Framing Bourdieu socioculturally: Alternative forms of linguistic legitimacy in postcolonial Mozambique

Abstract

Bourdieu informs us that in order to understand instances of linguistic hegemony, we need to consider how power is structured and played out in social, cultural and economic institutions. For him, legitimate language presupposes a unified market and inculcation through the institutions that arise from this. However, this does not appear particularly helpful in multilingual Mozambique, where institutions traditionally associated with linguistic authority are weak, fragmented or contested, but where Portuguese is nevertheless hegemonic. This paper will focus on the case of Portuguese in Mozambique in an attempt to provide an alternative account of the processes involved in legitimating and authorizing languages. Rather than emphasizing the role of institutions per se, it will explore how local agents discursively contribute to the constitution, perpetuation and change of markets. Linguistic practices and associated ideologies of language can be seen as ways of managing the outcome of a number of conflicting and contesting ideologies and sociopolitical, historical and contemporary developments. Special attention will be paid to the situated interpretations by local actors of global and local developments, and the role of language in the quotidian practical negotiation and management of larger socioeconomic, sociopolitical and sociohistorical processes. © Walter de Gruyter.