Advancing a sociolinguistics of complexity

This chapter addresses Spanish-speaking identities in Washington, DC, demonstrating the need for a “sociolinguistics of complexity” that takes a flexible, multifaceted approach to language in context. This chapter’s goals are to situate the current state of Spanish vitality in Washington, DC in the global city environment and to demonstrate that identity negotiation and dynamic ideologies of language relate to characteristics of global cities and particularities of the DC context. The chapter adds a new perspective as 1) there is a surprising paucity of research on the sociolinguistics of globalization in US contexts, and 2) Washington, DC’s unique social context and transnational political economy give new insights into language in global cities, raising “new demands made on language use and new value frameworks around varieties and multilingualism … in new economy work practices” (Coupland, 2010, p. 16). I first provide an introduction to Washington, DC as a global metropolitan area ¹ and immigrant gateway, situating Latino history and language within this context. A brief review of existing linguistics research on Spanish in Washington, DC follows. Next, I present the chapter’s theoretical framework, data, and methodology, drawing on notions of scales, polycentricity, and indexicality (Blommaert, 2010; Silverstein, 2003), and present a case-study analysis and discussion of ideological dimensions of Spanish in DC’s global city environment. The chapter concludes with a synthesis and conclusion, implications for a sociolinguistics of complexity in global cities, and indications for future research.