Pluricentricity AND pluriareality: Building the case for complementarity

Durgasingh, Ryan; Meer, Philipp

Abstract

Moving beyond the contention which has characterized the pluricentricity and pluriareality debate, this summative chapter draws together the argumentative strands in the chapters in this volume to build the case for their complementarity. We show the various ways in which terminological differences, of geography and of sociolinguistics, have somewhat obscured the underlying similarities of these models, and highlight many of the key findings of this book’s contributors in doing so. The chapter ends by highlighting how some of the issues related to the pluri-concepts might lie in the different assumptions and foci of different linguistic paradigms, and with a request that further work on pluricentricity and pluriareality view the models as flexible constructs which can work together towards mutual benefits.