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Chapter 7. Broadcasting your variety

Namibian English(es) on YouTube
  • Frederic Zähres
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The Dynamics of English in Namibia
This chapter is in the book The Dynamics of English in Namibia

Abstract

This chapter investigates the viability of YouTube data for the World Englishes research context by introducing a Namibian YouTuber community and presenting challenges and opportunities of this mostly uncharted medium. An acoustic phonetic case study of Namibian English is conducted with a small sample corpus of YouTube data from 2018, in which vowels relevant to the Southern African context (e.g. nurse, kit, dress, trap) of two groups of content creators are analyzed. While researchers face methodological challenges on YouTube during data collection and analysis, the results of the acoustic analyses presented show that the formal and informal speech styles found on YouTube constitute an accessible and rich type of data that can reaffirm and complement findings based on traditional approaches.

Abstract

This chapter investigates the viability of YouTube data for the World Englishes research context by introducing a Namibian YouTuber community and presenting challenges and opportunities of this mostly uncharted medium. An acoustic phonetic case study of Namibian English is conducted with a small sample corpus of YouTube data from 2018, in which vowels relevant to the Southern African context (e.g. nurse, kit, dress, trap) of two groups of content creators are analyzed. While researchers face methodological challenges on YouTube during data collection and analysis, the results of the acoustic analyses presented show that the formal and informal speech styles found on YouTube constitute an accessible and rich type of data that can reaffirm and complement findings based on traditional approaches.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Chapter 1. The dynamics of English in Namibia 1
  5. Part I. Setting the scene
  6. Chapter 2. English in Namibia 21
  7. Part II. Communicative practices
  8. Chapter 3. Voices from the post-independence classroom 45
  9. Chapter 4. English and multilingual repertoires in healthcare 63
  10. Chapter 5. The linguistic landscape and soundscape of Windhoek 83
  11. Part III. Linguistic features
  12. Chapter 6. The phonetics of Namibian English 111
  13. Chapter 7. Broadcasting your variety 135
  14. Chapter 8. The question of structural nativization in Namibian English 169
  15. Chapter 9. A variational pragmatic approach to responses to thanks in Namibian English 195
  16. Part IV. Literary creativity in Namibian English
  17. Chapter 10. Namibian literature in English 219
  18. Chapter 11. A land in transition 241
  19. Part V. Namibian English and beyond
  20. Chapter 12. The dynamics of English in Namibia 275
  21. Index 299
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g65.07zah

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Chapter 1. The dynamics of English in Namibia 1
  5. Part I. Setting the scene
  6. Chapter 2. English in Namibia 21
  7. Part II. Communicative practices
  8. Chapter 3. Voices from the post-independence classroom 45
  9. Chapter 4. English and multilingual repertoires in healthcare 63
  10. Chapter 5. The linguistic landscape and soundscape of Windhoek 83
  11. Part III. Linguistic features
  12. Chapter 6. The phonetics of Namibian English 111
  13. Chapter 7. Broadcasting your variety 135
  14. Chapter 8. The question of structural nativization in Namibian English 169
  15. Chapter 9. A variational pragmatic approach to responses to thanks in Namibian English 195
  16. Part IV. Literary creativity in Namibian English
  17. Chapter 10. Namibian literature in English 219
  18. Chapter 11. A land in transition 241
  19. Part V. Namibian English and beyond
  20. Chapter 12. The dynamics of English in Namibia 275
  21. Index 299
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