Although it is well accepted that linguistic naming conventions
provide valuable insights into the social and linguistic perceptions of
people, this topic has not received much attention in sociolinguistics.
Studies focus on the etymology of names, details about the social and
historical circumstances of their emergence, and their users, and
sometimes make recommendations about the appropriateness of terms. This
article departs from this tradition. Focusing on the term
“Takitaki” in French Guiana, it shows that an analysis of the
discursive uses of language names by all local actors provides significant
insights into the social and linguistic makeup of a complex
sociolinguistic situation. Descriptions of languages in such settings
should be based on the varieties identified by such an analysis and on
practices in a range of naturalistic interactions. Based on these
analytical steps, the authors propose a multi-perspective approach to
language documentation.We would like to
thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor of this journal for valuable
comments and criticisms on an earlier version of this article. All
remaining errors are, of course, our own responsibility.