Language and society in times of isolation

Abstract

This text is a critical review about Prof. Rajagopalan’s conference that took place on May 6, 2020, in the series of online conferences organized by Abralin during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main question of the lecturer is: what are we talking about when we are concerned with rethinking language in its social context in these times? In view of this questioning, Rajagopalan develops a series of considerations about the resignification of the meanings of terms in times of isolation.  The considerations are made upon the assumption that language and society are mutually constitutive. In this perspective, the human condition would need to be placed prior to any aspect of language, in order to understand language as interwoven with society.