English (United Kingdom)

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This article scrutinises language discourse in transnational culture and considers theories on  reflexive modernity  ( Beck et al. 2003 ) for analysis. I introduce symbolic meanings of language in transnational Communities of Practice constituted by salsa dance, where, depending on dance styles and on local, national and transnational discursive configurations, language ideologies differ, to which data from ethnographic observation and interviews give insight. Both first modern (essentialised) categories and second modern (non-naturalised) constructions of categories are shown to be used within these communities. I study the simultaneous presence of different symbolic functions of languages, relating to first and second modern constructions of categories. As discussed in the final section, the different constructions of language and belonging indicate that reproducing social hierarchies in transnational contexts can be linked to the ability to negotiate multilingual identities as non-essentialist, which is, however, not possible for everyone – and potentially implies neo-liberal discourse. English being a central means in constructing cosmopolitan positions, the article ends with a consideration of the role of English in the transnational sphere, where both first and second modern ideologies are co-present and interlocked, demonstrating the difficulty of taking evaluative stances on language ideology in a globally connected world.

First and second modern language ideologies, cosmopolitan discourses of English and the emergence of new social hierarchies in transnational contexts