ABSTRACT

This article investigates what is commonly called multilingual writing. Based on case studies from Mali, and drawing on a number of West African settings, it argues that in fact, not all ‘multilingual’ writing is in effect multilingual. The article proposes a two-tiered classification of types of writing, based on linguistic properties of texts and the differing perspectives of writers and readers. This analysis contrasts writers’ intentions to write (in) a particular language vs. to mobilise linguistic resources in a more holistic manner. The latter type of writing, it is argued, is better characterised as language-independent, since writers do not draw borders between what can be analysed as different languages from a code-based perspective often applied by analysts. The co-existence, spaces, and potentials of language-based and language-independent writing are examined in detail. This type of writing is invisible to language planners and often taken to be unreadable, akin to the mythical writing on the wall inspiring the title of the paper. Yet, in contexts with low educational resources and great linguistic diversity, language-independent writing presents a resilient and underappreciated alternative to language-based literacies.

摘要

本文研究了通常所说的多语言写作。基于马里的案例研究，并借鉴了许多西非地区的情况，它认为实际上并不是所有的“多语言”写作实际上都是多语言的。本文根据文本的语言属性以及作者和读者的不同观点，提出了两类写作类型的分类。这种分析将作者的意图与用一种更全面的方式动员语言资源与动员语言资源形成对比。有人认为，后一种类型的写作最好表现为与语言无关，因为作家没有从分析人员经常采用的基于代码的角度来区分可以分析为不同语言的语言之间的界限。共存，空格，并详细研究了基于语言和独立于语言的写作的潜力。这种类型的文字对于语言规划人员来说是看不见的，并且通常被认为是难以理解的，类似于启发墙上标题的神话般的文字。但是，在教育资源匮乏且语言多样性丰富的情况下，与语言无关的写作提供了一种替代基于语言的文学的弹性和低估的选择。