Disinventing and Reconstituting Languages
eBook - PDF

Disinventing and Reconstituting Languages

  1. 272 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Disinventing and Reconstituting Languages

About this book

This book questions assumptions about the nature of language and how language is conceptualized. Looking at diverse contexts from sign languages in Indonesia to literacy practices in Brazil, from hip-hop in the US to education in Bosnia and Herzegovina, this book forcefully argues that a critique of common linguistic and metalinguistic suppositions is not only a conceptual but also a sociopolitical necessity. Just as many notions of language are highly suspect, so too are many related concepts premised on a notion of discrete languages, such as language rights, mother tongues, multilingualism, or code-switching. Definitions of language in language policies, education and assessment have material and often harmful consequences for people. Unless we actively engage with the history of invention of languages in order to radically change and reconstitute the ways in which languages are taught and conceptualized, language studies will not be able to improve the social welfare of language users.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
  • Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
  • Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access Disinventing and Reconstituting Languages by Sinfree Makoni, Alastair Pennycook, Sinfree Makoni,Alastair Pennycook,Sinfree Bullock Makoni in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Languages & Linguistics & Linguistics. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. The Contributors
  3. Foreword Intervening Discourses, Representations and Conceptualizations of Language
  4. Chapter 1 Disinventing and Reconstituting Languages
  5. Chapter 2 Then There were Languages: Bahasa Indonesia was One Among Many
  6. Chapter 3 Critical Historiography: Does Language Planning in Africa Need a Construct of Language as Part of its Theoretical Apparatus?
  7. Chapter 4 The Myth of English as an International Language
  8. Chapter 5 Beyond ‘Language’: Linguistic Imperialism, Sign Languages and Linguistic Anthropology
  9. Chapter 6 Entering a Culture Quietly: Writing and Cultural Survival in Indigenous Education in Brazil
  10. Chapter 7 A Linguistics of Communicative Activity
  11. Chapter 8 (Dis)inventing Discourse: Examples from Black Culture and Hiphop Rap/Discourse
  12. Chapter 9 Educational Materials Reflecting Heteroglossia: Disinventing Ethnolinguistic Differences in Bosnia-Herzegovina
  13. Chapter 10 After Disinvention: Possibilities for Communication, Community and Competence
  14. Index