Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T20:46:17.277Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Introduction

Translingual Practices: Playfulness and Precariousness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2024

By
Sender Dovchin ,
Rhonda Oliver  and
Li Wei
Edited by
Sender Dovchin ,
Rhonda Oliver  and
Li Wei
Sender Dovchin
Affiliation:
Curtin University, Perth
Rhonda Oliver
Affiliation:
Curtin University, Perth
Li Wei
Affiliation:
Institute of Education, University of London
Get access

Summary

A current prominent translingualism strand in sociolinguistics has started paying increasing attention to linguistic ‘playfulness’. When language users are involved with translingual practices, they may often be identified through the ‘playfulness’ of their interactions and dialogues (commonly a euphemism for creativity, innovativeness and fluidity), where one’s repertoire is deeply connected with forms of playful exchange to create alternative linguistic lives and identities. Yet, this extensive spectacle of ‘playfulness’ seems to dwell more on conviviality than potential ‘precarity’, overlooking the fact that precarity has arguably always been a condition of human life and norm for most language users, who are deeply embedded in local economies of uncertainty, marginalisation and vulnerabilities. In this chapter, we aim to re-visit two key notions that are core to translingual experiences: ‘precariousness’ and ‘playfulness’. The key implication of this chapter, therefore, is that the next generation of sociolinguists needs to focus more on the precarity of the translingualism trend, not just the playfulness. The two concepts need to be treated with caution, so as not to assume that we understand too easily what is ‘precarious’ or ‘playful’ for whom. In so doing, we re-navigate the jubilant scenes of ‘playfulness’ and move towards the centrality of ‘precariousness’.

Keywords

translingualismplayfulnessprecarity
Type
Chapter
Information
Translingual Practices
Playfulness and Precariousness
 , pp. 1 - 16
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Back, M. (2020). ‘It is a village’: Translanguaging pedagogies and collective responsibility in a rural school district. TESOL Quarterly, 54(4), 900–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bakhtin, M. M. (1994). Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics. In Morris, P. (ed.), The Bakhtin Reader: Selected Writings of Bakhtin, Medvedev, Voloshinov (pp. 110–13). London, Arnold.Google Scholar
Blackledge, A., & Creese, A. (2009). Meaning-making as dialogic process: Official and carnival lives in the language classroom. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 8(4), 236–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, J. (2010). The Sociolinguistics of Globalization: Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, J. (2019). Formatting online actions: # justsaying on Twitter. International Journal of Multilingualism, 16(2), 112–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1998). Acts of Resistance: Against the Tyranny of the Market. New York, The New Press.Google Scholar
Butler, J. (2004). Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence. London, Verso.Google Scholar
Canagarajah, S. (2013). Translingual Practice: Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations. London, Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canagarajah, S. (2018). Translingual practice as spatial repertoires: Expanding the paradigm beyond structuralist orientations. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 31–54. https://doi:10.1093/applin/amx041CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canagarajah, S., & Dovchin, S. (2019). The everyday politics of translingualism as a resistant practice. International Journal of Multilingualism, 16(2), 127–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creese, A., & Blackledge, A. (2010). Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: A pedagogy for learning and teaching? The Modern Language Journal, 94(1), 103–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deumert, A., Storch, A., & Shepherd, N. (eds.). (2021). Colonial and Decolonial Linguistics: Knowledges and Epistemes. Oxford, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dovchin, S. (2020a). The psychological damages of linguistic racism and international students in Australia. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23(7), 804–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovchin, S. (2020b). Translingual English, Facebook, and gay identities. World Englishes, 39(1), 54–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovchin, S. (2022). Translingual Discrimination. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009209748CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovchin, S., & Dryden, S. (2022a). Translingual discrimination: Skilled transnational migrants in the labour market of Australia. Applied Linguistics, 43(2), 365–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovchin, S., & Dryden, S. (2022b). Unequal English accents, covert accentism and EAL migrants in Australia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2022(277), 33–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovchin, S., & Izadi, D. (2023). Editorial introduction: Normativities of languaging from the Global South: The social media discourse. Discourse, Context and Media, 53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2023.100701CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovchin, S., Pennycook, A., & Sultana, S. (2017). Language, culture and the periphery. In Dovchin, S., Pennycook, A., & Sultana, S. (eds.), Culture, Voice and Linguistic Diversity: Young Adults On- and Offline (pp. 1–26). New York, Springer.Google Scholar
Hawkins, M. R., & Mori, J. (2018). Considering ‘trans-’ perspectives in language theories and practices. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 1–8. https://doi:10.1093/applin/amx056CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacquemet, M. (2013). Transidioma and asylum: Gumperz’s legacy in intercultural institutional alk. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 23(3), 199–212. https://doi:10.1111/jola.12027CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaworska, S. (2014). Playful language alternation in an online discussion forum: The example of digital code plays. Journal of Pragmatics, 71, 56–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jørgensen, J. N., Karrebæk, M. S., Madsen, L. M., and Møller, J. S.. (2011). Polylanguaging in superdiversity. Diversities 13(2), 23–38.Google Scholar
Kasmir, S. 2018. Precarity. In Stein, F. (ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Available at: https://www.anthroencyclopedia.com/entry/precarityCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, M. M., & Miller, C. (eds.). (2018). Poetics and Precarity. Albany, NY, SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Kubota, R. (2015). Inequalities of Englishes, English speakers, and languages: A critical perspective on pluralist approaches to English. In Tupas, R. (ed.), Unequal Englishes: The Politics of Englishes Today (pp. 21–42). London, Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, J. W. (2022). Locating Translingualism. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, W. (2018). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 9–30. https://doi:10.1093/applin/amx039Google Scholar
Li, W., & Hua, Z. (2019). Tranßcripting: playful subversion with Chinese characters. International Journal of Multilingualism, 16(2), 145–61.Google Scholar
Li, W., & Zhu, H. (2013). Translanguaging identities and ideologies: Creating transnational space through flexible multilingual practices amongst Chinese university students in the UK. Applied Linguistics, 34(5), 516–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Makoni, S., & Pennycook, A. (2005). Disinventing and (re) constituting languages. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies: An International Journal, 2(3), 137–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millar, K. M. (2017). Toward a critical politics of precarity. Sociology Compass, 11(6), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12483CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mufwene, S. (2008). Language Evolution: Contact, Competition and Change, London, Continuum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munck, R. (2013). The Precariat: A view from the South, Third World Quarterly, 34 (5), 747–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennycook, A. (2007). Global Englishes and Transcultural Flows. London, Routledge.Google Scholar
Pennycook, A. (2017). Translanguaging and semiotic assemblages. International Journal of Multilingualism 14(3), 269–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennycook, A., & Otsuji, E. (2015). Metrolingualism: Language in the City. London, Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennycook, A., & Makoni, S. (2020). Innovations and Challenges in Applied Linguistics from the Global South. London, Routledge.Google Scholar
Rampton, B., Charalambous, C., & Charalambous, P. (2019). Crossing of a different kind. Language in Society, 48(5), 629–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sayer, P. (2013). Translanguaging, TexMex, and bilingual pedagogy: Emergent bilinguals learning through the vernacular. TESOL Quarterly, 47(1), 63–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Standing, G. (2011). The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. London, Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Tankosić, A., & Dovchin, S. (2022). Monglish in post‐communist Mongolia. World Englishes, 41(1), 38–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsing, A. L. (2015). The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Williams, Q., Deumert, A., & Milani, T. M. (eds.). (2022). Struggles for Multilingualism and Linguistic Citizenship. Bristol, Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×