Indigenization in a downgraded continuum: Ideologies behind phonetic variation in Namibian Afrikaans
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Gerald Stell
Abstract
This study generally looks at indigenization in languages historically introduced and promoted by colonial regimes. The case study that it presents involves Namibia, a Subsaharan African country formerly administered by South Africa, where Afrikaans was the dominant official language before being replaced by English upon independence. Afrikaans in Namibia still functions as an informal urban lingua franca while being spoken as a native language by substantial White and Coloured minorities. To what extent does the downranking of Afrikaans in Namibia co-occur with divergence from standard models historically located in South Africa? To answer this question, the study identifies variation patterns in Namibian Afrikaans phonetic data elicited from ethnically diverse young urban informants and links these patterns with perceptions and language ideologies. The phonetic data reveal divergence between Whites and Non-Whites and some convergence among Black L2 Afrikaans-speakers with Coloured varieties, while suggesting that a distinctive Black variety is emerging. The observed trends generally reflect perceived ethnoracial distinctions and segregation. They must be read against the background of shifting inter-group power relations and sociolinguistic prestige norms in independent Namibia, as well as of emergent ethnically inclusive Black urban identities.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Introducing a Varia section
- Introduction: the changing faces of transnational communities in Britain
- Living with diversity and change: intergenerational differences in language and identity in the Somali community in Britain
- “Pride” and “profit”: a sociolinguistic profile of the Chinese communities in Britain
- “Dobra polska mowa”: monoglot ideology, multilingual reality and Polish organisations in the UK
- The UK’s shifting diasporic landscape: negotiating ethnolinguistic heterogeneity in Greek complementary schools post-2010
- “Talk in Tamil!” – Does Sri Lankan Tamil onward migration from Europe influence Tamil language maintenance in the UK?
- A disavowed community: the case of new Italian migrants in London
- Language attitudes and language practices of the Lebanese community in the UK
- Varia
- The functions of language mixing in the social networks of Singapore students
- Indigenization in a downgraded continuum: Ideologies behind phonetic variation in Namibian Afrikaans
- Book Review
- Andrea C. Schalley and Susana A. Eisenchlas (eds.): Handbook of Home Language Maintenance and Development: Social and Affective Factors
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Introducing a Varia section
- Introduction: the changing faces of transnational communities in Britain
- Living with diversity and change: intergenerational differences in language and identity in the Somali community in Britain
- “Pride” and “profit”: a sociolinguistic profile of the Chinese communities in Britain
- “Dobra polska mowa”: monoglot ideology, multilingual reality and Polish organisations in the UK
- The UK’s shifting diasporic landscape: negotiating ethnolinguistic heterogeneity in Greek complementary schools post-2010
- “Talk in Tamil!” – Does Sri Lankan Tamil onward migration from Europe influence Tamil language maintenance in the UK?
- A disavowed community: the case of new Italian migrants in London
- Language attitudes and language practices of the Lebanese community in the UK
- Varia
- The functions of language mixing in the social networks of Singapore students
- Indigenization in a downgraded continuum: Ideologies behind phonetic variation in Namibian Afrikaans
- Book Review
- Andrea C. Schalley and Susana A. Eisenchlas (eds.): Handbook of Home Language Maintenance and Development: Social and Affective Factors
