ABSTRACT
Language, as a bounded entity with an ontology distinct from its speakers, is an invention. We explore the contours of language invention and argue that language invention is always complicit with the interests of specific institutions. We illustrate the institutional invention of Spanish both in social scientific approaches to Spanish-speaking populations and in the curricularization of Spanish in educational institutions. Readers of this chapter will gain an understanding of the institutional dimensions of language invention and an appreciation of the institutional interests served in abstracting away from language invention to named and bounded language categories.
