A INDEXICALIDADE SOCIAL COMO BÚSSOLA EM NOVOS MAPAS SOCIOSSEMIÓTICOS

DESENVOLVIMENTO FONOLÓGICO DE L2 EM CONTEXTOS DE IMIGRAÇÃO

Abstract

The propensity to see language as a construction that provides social cues has great implications for both societal structure and human psychological processes, including native (L1) and non-native language (L2) development and attrition. In this regard, social indexicality, for instance, has been shown to play a crucial role in L2 speech development. Even though some branches of linguistics embrace social indexicality in their machinery and predictions, the addition of social variables in the area of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) might be seen as recent and limited. Considering that psycholinguistics should start including social indexicality when addressing language learning, this theoretical research article aims at exploring and drawing attention to the relationship between L2 phonetic-phonological development in immigration contexts and social indexicality.  In order to do so, it discusses the role of social indexicality in bilingual development, and advocates the Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) as a fruitful paradigm to anchor such an interface, since it includes both cognitive and social aspects in its core.