Linguistic appropriation and/or dispossession: Two sides of the Marxist coin

Abstract

Beginning by noting the lack of precision between what is cultural appropriation and cultural borrowing, the author turns to similarly imprecise distinctions regarding linguistic appropriation. Specifically considered are imprecise, from a Marxian lens, accounts of linguistic appropriation and dispossession. The author fleshes out the Marxian roots of appropriation and accumulation by dispossession, tracing the latter back to Marx’s primitive accumulation. It is argued that neither appropriation or dispossession of language can follow from a Marxian lens.