ABSTRACT
In this contribution a brief critical review of the main trends characteristic of the field of sociolinguistics in Mexico is presented. Starting from its inception in the late 70s up to this day, this includes a sketch of the sociolinguistics of the national language, Spanish, as well as an outline of the sociolinguistics of Mexican indigenous multilingualism. Looking to overcome received approaches on language in society, this chapter highlights the monolingual regimes that have prevailed in doing sociolinguistic research, not only in Mexico. The sociolinguistic critique regarding both Spanish and indigenous tongues as advanced in this chapter, looks not only to deconstruct the main ideologies and biases that have prevailed in the Mexican sociolinguistic agenda, yet also pursuing the construction of a Mexican sociolinguistics, defining new agendas in which the sociolinguistic endeavor is not disconnected from the speakers’ agendas, looking to close the gap between the making of sociolinguistics and language reclamation, providing specific examples of language revitalization practices from the point of view of an engaged Mexican sociolinguistics.
