What is subaltern linguistics?

Ahmar Mahboob, Ph.D, University of Sydney

Australia

Subaltern linguistics is a linguistics carried out by and for a community’s self-

empowerment, well-being, and prosperity. Subaltern linguistics can be carried out by
anyone. And, it can be done in any language – it does not need to use or rely on English or
on technical jargon. The goal of subaltern linguistics is to create economies, practices,
projects, and resources that can be made and used by community members and leaders to
develop and promote community beneficial socio-semiotic processes in their own language
(or a language of their choice). Socio-semiotics can be broadly understood as ways in
which various meaning-making resources (including, but not limited to, images, texts,
colours, symbols, gestures, movement, sounds, smells, tastes, touch) relate to the lives of
people.

Subaltern linguistics can be – and is often – carried out by people who do not have a
training in modern linguistics. To read my critique of modern linguistics, please
visit: https://wemountains.com/01/10/1057.

There is no one way of doing subaltern linguistics.

Work in subaltern linguistics can be characterised by 1) its goals: community

empowerment, well-being, and prosperity; 2) its use of five material senses: visual, oral,
smell, touch, and taste [note: these five senses are presented in a particular hierarchy; I will
discuss this hierarchy and its significance in a later essay]; and, 3) its recognition of the
relationship between socio-semiotic and material systems.

Our worlds can be broadly classified into two systems: material systems and socio-
semiotic systems.

Material systems include physical and biological systems. Physical systems are the
primary building blocks of our existence. A study of these (e.g. through physics or
chemistry), and the use of these studies (e.g. through engineering) helps us to manipulate
the physical world to suit our needs. Biological systems give us life. A study of these (e.g.
through plant and animal sciences), and the use of these studies (e.g. through medicine)
helps us to fight off diseases and live a longer and healthier life.

Physical and biological systems are not independent of each other. All biological
organisms are made of physical matter; however, not all physical matter is biological (e.g.
stones and rocks and water and air). Biological organisms can impact physical objects; and
physical environment can impact the evolution of biological organisms. We can also use
studies of the physical world and apply them to biological creatures, e.g., by using x-rays
and nuclear medicine. And, we can use a study of biological creatures in working with
physical objects, e.g., designing helicopters based on studying dragonflies.

However, there can be little development or application of the physical or biological

sciences without our ability to form socio-semiotic systems. Socio-semiotic systems include
sociological systems and semiotic systems. Sociological systems are ways in which a group
organises itself. All sociological systems are biological, but not all biological systems (e.g.,
trees) are sociological. Semiotic systems are meaning-making systems; and all sociological
systems have some form of meaning-making processes (this includes but is not limited to
language). It is the socio-semiotic systems that give us our understandings of the world,
including our belief systems, economic systems, ways of thinking, ways of being, and ways
of doing. Socio-semiotic systems can help explain and predict the relationship that an
individual or a community has with other social systems, biological organisms, and the
physical world. Language plays a small, but crucial, role in creating and enabling our socio-
semiotic systems.

Language is created, changed, and used by people. People use language as one
way of understanding and sharing the world around us: both material world and socio-
semiotic world. Language responds to and changes as people change or the things that
they do with language change. Language, like the people who create language, changes all
the time. To understand language, we need to understand people: what people do with
language. Thus, people are at the centre of our understanding of subaltern linguistics. Not
language. Language is one meaning-making resource amongst many; and people use this
resource for their benefit – or, for their harm.
Indigenous communities throughout the world developed respectful relationships
with the material world and lived in harmony with it. This was reflected in their socio-
semiotic processes. For example, Indigenous people of Australia believed that earth (and
rivers and mountains) are living things and deserve respect. Their languages gave human-
like characteristics to animals and birds. This reflects an understanding that other living
thing also have meaning-making systems and navigate their lives and the world through
them. Their social, cultural and linguistic practices reflected these beliefs. And, these beliefs
led them to develop a respectful relationship with their environment – and all objects and
beings that were part of that environment. Readers familiar with Indigenous languages from
other parts of the world will be able to quickly add to these examples: of how Indigenous
languages embedded a respect for material, biological, and other socio-semiotic systems.
However, these practices and ways of being were disrupted by colonisation – and have led
to many of the problems that we experience in the world today.

Colonizing communities (a.k.a. exploiting communities) speak and promote

language, culture and social practices that do not share this respect of the physical or
biological systems. Colonizing powers belief in the superiority of humans over other
creatures; and of the superiority of some human belief systems and practices over others.
They believe that their own ways of doing things are “developed” because they control other
parts of the world; and that others need to follow their lead to become “developed”. As a
consequence of this, they create policies and practices (including education and academic
disciplines) whereby other people and communities give up their own ways of being and
doing to become “developed”. This leads to a devastation of Indigenous communities and
local ways of being and doing.
Once on decline, “experts” from exploiting communities (and those trained in the
approaches developed by the exploiting communities) go into the exploited communities to
“document” the ways of these societies. This include “experts” from across social sciences,
education, and humanities, including linguists. And, while the linguists (and others)
document languages (and other practices), the communities that speak these languages
(and practice different beliefs) continue to suffer and gradually disappear. (To follow up on
the link between colonisation and linguistics, visit: https://wemountains.com/12/24/984/.)

Subaltern linguistics recognises these inherent discriminatory and subjugating

practices carried out and encouraged by academics and experts from (or trained in)
exploitative linguistics and other social sciences (including education).

The goal of subaltern linguistics is not to document languages or write grammars. It

sees these practices as subjugating practices – practices that further weaken and
marginalise communities and languages.

A deemphasis on language documentation and writing grammars in subaltern

linguistics is based both on theoretical and practical concerns. In terms of theory, subaltern
linguistics recognises the impossibility of writing a comprehensive grammar of any
language. This is because language is a dynamic system that changes and varies all the
time; one cannot capture all the language changes and variations in a single grammar of
language. The most that one can hope for is to document language use in one context, by
one person (or group of people), at one time. The writing and use of grammars contribute to
discriminatory practices: since one set of language features is considered “standard” and
others are seen as deviancies (and deficiencies).

There are at least three inter-related practical reasons for subaltern linguistics not to
focus on writing linguistic descriptions or grammars. First, if the goals of subaltern linguistics
and “modern linguistics” are at odds, then how can it follow the methods used by “modern
linguists”? Second, if subaltern linguistics focuses on people and communities, and
considers language to be a minor, albeit crucial, resource for meaning-making, then how
can it focus on just language? And, third, if subaltern linguistics can be carried out by
anyone in any language, then how can it be tied down with heavy theoretical and
terminological knowledge that is only accessible to people who are trained in “modern
linguistics”?

Having said this, subaltern linguists can do some documentation. However, this is
limited in scope and is only done in order to achieve the goals of a specific project (which
are about empowerment of people and communities). Subaltern linguistics documents and
analyses the use of language (along with other meaning-making systems) in as far as it
helps them to create economies, practices, projects, and resources that benefit their
communities.

I will now give three examples of subaltern linguistics. Notice that these come from
very different contexts and “modern linguistics” has little contribution to any of these.

Example 1: Sequoyah was a Cherokee (an Indigenous tribe in north America) who
realised that the colonizers used writing to communicate. Cherokee, at that point was an
oral language. Sequoyah set out – with no training in linguistics – to develop a writing
system for his language. He first experimented with a phonemic system, but realised that it
did not suit his language – and would be too difficult to teach and learn. He therefore
invented a set of characters that were syllabic, not phonetic. Once he had completed his
script and published it, the Cherokee script spread quickly through his community and
people who had no literacy developed literacy in their language very quickly. Sequoyah’s
script, which is a socio-semiotic resource, is still used today and is one reason why the
Cherokee people and language have survived the onslaughts of colonization and genocide.

Cherokee_syllabary–photo Wikimeida Commons

Sequoyah can be considered a champion of subaltern linguistics. He saw a need in

his community and addressed it by creating a new writing system – a writing system that is
arguable much better than the phonemic scripts used and promoted by “modern linguistics”.

Example 2: National Road and Motorists’ Association (NRMA) is an organisation that offers
roadside assistance to motorists in Australia. Recently, NRMA started a “drive nice”
campaign and placed large advertisements on highways that read “Drive nice…” and then a
message in a child’s writing along with drawings. An example of one such advertisement is
given below:

This text uses not just language, but Tom’s handwriting and drawing to create an
impact. Tom, as the advertisement states, was 6-year-old when he composed this text. This
– and other advertisements in this campaign – are powerful because they draws on socio-
semiotics and our understanding of how using a child’s handwriting and drawing can
influence adults. This is an example of subaltern linguistics as it draws on an understanding
of socio-semiotics to influence practices that can save peoples’ lives.

A subaltern linguistic, if they so choose, can review this (and other successful
campaigns from around the world) and create their own resources – with an understanding
of their own people and communities – to influence unsafe driving (or other) practices that
are harmful to the community. A subaltern linguist will analyse these texts only to
understand how they work; their goal is not to document or describe language use, but to
create their own resources (for their own goals, in their own languages, and in ways that
work for their communities). The resources created, which are socio-semiotic in nature, will
impact the material systems: e.g., these resources may decrease the number of accidents
in the area and thus improve the physical and biological environment in which people live.

Example 3: Elders and children from the Kristang community in Melaka, Malaysia, in
collaboration with FLC Group, organised a Language Travels in late 2018. The goal of this
Language Travels was to enhance the prestige of Kristang by creating economic
opportunities that use and strengthen the community language
(see http://www.flcgroup.net/upcoming-conference-2018/language-travels/). Language
Travels in Melaka was coordinated by the community elders, who supervised their youth to
take on the role of language teachers. This project provided an income to the community,
including to the children, and gave them pride in their own language.

In this subaltern linguistics project, the community developed and ran a successful
project that brought an income to the community through the use of their language. The
community elders and youth worked together to study their own language and developed
material and methods to teach their language to Language Travelers. As a result of this first
Language Travels, the Kristang community is now setting up additional programs and
running them independent of FLC. This example shows how communities can create
economic opportunities for themselves by using and empowering their own languages.
They use socio-semiotic resources to bring material and other benefits to the people of their
community.

To summarise, subaltern linguistics is a linguistics of the people, by the people, and

for the people. It is inclusive and does not discriminate between people based on their
language, training, education, age, gender, sexual orientation, social class, or other
demographic features. Anyone who uses language (or a study of language) to empower
their communities is a subaltern linguist. This can be a child, or a grandmother, or the two
together. The goal of subaltern linguistics is community enhancement – done by and in
terms of the members of the community. We can all participate in subaltern linguistics – to
create more prosperous and harmonized societies.