[Linganth] AAA 2017 CFP: Multilingualism in Post-Colonial Societies

[Jacqueline Messing]

Colleagues,



We have space available in our panel on *Multilingualism in Post-Colonial
Societies*.  If the abstract below resonates with your work and you would
like to join the panel, send an email describing your topic to *both
kmanagan at ksu.edu <kmanagan at ksu.edu> and jmessing at umd.edu <jmessing at umd.edu>
by Monday, April 3.*



*AAA 2017 Panel:  Multilingualism in Post-Colonial Societies *



*Co-Organizers:  Jacqueline Messing (U Maryland-College Park) and Kathe
Managan (Kansas State U)*

*Discussant:  Prof. Salikoko Mufwene (U Chicago)*



Multilingualism is one of the most common human diversities and scholars
have developed models that strive to accurately reflect its complexity. In
postcolonial societies in particular, theories seek to capture the
subtleties of power inherent in multilingual language use. Our models do
not always align with emic perspectives on multilingualism, however. The
goal of this panel is to bring our linguistic anthropological,
ideologically-centered perspective into dialogue with the perspectives of
multilingual speakers themselves. We use ethnographic data to critically
reexamine three dominant theories of bilingualism used by scholars of
language–local and not–and speakers of languages in multilingual contexts,
focusing on bivalency, diglossia and translanguaging. In addition to
questioning the extent that these models accurately describe practice, this
panel asks: Why do certain models hold sway? What purposes do specific
approaches serve? How do site-specific ideologies of multilingualism
influence the models themselves?

This panel will reconsider the notion of “bilingualism” building, directly
or indirectly, on Fergusonian notions of diglossia. Ferguson elaborated the
model of diglossia to describe situations where two different varieties of
the same language coexist in a society in a hierarchical relationship,
while maintaining separate domains of use. The diglossia model was later
adapted to include situations in which different languages were spoken
(e.g. Fishman 1967, 1985; Snow 2010), including examples of “colonial
diglossia” (Makihara 2004). We question whether diglossia is a salient
concept for all multilingual speakers around the world, or predominantly
for linguists. In Guadeloupe, local linguists and language activists
promote the idea of diglossia while acknowledging that a strict functional
compartmentalization of French and Kréyòl does not occur; many other
Guadeloupeans hold onto this idea as well. In Mexican Nahuatl-speaking
communities, diglossia–as traditionally conceived–does not exist; syncretic
speech is the linguistic and ideological result of colonialism (Hill & Hill
1986, Messing 2013).  Recognizing the fuzziness of language boundaries, the
concept of bivalency (Woolard 1997) offers insight into the meanings that
speakers make by skillfully mixing two (or more) codes or playing off
potential double meanings. The papers in this panel consider the extent to
which the concept of bivalency adds pragmatic depth to diglossic
bilingualism. Translanguaging, “the act performed by bilinguals of
accessing different linguistic features or various modes of what are
described as autonomous languages, in order to maximize communicative
potential (Garcia 2009:140) is an insightful novel approach that to date
has had minimal traction in anthropology. What does the new work on
translanguaging bring to the theoretical table?  Language brokering and
translanguaging practices in classroom discourse will be explored among
transmigrant communities from Mexico and Guatemala. Relations of power
emerge discursively in postcolonial societies, where colonization has
resulted in multiple, often multilingual voices being iconicized (Irvine
and Gal 2000).


-- 
Jacqueline Messing, Ph.D.
Lecturer, Department of Anthropology
University of Maryland-College Park
https://umcp.academia.edu/JacquelineMessing
Twitter: @jacqmessing
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