Language in Strange and Familiar Places

Language and place are intimately connected: depending on where we are, what the context is and what our aims are, we will adjust our language accordingly. Yet linguistics defines itself by a framework that determines which kind of language is worth investigating. Within that framework, linguistics constructs both language and place in multiple ways: language as a sequestered thing belongs to the field site or the classroom; language as fluid practice is associated with the street; language as reconstruction belongs to migration corridors. What about the places that tend to fall between the cracks? This volume explores language in strange and familiar places, from Europe to Africa, Amazonia, Australia and the Pacific, in order to shed light on them.

Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, Central Queensland University, Australia; Anne Storch, University of Cologne, Germany; Viveka Velupillai, University of Giessen, Germany.