The very concept of language contact in light of contemporary interest in translanguaging

Abstract

This paper makes a case for viewing the concept of translanguaging as one that puts a heavy strain on a good deal of the time-honoured concepts of language contact, language code, code-switching, discrete languages as self-contained entities, hermetically sealed off from one another, and so forth — that is to say, the entire conceptual paraphernalia with the help of which we are used to working when dealing with the phenomenon of multilingualism. Far from being an exception to a rule, multilingualism is recognised as the norm in today’s world, the much-touted monolingualism having been exposed as the product of repressive policies enacted in the past in the name of geopolitical expediencies. Among these repressive policies is the formation of nation-states, historically brandished as the bulwark of a collective identity and also of differentiation vis-à-vis those with whom one no longer feels any common bond — an exception foisted upon the natural order of things. In other words, monolingualism is a point totally out of the curve, a fact that is historically attested, though overshadowed by its ‘contamination’ with factors that have to do with deep-seated geo-political interests.