Amazonian Spanish: ideological perspectives of linguistic research
Authors
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Alessio Chinellato
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4344-730X
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Abstract
Based on a critical sociolinguistic approach focused on the study of linguistic ideologies, this article aims to identify and discuss the ideological assumptions underlying the discursive construction of “Amazonian Spanish” in a set of recent studies focused on its linguistic description. First, several assumptions are discussed that I have identified as expressions of methodological nationalism (Wimmer & Schiller 2002), proposing instead an approach taking the Amazon as the centre, considering its transnational character and the complexity and mobility of the multilingual practices of Amazonian speakers in all their sociolinguistic diversity. On the other hand, I describe and problematize the ways in which such studies base their descriptive work on two central axes: 1) the principle of distinctiveness vis-à-vis a standard variety, and 2) the ideology of authenticity (Woolard 2016), closely linked to the persistence of “sedentary” methodological practices (Britain 2016). In this regard, I argue that efforts to describe Amazonian Spanish according to its grammatical “deviations” from a standard norm, along with the views and methodological practices that pursue a certain “ideal Amazonian speaker,” are counterproductive insofar as they naturalize and legitimize differences and inequalities between varieties and speakers.Keywords:
Amazonian spanish , Language ideologies , Standard ideology , Authenticity , AmazoniaReferences
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