2015.
OTSUJI, E.; PENNYCOOK, A. Metrolingualism: Fixity, Fluidity and Language in Flux. International Journal of Multilingualism, v. 3, n. 7, p. 240-254, 2010.
PAVLENKO, A. Superdiversity and why it isn’t: Reflections on Terminological Innovation and Academic Branding. In: SCHMENK, B.; BREIDBACH, S.; L. KÜSTER (eds.). Sloganization in Language Education Discourse: Conceptual Thinking in the Age of Academic Marketization. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2018, p. 142-168.
PENNYCOOK, A. Language as a Local Practice. New York, NY: Routledge, 2010.
PENNYCOOK, A.; MAKONI, S. Innovations and Challenges in Applied Linguistics from the Global South. London, UK: Routledge, 2020.
PENNYCOOK, A.; OTSUJI, E. Lingoing and Everyday Metrolingual Metalanguage. In: JASPER, J.; MADSEN, L. M. (eds.). Critical Perspectives on Linguistic Fixity and Fluidity: languagised Lives. New York, NY: Routledge, 2019, p. 76-96.
RAHMAN, M. M.; ISLAM, M. S.; KARIM, A.; CHOWDHURY, T. A.; RAHMAN, M. M.; SERAJ, P. M. I.; SINGH, M. K. English Language Teaching in Bangladesh Today: Issues, Outcomes and Implications, Language Testing in Asia, v. 9, p. 1-14, 2019.
RAMPTON, B. Crossing: Language and Ethnicity among Adolescents. London, UK: Longman, 1995.
ROCHA, C. H.; MACIEL, R. F. Ensino de língua estrangeira como prática translíngue: articulações com teorizações bakhtinianas. D.E.L.T.A., São Paulo, v. 31, n. 2, p. 41-445, 2015.
SCHIFFMAN, H. Linguistic Culture and Language Policy. London, UK: Routledge, 1996.
SELTZER, K. “My English is its Own Rule”: Voicing a Translingual Sensibility Through Poetry. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, v. 19, n. 5, p. 1-14, 2020.
SHOHAMY, E. Language Policy: Hidden Agendas and New Approaches. London, UK: Routledge, 2006.
SPOLSKY, B. Language Policy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
SPOLSKY, B. (ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Language Policy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
TUPAS, R. Inequalities of Multilingualism: Challenges to Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education. Language and Education, v. 29, n. 2, p. 112-124, 2015.
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Why Language Matters for the Millennium Development Goals. Bangkok, TH: UNESCO, 2012.
VERTOVEC, S. Super-Diversity and its Implications. Ethnic and racial studies, v. 29, n. 6, p. 1024-1054, 2007.
YOUNG, C.; IGCALINOS, T. Language-in-Education Policy Development in the Philippines. In: KIRKPATRICK, A.; LIDDICOAT, A. J. (ed.). The Routledge International Handbook of Language Education Policy in Asia. New York, NY: Routledge, 2019, p. 165-184.
ZOLIN-VESZ, F. Gusta me mucho: enunciados des/reterritorializados e a concepção de língua. Linguagem & Ensino, v. 19, n. 1, p. 217-228, 2016.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Diogo Oliveira do Espírito Santo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Autores de artigos publicados pela RBLA mantêm os direitos autorais de seus trabalhos, licenciando-os sob a licença Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0, que permite que os artigos sejam reutilizados e distribuídos sem restrição, desde que o trabalho original seja corretamente citado.
