Suchergebnisse

1. The world in English -- 2. Discourse and dependency in a shifting world -- 3. English and colonialism : origins of a discourse -- 4. Spreading the word/disciplining the language -- 5. ELT from development aid to global commodity -- 6. The worldliness of English in Malaysia -- 7. The worldliness of English in Singapore -- 8. Writing back : the appropriation of English -- 9. Towards a critical pedagogy for teaching English as a worldly language.

1. Introduction: language as a local practice -- 2. 'Press 1 for English' : practice as the 'generic social thing' -- 3. The reverend on ice again : similarity, difference and relocalization -- 4. Talking in the city : the linguistic landscaping of locality -- 5. Kerala tuskers : language as already local -- 6. Alibangbang and ecologies of local language practices -- 7. 'Molding hearts-- leading minds-- touching lives' : practice as the new discourse? -- 8. Conclusion : language as a local practice.

Abstract
This paper explores the quest for an account of the total linguistic or semiotic fact. Speech act theory, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and social semiotics have all attempted, in various ways and at various times, to find a way to describe as much as possible what is going on around any speech event. While this search for the total linguistic fact will always be a chimerical goal, this paper draws on the inspirational work of Jan Blommaert to suggest a framework for moving in this direction. The acronym SEMIOSIS points to the complexity of what is at play, comprising social relations, emotional and affective domains, multilingual practices, iterative activity, objects and assemblages, spatial repertoires, interactivity, and sensory relations. Looking at data from a small Bangladeshi-run store in Tokyo, the paper shows how bringing in this wider set of concerns allows a more comprehensive account of semiotic moments.

Culture & knowledge are interdependent & fundamental productive systems in the validation of human lives that must be carefully conceptualized -- as opposed to being viewed simply as aspects of unequal global resource distribution -- if a critical project of opposition to the hegemony of Western culture & knowledge is to be mounted. A postmodern view of culture as plural, primary, & productive seems preferable to conservative, liberal, & Marxist frameworks. Challenges to the standard epistemologies, especially of science, technology, & development, by philosophers of science, feminists, & Third World writers again suggest the need for a plural & political conception of knowledge. From there, a moral/political project based on the work of writers such as Michel Foucault can be taken up. In order to make universities forums for discussion & social change rather than the conduit pipes for monoparadigmatic forms of culture & knowldege that they are today, intellectuals need to involve themselves in political projects that aim to both oppose the hegemony of the dominant discourses (diremption), & to identify, produce, & legitimate subjugated knowledges & cultures (redemption). AA