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Article published In:
Translingual practices entangled with semiotized space and time
Edited by Shaila Sultana and Dariush Izadi
[Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 45:2] 2022
► pp. 135–153

The sound of absent-presence

Towards formulating a sociolinguistics of the spectre

| University of Cape Town

This article engages with the theme of the proposed special issue in a perhaps unexpected way: for me, the ‘translinguistic movement’ is a pertinent reminder to move beyond the boundaries of language and other visible/audible modalities that are involved in semiosis. It also encourages us to move beyond the naïve empiricism that has shaped sociolinguistic work over the decades. The ‘sociolinguistics of the spectre’ that I develop in this article is rooted in philosophies of radical empiricism; it acknowledges the sensuous and affective nature of social life, and refuses to work with the ‘boundaries, binaries and demarcations’ that are located within the temporal ‘linearity of modernity’ (Garuba, 2013). In doing so, I will look at a particular time-space: the postcolony. It is a time-space where the ghosts of the past are ever-present and shape translinguistic practices; a time-space where time is always somehow ‘out-of-joint’.

Keywords: translingualism, spectres, sociolinguistics, postcolony, voice, visibility
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Ghosts of research past
  • 3.The spectral turn in the social sciences
  • 4.Towards a sociolinguistics of the spectre
  • 5.Writing spectral scholarship
  • 6.Listening to ghosts
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 16 May 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.21039.deu
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