ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how sociolinguistic research has been influenced by the extension of capitalist processes and neoliberal forms of government. Firstly, it examines how languages and multilingualism have been studied in relation to the social transformation produced within new economies and discusses the new concepts that have been developed for this purpose, such as, the linguistic market, value and language commodification. Secondly, it explores how languages have also come to play a key role in neoliberal forms of governance of our societies, that extend the logic of the market throughout public and private life and have an impact on linguistic practices. The conceptualization of language as a personal asset contributes to the creation of self-entrepreneurial speakers, who learn languages to compete more strongly in the job market, and also demands the development of new approaches and methodological tools within sociolinguistic research. Finally, the paper discusses how within this frame of capitalist economy and neoliberal governmentality, multilingualism is in fact turning into Englishization, as long as this language has a weight in the market that is recognized and used by the speakers to move in society and in the labour market, once they have internalized that they must compete and be profitable.
