Language as a Local Practice

Language As A Local Practice

Language as a Local Practice is truly a fascinating work which disrupts established ways of looking at language, society and various everyday practices. The fascination starts with the cover picture by British-Nigerian artist, Yinka Shonibare, who adapts a famous painting of a Scottish clergyman skating on a lake (the figure is headless so as to remove any questions of race and identity). Language as a Local Practice discusses how elements that are part of our everyday landscape have local-(global) linguistic meanings: graffiti on a church wall, ATMs around the corner, Kerala elephants, and hip-hop. Each is local but represents linguistic mobility at the global level. The book deals with the spatiotemporal impact on local language practices and with the agentive possibility of change through practices. One of its most impressive features is that it presents new ways of conceptualising language; rather than conceiving language as prior systems tied to ethnicity, territory or nations. Pennycook suggests they are practices emerging from the process of local interactions. In this view, all language practices are local. This interpretation relocates language practice in time and space, puts new senses on history and location, and demonstrates new ways of conceptualising language.

Alastair Pennycook is a Professor of Language Studies at UTS and the Head of the Language Studies Group. He has been involved in language education for over 30 years, both in Australia and overseas.