Languages/languaging as world-making: the ontological bases of language. (January 2021) - Demuro, E.
Abstract: This article makes a case for an engagement with language ontologies. Rather than asking what we know about language, theorising with ontologies prompts us to engage with what language is – or, might be . This focus has potential to broaden our work from examining different perspectives on, or ideological approaches to, a single assumed phenomenon (Language), to potentially seeing multiple, different phenomena. To develop our argument theoretically, we draw primarily on research stemming from the ontological turn in anthropology (Blaser, 2009, 2013; Holbraad, 2009; Holbraad and Pedersen, 2017; Viveiros de Castro, 2013 among others), as well as linguistic anthropology (Chernela, 2018; Seargeant, 2010). We dialogue across fields and disciplines—with philosophy, science and technology studies (Latour, 1993; Law, 2015), decolonial studies (Escobar, 2016) and language studies (García and Li, 2014; Li, 2018; Makoni and Pennycook, 2006; Pennycook, 2017, among others)—to situate language ontologies as worlded through linguistic practices. To contextualise the discussion, the paper explores three ontologies of language: language as object, language as practice, and language as assemblage. Highlights: Across many domains, language is performed as object in ways which are so naturalised that they are unquestioned. Applying the equivalent of a one-world world model in language studies is problematic. Ontology as heuristic and as worlding enables us to discuss language practices. Language as object, language as practice, and language as assemblage comprise three distinct ontologies of language. Language may be considered a heterogeneous range of ontological practices.