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The localization of global linguistic variants

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Isa Buchstaller

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Abstract

Globalization has been defined as the process whereby "events happening in one place ... impact upon many other places, often remote in time and space" (Urry 2003: 39). This paper examines the impact of two globally available linguistic resources - the quotatives be like and go - in two spatially discontinuous localities. The investigation of the local processes that are involved in the adoption and negotiation of these global newcomers provides a holistic as well as a particularized view on the sociolinguistic mechanisms of globalization. I will demonstrate that by way of creatively adapting linguistic innovations, speakers can participate in global trends, yet do so in a highly localized and idiosyncratic manner. A micro-linguistic analysis of the emerging local practises allows us to situate localized linguistic processes into a "wider picture of structural becoming" (Blommaert 2003: 613), and provides one step forward towards our understanding of the development and/or maintenance of social spatiality. © John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Buchstaller I

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: English World-Wide

Year: 2008

Volume: 29

Issue: 1

Pages: 15-44

Print publication date: 01/01/2008

ISSN (print): 0172-8865

ISSN (electronic): 1569-9730

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/eww.29.1.03buc

DOI: 10.1075/eww.29.1.03buc

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