Ricardo Rojas y Benvenuto Terracini: destierro, muerte y bio-política de las lenguas

Abstract

In this paper we address the discourse on the death, contact and change of languages in two texts that we have read and compared: the book Archipiélago [Archipielago] by Ricardo Rojas (1942) and the article “Cómo muere una lengua” [How does a language die?] by Benvenuto Terracini (1951). In our analysis, we emphasize the tensions and conflicts arising in both texts as part of a field in construction: the field of the lin-guistic and philological studies. We also inquire into discursive constructions about language and otherness developed by both texts and the “glotopolitics” implications associated with those positions.