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ABSTRACT
This sociohistorical study probes an archaeological artefact called the Laguna Copperplate Inscription (LCI) to suggest that translingualism, a sociolinguistic orientation that foregrounds the fluidity of language boundaries, was practised by precolonial Filipinos. It then analyses how translingual practices were potentially devalued by linguistic ideologies of hierarchisation that predominantly informed the translation tasks of Spanish missionaries in the Philippines. The study ends by discussing prevailing misconceptions or myths about translingualism, drawing on findings about the LCI and other related studies.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 By invoking the notion of ‘overlapping’ languages, I realised that I can be subscribing to a mindset of languages as separate entities. However, for practical and analytical purposes, distinguishing one language from another is unavoidable here. Moreover, it has to be stressed that translingualism does not deny the existence of named languages. It believes that these named languages are historically, politically, and ideologically defined entities that are always open to reconstitution (Canagarajah, Citation2013; Li Wei, Citation2018a).
2 This does not mean that intentionally hybrid linguistic practices are not translingual. The intentional hybridity that the Spanish missionaries carried out came from the assumption that certain languages are deficient. Shaped by colonial and political force, the eventual intent was to take over another language. Surely, not all intentional hybridity practices is premised on such assumption and motivation. There are practices of intentionally hybridising linguistic norms but they are characterised by agential or creative processes.