Taking over the Square: The role of linguistic practices in contesting urban spaces

In this paper I study the extent to which the 15-M or Spanish Indignados movement has transformed the discourses of social movements, not only in terms of their content, but also in the way their communicative practices are produced and circulate. Thus, this paper firstly explores how changes in the conditions of production and circulation of linguistic practices contribute to the “deterritorialisation” and “reterritorialisation” of space, by means of which protestors replace the traditional organisation and uses of space with their own beliefs, ideologies and communicative practices. Secondly, I examine the extent to which this “reterritorialisation” leads to an in-depth transformation of the forms of communication, which could be, in their turn, not only transforming public spaces, but also social movements themselves, and the way of doing politics. The paper addresses whether these practices, in projecting themselves onto a public space which they transform, prefigure in the present moment the kind of society being proposed and fought for. Keywords: Linguistic landscapes; communication practices; sociolinguistic market; deterritorialisation; reterritorialisation; production/circulation of linguistic practices