Can a language endanger itself?
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Fiona Mc Laughlin
Abstract
This chapter presents a case study of how Wolof has cohabited the linguistic ecology of urban Senegal with a colonial language, French, over the past three hundred years. Specifically, it explores how this contact has reshaped the repertoire, giving rise to a way of speaking that scholars have dubbed ‘urban Wolof,’ and how urban Wolof has diverged from other dialects of the language. The fact that Wolof became an urban language has contributed to its expansion, but also to its hybridity, leading to a situation in which it has been perceived as both a threat to minority languages within Senegal, and as an endangered language, because of its increasingly mixed nature. This chapter presents a brief history of urban Wolof, as well as a means of reconceptualizing it as a practice rather than a language, followed by a discussion of how hybridity plays into questions of language ideology in the Senegalese context to answer the question of whether a language can endanger itself.
Abstract
This chapter presents a case study of how Wolof has cohabited the linguistic ecology of urban Senegal with a colonial language, French, over the past three hundred years. Specifically, it explores how this contact has reshaped the repertoire, giving rise to a way of speaking that scholars have dubbed ‘urban Wolof,’ and how urban Wolof has diverged from other dialects of the language. The fact that Wolof became an urban language has contributed to its expansion, but also to its hybridity, leading to a situation in which it has been perceived as both a threat to minority languages within Senegal, and as an endangered language, because of its increasingly mixed nature. This chapter presents a brief history of urban Wolof, as well as a means of reconceptualizing it as a practice rather than a language, followed by a discussion of how hybridity plays into questions of language ideology in the Senegalese context to answer the question of whether a language can endanger itself.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Language endangerment and documentation
- Unintended consequences of methodological and practical responses to language endangerment in Africa 1
- Different cultures, different attitudes 37
- Ideologies and typologies of language endangerment in Africa 59
- The role of colonial languages in language endangerment in Africa 107
- Can a language endanger itself? 131
- “Is this my language?” 153
- Development, language revitalization, and culture 177
- Some challenges of language documentation in African multilingual settings 195
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How to document particular domains or use documentary data to address specific issues
- Folk definitions in linguistic fieldwork 215
- Out of context 239
- Archaeological inspiration and historical inference 253
- Describing endangered languages 277
- Index 313
- Language index 317
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Language endangerment and documentation
- Unintended consequences of methodological and practical responses to language endangerment in Africa 1
- Different cultures, different attitudes 37
- Ideologies and typologies of language endangerment in Africa 59
- The role of colonial languages in language endangerment in Africa 107
- Can a language endanger itself? 131
- “Is this my language?” 153
- Development, language revitalization, and culture 177
- Some challenges of language documentation in African multilingual settings 195
-
How to document particular domains or use documentary data to address specific issues
- Folk definitions in linguistic fieldwork 215
- Out of context 239
- Archaeological inspiration and historical inference 253
- Describing endangered languages 277
- Index 313
- Language index 317
