Can nonhumans speak? Languaging and worlds in posthumanist applied linguistics

Abstract

This paper mobilises posthumanism as a way to theorise and articulate what language(s)/languagingmay be for nonhuman animals. This is investigated via various concepts brought together: we turn to the on-tological turn in anthropology to expand on what language is, or might be, amongst humans, and then discussUmwelt and languaging as two possible modes of exploring ontologies and biosemiosis among nonhumans. Thedialogue between posthumanism and biosemiosis is so far absent in the field of critical language studies. Theaim, thus, is to contribute to the nascent field of posthumanist applied linguistics by tentatively linking discretefields of enquiry for a productive exchange across disciplines, and to further the discussion of how nonhumanlanguage is (or may be) ontologised