Bilingualism, Praxis and Linguistic Description

Abstract

I define bilingualism as a sociopolitical semiotic nexus of praxis cum ideology.1 In this nexus a certain lexico-grammatical space is perceived as divided into two different coded varieties. By this definition, monolingualism is a sociopolitical semiotic nexus of praxis cum ideology that perceives no such division. In linguistic theory this basic definition has been transformed in such a manner as to allow research to erase the praxis cum ideology component. Thus, bilingual phenomena are targeted as a juxtaposition of coded varieties warranting a certain kind of description. I base my analysis on the assumption that a great deal of what enters into the study of linguistic problems is actually a kind of ideology supported by various institutional or community structures. In handling bilingual phenomena we face two broad lines of linguistic ideology: that of the structuralist tradition which traces its theoretical principles from Descartes through Saussure to modern rationalism-positivism, and the alternative (and actually oppositional) trend of praxis-focused research. Even though this scheme may strike the reader as too simplifi ed, I argue that it grasps the principal points of relevance to an ongoing discourse on bilingualism. One main goal of this chapter is to explore various approaches to praxis in sociological theory, in order to see how linguistic description is portrayed in such theoretical schemes, and what such approaches buy us for comprehending bilingualism.