ABSTRACT
This chapter draws attention to salient tensions between the increasing recognition accorded to the heterogeneity and complexities of human communication in Northern places on the one hand and the naming traditions regarding what is glossed as language in the language scholarship (broadly conceptualized) in these spaces on the other hand. It spells out analytical tenets that constitute a Second Wave of Southern Perspectives, SWaSP framing that emerges in conversations with and at the cross-roads of multiple overlapping theoretical positions. A SWaSP framing highlights the need to go beyond programmatic hegemonic tendencies in the mainstream scholarship with the intent to create a global-centric multiversal or pluriversal agenda. The chapter presents four illustrations regarding naming traditions from across time and physical territories glossed as the North and the South to engage with SWaSP tenets and highlights tensions when attention is focused on naming traditions. Systematically drawing attention to these tensions constitutes dimensions of justice and solidarity where the agenda is to de-center naturalized hegemonies when language is loose in institutional settings.
