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Article published In: Names and Naming
Edited by Philipp Krämer, Eeva M. Sippola and Rachel Selbach
[Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 41:1] 2026
► pp. 59–80

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Terminologies in crisis

Challenges and insights from multipolar metalinguistics

ORCiD logo with link | Roskilde University, Denmark
Published online: 10 February 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.24008.lev
Abstract
This paper addresses the question of metalinguistic terminology from a cross-linguistic and cross-conceptual perspective. In the first part of the paper, the current crisis in terminology is analysed, with a focus on unthinking the dominant keywords and concepts of global Anglophone linguistics such as “language”, ”creole”, ”dialect”, and ”variety”. Theorizing the problems of Anglocentrism and Eurocolonial dominance on metalinguistic practices, the paper turns to the contact zone as an area of conceptual innovation and terminological legitimacy. With a point of departure in three case studies from the South Pacific contact zone, the paper integrates insights from South Pacific keywords and local metalinguistic terms. It advocates for the adoption of a new multipolar metalinguistics and underscores the importance of incorporating emic perspectives into linguistic theorizing.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Unthinking modern Anglo metalinguistics
    • 2.1Unthinking “languages” and other Anglo concepts and categories
    • 2.2The making of terminology
    • 2.3On conceptualization and cultural concepts
    • 2.4A critical synthesis
  • 3.Metalinguistics in the contact zone
    • 3.1Situating Bislama and the South Pacific contact zone
    • 3.2Insights from bislama
    • 3.3Insights from lanwis
    • 3.4The etymology fetish
  • 4.On multipolar metalinguistics: Orders, ethics, and imagination
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (67)
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