A language’s supposed intangible unity is an outmoded principle, not a reality

Evidence

Whatever the degree of complexity, the one thing hencéfùrth outmoded is the principle (it~ not the l’eality) of a Ianguage’s intangible llnicity. Multiplicity Ja~s invaded vehicular languages and is an internaI part of them h’om now on, even when·-like Spanish-they seem to resist any centrifugaI movement. What does this multiplicity consist of? The implicit renunciation of an arrogant, monolingual separateness and the temptation to participate in worIdwide entanglement. — Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, 614

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘outmoded principle (not the reality) of unicity’ is Glissant’s candidate mechanism for loosening fixed identity — the non-essentialist stance the reader is hunting for across Spivak and Foucault. — connects to: Pidgin languages embody Relation negatively by belonging to no single tradition — Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, 477; Languages have no inherent mission or essence. — Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, 588; Language-identity links are ideological, not natural — Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, Identity and Interaction: A…, 50 (+1 more)
• DEFINE: Distinguishes principle from reality: unicity is ideological overlay, multiplicity is the underlying condition.

Broader Connections

• Language-identity links are ideological, not natural #expands (0.85) — Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, Identity and Interaction, 50
• Culture need not align with language and state boundaries #expands (0.82) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 1089