Debating translanguaging: A contribution from the perspective of minority language speakers

Abstract

In this article we discuss the concept of "translanguaging" from the standpoint of its suitability to describe und understand political-linguistic positions of minority language speakers who are leading revitalization processes in the Southern Cone of Latin America. To do so, we will first conduct a critical review of the existing literature, in order to describe the diversity of definitions underlying current uses to the term translanguaging. We will thus be able to enquire into how it overlaps with other previously established concepts such as code-switching and code-mixing and to highlight the need to contextualize the concepts we work with, in both their historical and social/political senses. Drawing from data of our research in Argentina, we will argue for a contextualized understanding of bilingualism as an ontological, disciplinary and epistemological positioning of indigenous language speakers.