6 Contact and Ethnicity in “Youth Language” Description: In Search of Specificity

2014 ◽  
pp. 181-216 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Youth Language ◽  
Language Description

Morphological features of Kiswahili youth language(s): Evidence from Dar es Salaam, Goma, Lubumbashi and Nairobi

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (s4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico Nassenstein ◽  
Paulin Baraka Bose
Keyword(s):  
Urban Youth ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Dar Es Salaam ◽  
Morphological Features ◽  
East African ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Dr Congo ◽  
Register Variation ◽  
Identity Constructions ◽  
Youth Language

Abstract Since the late 1980s, linguists’ analyses of Sheng, the urban youth language from Nairobi, have led to the growth of a considerable body of literature. In contrast, only a few studies are available that cover other youth registers from the Kiswahili-speaking parts of Africa. While most of the available studies either deal with techniques of manipulation or with adolescents’ identity constructions, our paper intends to give a comparative overview of specific morphological features of Kiswahili-based youth languages. While certain characteristics of Sheng (Nairobi/Kenya), Lugha ya Mitaani (Dar es Salaam/Tanzania), Kindubile (Lubumbashi/DR Congo) and Yabacrâne (Goma/DR Congo) largely diverge from East Coast Swahili (hereafter ECS) in regard to their nominal and verbal morphology, they all share specific features. Focusing on (apparent) supra-regional developments and changes in Kiswahili, this preliminary description of some structural features that transcend all four youth language practices aims to provide comparative insights into urban register variation, approaching East African youth languages from a micro-typological perspective.

Deviant writing and youth identity

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Liu
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Dominant Strategy ◽  
Written Language ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Youth Identity ◽  
Visual Style ◽  
Chinese Writing System ◽  
Standard Chinese ◽  
Youth Language ◽  
Chinese Writing

This paper examines the emergence of the representation of dialect with Chinese characters (fangyan wenzihua) on the Internet. The online dialect writing is primarily identified as a subject of Internet language and youth language study. The CMC discourse as a hybrid register mixing spoken and written language features facilitates the written use of oral dialect on the Internet. Deviating from the standard Chinese writing system, the Internet-savvy youth transcribe their native dialects on an ad hoc basis, which celebrates multiplicity, creativity, individuality and resists uniformity, standardization, and institutionalization. Taking the SHN website (www.shanghaining.com) as a case study, the paper discusses how the written Shanghai Wu words are explored to mark a distinct visual style and to articulate a distinct local youth identity. Furthermore, this paper examines the dominant strategy of phonetic borrowing in dialect transcription on the Internet. It is argued that diachronically, the youth’s phonocentric obsession tapped into the May Fourth tradition of the baihua vernacular movement that was heavily influenced by the European logocentrism; and synchronically, the celebration of dialect sound on the Internet echoes the contemporary soundscape of local dialects formed in the mass media in recent years.

Going beyond hate speech: The pragmatics of ethnic slur terms

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn Technau
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Typical Feature ◽  
Entire Group ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Youth Language ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract Ethnic slur terms (“nigger”, “kike”, “kraut”) and other group-based slurs (“faggot”, “spaz”) must be differentiated from general pejoratives (“asshole”, “idiot”) and pure expressives (“fuck”). As these terms pejoratively refer to certain groups of people, they are a typical feature of hate speech contexts where they serve xenophobic speakers in expressing their hatred for an entire group of people. However, slur terms are actually far more frequently used in other contexts and are more often exchanged among friends than between enemies. Hate speech can be identified as the most central, albeit not the most frequent, mode of use. I broadly distinguish between hate speech (central use), other pejorative uses (mobbing, insulting), parasitic uses (banter, appropriation, comedy, youth language), neutral mentioning (academics, PC), and unaware uses. In this paper, authentic examples of use and frequency estimates from empirical research will help provide accurate definitions and insight into these different modes that purely theoretical approaches cannot achieve.

scholarly journals Ideophones and reduplication

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 946-970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Dingemanse
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modes Of Representation ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Sensory Imagery ◽  
Language Description

Repetition is one of the most basic operations on talk, often discussed for its iconic meanings. Ideophones are marked words that depict sensory imagery, often identified by their reduplicated forms. Yet not all reduplication is iconic, and not all ideophones are reduplicated. This paper discusses the semantics and pragmatics of repeated talk with special reference to ideophones. To understand these phenomena, it is useful to distinguish two modes of representation in language — description and depiction — along with cues like prosodic foregrounding that help steer listener’s interpretations from one to the other. Reduplication can partake in both modes, which is why it is common in ideophones and other areas of grammar. Using evidence from a range of languages, this paper shows how the study of ideophones sheds light on the interpretation of repeated talk, and argues that both description and depiction are fundamental to understanding how language works.

Developing annotation solutions for online Data Driven Learning

ReCALL ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascual Pérez-Paredes ◽  
Jose M. Alcaraz-Calero
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Analysis And Design ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Youth Language ◽  
User Friendly

AbstractAlthough annotation is a widely-researched topic in Corpus Linguistics (CL), its potential role in Data Driven Learning (DDL) has not been addressed in depth by Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) practitioners. Furthermore, most of the research in the use of DDL methods pays little attention to annotation in the design and implementation of corpus-based/driven language teaching.In this paper, we set out to examine the process of development of SACODEYL Annotator, an application that seeks to assist SACODEYL system users in annotating XML multilingual corpora. First, we discuss the role of annotation in DDL and the dominating paradigm in general corpus applications. In the context of the language classroom, we argue that it is essential that corpora should be pedagogically motivated (Braun, 2005 and 2007a). Then, we move on to deal with the analysis and design stages of our annotation solution by illustrating its main features. Some of these include a user friendly hierarchical and extensible taxonomy tree to facilitate the learner-oriented annotation of the corpora; real-time graphics representation of the annotated corpus matching the XML TEI-compliant (Text Encoding Initiative) standard, as well as an intuitive management of the different data sections and associated metadata.SACODEYL (System Aided Compilation and Open Distribution of European Youth Language) is an EU funded MINERVA project which aims to develop an ICT-based system for the assisted compilation and open distribution of multimedia European teen talk in the context of language education. This research lays emphasis on the functionalities of the application within the SACODEYL context. However, our paper addresses similarly the needs of potential multimedia language corpus administrators in general on the lookout for powerful annotation assisting software. SACODEYL Annotator is free to use and can be downloaded from our website.

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