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Language as a Local Practice
Language as a Local Practice addresses the questions of language, locality and practice as a way of moving forward in our understanding of how language operates as an integrated social and spatial activity. By taking each of these three elements – language, locality and practice – and exploring how they relate to each other, Language as a Local Practice opens up new ways of thinking about language. It questions assumptions about languages as systems or as countable entities, and suggests instead that language emerges from the activities it performs. To look at language as a practice is to view language as an activity rather than a structure, as something we do rather than a system we draw on, as a material part of social and cultural life rather than an abstract entity. Language as a Local Practice draws on a variety of contexts of language use, from bank machines to postcards, Indian newspaper articles to fish-naming in the Philippines, urban graffiti to mission statements, suggesting that rather than thinking in terms of language use in context, we need to consider how language, space and place are related, how language creates the contexts where it is used, how languages are the products of socially located activities and how they are part of the action. Language as a Local Practice will be of interest to students on advanced undergraduate and post graduate courses in Applied Linguistics, Language Education, TESOL, Literacy and Cultural Studies.
- GenresLinguisticsNonfiction
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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About the author
Alastair Pennycook
18 books5 followersAlastair Pennycook is Distinguished Professor of Language, Society and Education at University of Technology Sydney. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan at the University of Oslo, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
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August 9, 2011
In Language as a Local Practice (2010), Alastair Pennycook develops two fundamental theories: 1) language is a practice, and 2) these practices are local. Building on the work of Schatzki (2002), Bourdieu (1977), and De Certeau (1984), Pennycook describes practices as “bundles of activities that are organized into a coherent ways of doing things” -- for example, a cluster of banking practices could include going to the bank, standing in line, filling out a deposit slip, as well as the processes of online and phone banking (Pennycook, 2010, p. 25). He asserts that examining language use through everyday activities enables us to understand the sociopolitical consequences of language use, which aligns Pennycook against structuralists’ emphasis on structure and post-structuralists’ focus on discourse.
He also responds to issues of repetition and creativity. Some theorists argue that the range of possible utterances is limited, and therefore, each utterance is a repetitive iteration that can never be unique. In contrast, Pennycook argues, “Repetition, even of the ‘same thing,’ always produces something new, so that when we repeat an idea, a word, a phrase or an event, it is always renewed” (Pennycook, 2010, p. 43). Because language is grounded in local practices, its social, historical, and local contexts will always make each iteration (even those that are conscious imitations) unique.
His ideas about the socio-historical context of language practices tie directly into his theories about languages practices always being rooted in a local context. Pennycook defines local as “the grounded and the particular” (Pennycook, 2010, p. 14). He asserts that an examination of the local does not necessarily entail a bottom-up or micro- approach, but rather can include elite language practices, such as the Queen of England’s Christmas message or a Presidential speech. All language practices are fundamentally local, because they derive from an individual, a community, an institution, etc., and represent local perspectives, ideas, and worldviews. Global practices, in contrast, refer to “the apparent co-occurrence in different times and places of local practices” (Pennycook, 2010, p. 128). Therefore, Pennycook argues that all language practices are rooted in the local.
He also responds to issues of repetition and creativity. Some theorists argue that the range of possible utterances is limited, and therefore, each utterance is a repetitive iteration that can never be unique. In contrast, Pennycook argues, “Repetition, even of the ‘same thing,’ always produces something new, so that when we repeat an idea, a word, a phrase or an event, it is always renewed” (Pennycook, 2010, p. 43). Because language is grounded in local practices, its social, historical, and local contexts will always make each iteration (even those that are conscious imitations) unique.
His ideas about the socio-historical context of language practices tie directly into his theories about languages practices always being rooted in a local context. Pennycook defines local as “the grounded and the particular” (Pennycook, 2010, p. 14). He asserts that an examination of the local does not necessarily entail a bottom-up or micro- approach, but rather can include elite language practices, such as the Queen of England’s Christmas message or a Presidential speech. All language practices are fundamentally local, because they derive from an individual, a community, an institution, etc., and represent local perspectives, ideas, and worldviews. Global practices, in contrast, refer to “the apparent co-occurrence in different times and places of local practices” (Pennycook, 2010, p. 128). Therefore, Pennycook argues that all language practices are rooted in the local.
Displaying 1 of 1 review