This study deals with John Gumperz's research legacy by exploring his statements on indexicality at different phases in his career. Situating his developing comprehension of indexicality vis-á-vis other work in linguistic anthropology, this study discusses how indexical concepts such as “ordering,” when linked with concepts of spatio-temporal scale, offer clarifying ways of theorizing and exploring the dynamics of globalization and language contact. This thesis is developed through case studies of migration and multilingualism, drawing on fieldwork in Belgium and the United States.