Tochemet: A Sociolinguistic Approach to Writing in Wichi

Ballena J.; Messina L. · Bellaterra Journal of Teaching and Learning Language and Literature (2026) · DOI: 10.5565/rev/jtl3.1487

Resumen

In recent years, new uses of writing in the Wichi language of Chaco have begun to distance themselves from translations from Spanish as the canonical form of written usage, transforming the meaning of writing for its speakers. In this reflective article, we explore how the appropriation of writing in the native language re-signifies the practice of writing and how this re-signification also projects itself onto the written uses of Spanish as a second language. Our analysis falls within the framework of New Literacy Studies, the perspective of multiliteracities and the sociolinguistics of writing, with an emphasis on the ideological and situated dimension of writing practices. Using a qualitative methodology based on a longitudinal study, we analyse interviews, exchanges sustained over time, and a series of significant events that we call nodes, which allow us to collaboratively reconstruct the literacy trajectory of one of us, Josefa Ballena, teacher and singer-songwriter. From this dialogue between women, activists, and academics, emerges a text that moves back and forth between voices. © De l’autoria | https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/jtl3.1487 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona | ISSN: 2013-6196

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de San Martín