LINGUISTIC TRAJECTORIES AND REPERTOIRES OF YOUNG PEWENCHE BILINGUALS FROM A SPEAKER-CENTERED CRITICAL ETHNOGRAPHIC SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE
TRAYECTORIAS Y REPERTORIOS LINGÜÍSTICOS DE JÓVENES PEWENCHE BILINGÜES DESDE UNA SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA ETNOGRÁFICA CRÍTICA CENTRADA EN LOS HABLANTES
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4067/s0717-73562026000100505
Ana María Rojas Zepeda
and Soledad Hoces de la Guarda
Key words: Speaking subjects, language repertoires, lived language experiences, Chedungun.
Abstract
This article examines the linguistic trajectories, lived language experiences, and repertoires of three young Chedungun (dialect of the Mapuche language) and Spanish Pewenche bilinguals—subjects who have traditionally been overlooked in sociolinguistic research on the Mapuche language. Drawing on recent developments in critical ethnographic sociolinguistics, mobility studies, and speaker-centered approaches, the study engages post-structural and phenomenological perspectives on language and subjectivity. Using language grids and language portraits, complemented by ethnographic observation, the analysis shows that these young Chedungun-speaking subjects possess heteroglossic repertoires and display complex metalinguistic awareness and linguistic subjectivity. Their repertoires emerge from their particular trajectories of learning and language use that reflect participation in polycentric spaces operating at multiple scales, each shaped by specific orders of indexicality, linguistic-ideological associations, and stances. The study also identifies a process of self-recognition of their potential as speakers. Research of this kind can contribute to the development of more democratic and inclusive models of inquiry, moving beyond one-dimensional theoretical and methodological approaches that oversimplify the role of language in speaker’s lives and in society.
