Abstract
Globalisation and late-modernity have brought profound socio-political, economic, cultural as well as linguistic transformations. An intensification of mobility and transnational migration around the globe has added a complexity to linguistic interactions and repertoires that can be better analysed with non-essentialist approaches. With this in mind, the aim of this article is to expand the research agenda on pluricentricity beyond the standard language paradigm, which is based on the western conceptualisation of languages as clearly definable and discrete entities. In this respect, we address pluricentricity from the speaker’s perspective as opposed to the traditional perspective focused on standard-setting centres and peripheries. In this article, we adopt a communicative-based perspective on pluricentricity and focus on the potential accommodation behaviour of Spanish speakers from Argentina and Spain in mobility contexts. We conducted 39 semi-structured interviews to access perceptions and attitudes regarding the possible negotiations of short-term convergent norms and the creation of a spontaneous translanguaging space. We assume that awareness of one’s own repertoire as well as tolerance towards the perceived markers of the respective interlocutors’ repertoire are necessary conditions for successful pluricentric communication.
Acknowledgement
To Jan Blommaert, who always transcended boundaries between languages and linguistics. We would like to thank Hannah Davidson and Judith Wilke for their contributions to this article.
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6 Appendix
Interview guidelines
¿En tu opinión, hay un país/una región/una zona en el/la cual se habla un español mejor que en otros países/regiones/zonas? ¿Por qué (no)?
¿Para ti, cuáles son las características del español de España?/de Argentina?
¿Para ti, cuáles son las características de tu propia forma de hablar?
¿Cuando hablas con hispanohablantes de otros países, os entendéis sin problema? ¿Por qué (no)?
Cuando hablas con una persona de otro país hispanohablante, evitas palabras/rasgos que usas con tus compatriotas? ¿Por qué (no)? ¿Te comportas diferente según el país de origen de tu interlocutor (p.ej. cuando hablas con una persona de España o con una persona de Latinoamérica)
En caso de que sí, ¿cuáles son las palabras/rasgos que evitarías?
Cuando hablas con una persona de otro país hispanohablante (de España/Argentina), prefieres que evite ciertas palabras/rasgos de su país de origen? ¿Por qué (no)?
En caso de que sí, ¿cuáles son las palabras/rasgos que habría que evitar?
¿Quieres hacer algún comentario o tienes alguna pregunta?
English translation
In your opinion, is there a country/region/area where Spanish is spoken better than in other countries/regions/areas? Why (not)?
For you, what are the characteristics of Spanish in Spain/Argentina?
For you, what are the characteristics of your own way of speaking?
When you speak with Spanish speakers from other countries, do you understand each other without any problem? Why (not)?
When you talk to a person from another Spanish-speaking country, do you avoid words/features that you use with your compatriots? Why (not)? Do you behave differently depending on the country of origin of your interlocutor (e.g. when you talk to a person from Spain or a person from Latin America)?
If yes, which words/features would you avoid?
When talking to a person from another Spanish-speaking country (from Spain/Argentina), do you prefer them to avoid certain words/features from their country of origin? Why (not)?
If yes, which words/features should be avoided?
Do you have any comments or questions?
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