ABSTRACT
There is a need for metaphors that move beyond the notion of languages as self-contained units and focus on speakers and the varied linguistic resources at their disposal. These metaphors should not simply question the older monolingual norm but describe plurilingualism as a new norm that integrates the possibility of a strong linguistic attachment to a single language – not necessarily one’s ‘mother tongue’, but also an ‘adoptive’ or ‘stepmother tongue’ – next to more fluid and ephemeral forms of language practice. In this sense, the conclusion reflects on a possible shift from ontological to epistemological metaphors, from the alleged objectivity and naturalness of body, kinship and space metaphors to the subjectivity and constructedness of acoustic and visual metaphors. Besides visual and acoustic metaphors, colour and flavour metaphors best render the central aspects of plurilingualism. Furthermore, composite metaphors of perception that conflate music, colour and flavour suggest a multilingual synaesthesia that mirrors and echoes linguistic plurality and the fundamental fluidity of borders between the single colliding, mixing and merging elements.
