Como ser feliz no meio de anglicismos: processos transglóssicos e transculturais Being happy among anglicisms: transglossic and transcultural processes

Neste artigo, mediante o uso de entrevistas informais com vinte proprietários de casas comerciais, busco entender suas razões para nomear seus estabelecimentos com expressões ou traços da língua inglesa. Examino também, à luz das noções de transglossia e transculturalidade, de que forma estruturas lexicais e sintáticas do inglês, visíveis nos nomes de casas comerciais, são traduzidas/transformadas por falantes de português brasileiro para significar algo. Seria a noção de neo-imperialismo made in USA transposta para o domínio lingüístico conciliável com as noções de transglossia e transculturalidade, pensadas por Cox e Assis-Peterson (2006, 2007)? Teria o homem comum algo a dizer ao político e ao cientista da linguagem, como defende Rajagopalan (2004)? Por meio das noções de transglossia e transculturalidade foi possível perceber marcas da desterritorialização do inglês ao ser usado em contexto brasileiro por pessoas do comércio. Os signos se mostraram mestiços, evidenciando processos lexicais e sintáticos que transitam entre o português e o inglês. A marca transglóssica dos signos mestiços é marca transcultural que não é meramente deglutida, mas remastigada e lançada em novas formas e sentidos.<br>In this paper, through the use of informal interviews with twenty owners of commercial stores I seek to understand their reasons to use English features or expressions in the names of their stores. I also examine under the light of the notions of transglossia and transculturality in which ways English lexical and syntactical structures in the names of commercial stores are translated/transformed by Brazilian Portuguese native speakers to mean something. Would the notion of neo-imperialism made in USA transposed to the linguistic domain be reconciliable with the notions of transglossia and transculturality proposed by Cox and Assis-Peterson (2006, 2007)? Would the ordinary man have something to say to the politician and to the language scientist as argued by Rajagopalan (2004)? Through the notions of transglossia and transculturality it was possible to notice marks of deterritorialization of English to be used in the Brazilian context by people of commerce. The signs revealed to be mestizo showing lexical and syntactical processes that go back and forth between Portuguese and English. The transglossic mark of mestizo signs is the transcultural mark that is not merely swallowed but chewed and thrown out in new forms and meanings

Law and economics of the European multilingualism

The economics of language applied to multilingualism in the European Union (EU) has only recently come to the fore. Languages economics and Law and Economics disciplines both emerged in the 1960s. However, no study has, hitherto, linked these disciplines. This paper intends to fill that void. Language barriers are the last major remaining barriers for the EU’s ‘single’ market. The lack of coordination of multilingualism in the EU stems from a taboo crystallized by a dilemma between economic efficiency and linguistic diversity—i.e., the maximization of wealth versus the maximization of utility. The EU Member States (MSs) do not hasten to coordinate their language policies at the EU level inasmuch as they overestimate the benefits of the current EU multilingualism while drastically underestimating its costs. Coordination shall occur when MSs evaluate the costs and benefits of the current EU multilingualism. This will uncover the aforementioned dilemma, that will only be resolved when both Law and Economics are applied. In pursuing this objective a “Linguistic Coase Theorem” adapted from the work of Parisi and the Nobel Prize winner, Ronald Coase is elaborated. Having outlined the basic notions deriving from the EU Law of Languages and the Economics of Languages (Introduction), the paper scrutinizes the costs and benefits incurred by the current non-coordinated EU multilingualism (Part I). Subsequently, a ‘Linguistic Coase Theorem’ is elaborated in order to reach a Pareto-optimal outcome, thereby solving the dilemma—both economic efficiency and the linguistic diversity being enhanced (Part II)