New sociolinguistics is characterized by a liquidation of ‘languages’. Over the last two decades, socially interested critical scholars of language have reworked handed-down notions of individuate – ‘bounded’, ‘discrete’, ‘named’, ‘countable’– languages. A ‘language’ in new sociolinguistics is now commonly viewed as a second-order (language ideological) construct, rather than a first-order (self-contained) entity. In this article, we explore the intellectual roots and latter-day uptake of this critical idea, tracing it to the work of Roy Harris and its reception in sociolinguistics. We discuss the indirect uptake and hidden influence of Harris' critique of linguistics, focusing on Makoni and Pennycook's engagement with Harris, its impact on new sociolinguistics, and the relatively overt (bibliometric) absence of Harris in sociolinguistic and applied linguistic debates. We also expound Harris' views on the relationship between linguistic ontology and the politics of language. In sum, this article contributes to a historicization and meta-theorization of new sociolinguistics, offering a reflexive point of view on one of its foundational ontological claims. • A historicization of recent critiques of ‘fixed codes’ and ‘named languages’. • A rejoinder to critiques of new sociolinguistics and critical applied linguistics. • A clarification of Harris' views on the politics of demystification.
Karlander et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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