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Communicative Repertoires in Advertising Space in Lesotho: The Translanguaging and Commodification Nexus

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Translanguaging as Everyday Practice

Part of the book series: Multilingual Education ((MULT,volume 28))

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Abstract

In this chapter, the concepts of translanguaging and commodification are examined as twin indicators of how commercial entities deploy the language resources available to them for commercial gain. It is argued that the persuasive power of advertising discourse in Lesotho lies in its ability to mobilise a variety and diversity of communicative repertoires such as images, objects and texts to encourage the audience to purchase the products and services on offer. Translanguaging transnational advertising space is conceptualised as a meeting place for the accommodation of a variety of communicative resources. The selected advertisements in this chapter straddle the services sector, namely, telecommunications, banking, and retail. The literature review covers the recent and extant literature on translanguaging and linguistic commodification. The study employs Critical Discourse Analysis as a method to explore, describe and interpret how a variety of communicative repertoires are used in advertising space in Lesotho. It is clear from the analyses that the advertisements that have been studied mediate and (re)negotiate cultural diversity through translanguaging and linguistic commodification. The chapter concludes that the different linguistic resources deployed in the advertising space in Lesotho are artefacts and productive signs with important economic and social consequences. Finally, it is posited that translanguaging changes the way the public appreciates and deploys their multilingual resources in different spaces of multilingualism, and that new social spaces emerge through translanguaging in linguistic superdiverse settings.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Basotho refers to the people of Lesotho. The language of the Basotho is referred to as Sesotho. Some texts may refer to Sesotho as ‘Southern Sotho’ to differentiate it from ‘Northern Sotho’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. English Department, National University of Lesotho, Roma, Lesotho

    Henry Amo Mensah

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  1. Henry Amo Mensah
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Modern Cultures, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Gerardo Mazzaferro

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Mensah, H.A. (2018). Communicative Repertoires in Advertising Space in Lesotho: The Translanguaging and Commodification Nexus. In: Mazzaferro, G. (eds) Translanguaging as Everyday Practice. Multilingual Education, vol 28. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94851-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94851-5_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94850-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94851-5

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