Framing Language in Contact Zones: A Commentary on Vietnamese as an Expression of Globalisation(s)

Abstract

AbstractDrawing on contributions across this volume, the present commentary argues for investigating the phenomenon of globalisation from the starting point of contact zones. It uses notions of language ideologyand metapragmatic regime to discuss a series of contact zones shaped by sociopolitical tensions amongst speakers and linguistic forms that are presented in preceding chapters: Chinese–Vietnamese relations; French–Vietnamese colonial relations; diasporic–domestic relations; education–market relations; and micro-political relations mobilised in Vietnamese as a língua franca. These are important ‘southern’ sites of investigation in light of the primacy of research that references the global north.