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Translinguistic apposition in a multilingual media blog in Rwanda: Towards an interpretive perspective in language policy research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2015

Joseph Gafaranga
Joseph Gafaranga*
Affiliation:
Philosophy, Psychology and Language Science, The University of Edinburgh, 3 Charles Street, EH8 9AD, [email protected]
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Abstract

Researchers have called for studies that link the macro and the micro in language policy research. In turn, the notion of ‘micro’ has been theorised as referring either to the micro implementation of macro policies or to micro policies. In this article, a third way of thinking about the relationship between the macro and the micro in language policy—referred to as the interpretive perspective—is proposed. In this perspective, macro language policies and micro language choice practices are seen as interdependent, as shaping each other. The article substantiates this view drawing on a practice I call translinguistic apposition and that I have observed in a variety of ‘most highly regulated’ texts in Rwanda. However, for an in- depth understanding, the practice is described drawing on data from a single source, namely the Rwandan multilingual media blog www.igihe.com. The article demonstrates how this practice can be seen as shaped by the Rwandan macro language policy and, conversely, how the same macro policy can be seen as written into being through the same micro level practice. (Language policy, micro language policy, micro implementation of macro policy, translanguaging, translinguistic apposition, interpretive perspective)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , February 2015 , pp. 87 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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