Gerald Stell
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, English, Faculty Member
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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,... more
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...
Research Interests: Sociology and Linguistics
Abstract This study discusses Kasietaal, a continuum of language practices associated with youth in the low-income areas of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. To what extent does Kasietaal fit the description of an urban youth speech style... more
Abstract This study discusses Kasietaal, a continuum of language practices associated with youth in the low-income areas of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. To what extent does Kasietaal fit the description of an urban youth speech style or of a new lingua franca? To answer this question, this study discusses sociolinguistic perceptions of younger and older residents of Katutura, Windhoek's historically Black neighbourhood. It also uses linguistic materials produced by a Kasietaal performance elicited from a subset of the younger informants. The data suggest that Kasietaal is a post-independence phenomenon, with a manipulated lexicon of diverse origins as its most salient feature. But Kasietaal is not just a “floating lexicon” like South Africa's Tsotsitaal: It is tied to an Afrikaans variety with low-status lingua franca functions, with which it is likely to be co-evolving for want of other linguistic options for projecting urban inter-ethnic solidarity.
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It is not clear which population group most qualifies as the 'founders' of Namibian English. While Namibia's historical Afrikaans-speaking settler population has a tradition of Afrikaans-English bilingualism,... more
It is not clear which population group most qualifies as the 'founders' of Namibian English. While Namibia's historical Afrikaans-speaking settler population has a tradition of Afrikaans-English bilingualism, English as a lingua franca was first introduced after independence by returning Black Namibian exiles with mostly Oshiwambo as a first language. This study seeks to determine which ethnolinguistic group plays the largest part in shaping contemporary Namibian English. Based on phonetic and ethnographic data, the findings suggest a loosening continuum between a White variety aligned with South African models and more locally rooted varieties. This partly reflects local language ideologies, which among the Blacks involve the pursuit of a Namibian urban identity set against both Namibian Whiteness and traditional Namibian ethnicities.
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This study addresses the question of how focused code-switching practices can become. It takes two complementary approaches to determine sorts and degrees of focusing, namely, a sequential analyst perspective, and a holistic perspective... more
This study addresses the question of how focused code-switching practices can become. It takes two complementary approaches to determine sorts and degrees of focusing, namely, a sequential analyst perspective, and a holistic perspective involving general sociolinguistic data and member’s perspectives. The case study presented involves a multilectal interaction between urban speakers of Oshiwambo, the main ethnic language of Namibia, where it cohabits with English and Afrikaans, the country’s lingua francas. The analysis reveals a range of structurally or qualitatively distinctive CS patterns involving Oshiwambo (dialects), English, and Afrikaans, used by all participants. Mostly alternational CS and specific types of backflagging display sequential regularity, while other CS patterns seem randomly distributed, at first sight an attribute of ‘free variation’. However, the examination of social indexicalities attached to the observed CS patterns shows that they all contribute to the p...
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L1 background is often described as the main factor accounting for variation in postcolonial ESL varieties. However, recent studies (e.g. Mesthrie 2009, 2017) suggest that variation patterns in ESL varieties can in some cases also be... more
L1 background is often described as the main factor accounting for variation in postcolonial ESL varieties. However, recent studies (e.g. Mesthrie 2009, 2017) suggest that variation patterns in ESL varieties can in some cases also be linked to identity factors rooted in local patterns of intergroup relations. This study examines the interrelation between L1 background and such identity factors in the phonetic patterns found in the English varieties spoken in Namibia. The data consist of a corpus of careful style elicited via sociolinguistic interviews from an ethnically stratified sample of L2 English speaking Namibian students with Afrikaans, Bantu languages (Oshiwambo and Otjiherero), and Khoekhoeghowab as L1s. Individual speakers tend to be related in their phonetic behaviors if they share the same L1. However, some features cannot be directly attributed to L1 background, so their distribution is best read against the background of Namibian inter-ethnic relations and ethnolinguis...
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Despite regular objections, creole research tends to regard Europeans-to-non-Europeans ratios in colonial settings as a decisive factor in degrees of restructuring. As a result, relatively high proportions of Europeans are seen as the... more
Despite regular objections, creole research tends to regard Europeans-to-non-Europeans ratios in colonial settings as a decisive factor in degrees of restructuring. As a result, relatively high proportions of Europeans are seen as the explanation for the emergence of partially restructured varieties. Quite problematic, however, is that some colonial settings with relatively low proportions of Europeans show little historical evidence of restructuring. To address this apparent paradox while avoiding too locale-specific explanations, I attempt to sketch a unified sociolinguistic account of restructuring, or the absence thereof. Central to the account I propose is the notion of upward social mobility in colonial societies, whose linguistic impact I illustrate by means of a comparison between Orange River Afrikaans (ORA) and Cape Malay Dutch (CMD), i.e. two partially restructured non-European varieties of Dutch that arose at the colonial Cape. I emphasize that ORA, which developed in so...
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This study examined how six different ethnolinguistic groups in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, adjust their language use during intergroup encounters. Invoking communication accommodation theory, we predicted that relatively low-vitality... more
This study examined how six different ethnolinguistic groups in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, adjust their language use during intergroup encounters. Invoking communication accommodation theory, we predicted that relatively low-vitality groups (high-vitality groups) would be inclined towards linguistic convergence (maintenance), but that these general patterns would be moderated by prevailing sociocultural norms and each group’s language proficiency. These hypotheses were largely supported. Relatively low-vitality groups tended to linguistically converge (typically via lingua francas), whereas relatively high-vitality groups tended to engage in linguistic maintenance. This resulted in two distinct patterns of adjustment: (a) symmetrical accommodation in interactions involving groups of relatively equal vitality, typically consisting of mutual convergence to lingua francas or mutual maintenance of a shared heritage language and (b) asymmetrical accommodation in intergroup interaction...
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This article provides a qualitative description of current patterns of linguistic diversity in Namibia’s capital city, Windhoek, using as its main source of data perceptions elicited from an ethnically representative sample of Windhoek... more
This article provides a qualitative description of current patterns of linguistic diversity in Namibia’s capital city, Windhoek, using as its main source of data perceptions elicited from an ethnically representative sample of Windhoek residents on language-related themes. The data suggest that the pre-independence diglossic pattern which involved Afrikaans as high-status language and ethnic indigenous languages as low-status languages is giving way to a triglossic pattern dominated by English – the country’s only official language since 1990. Indigenous ethnic languages are still hardly used for inter-ethnic communication, which seems to be a correlate of ‘hard’ inter-ethnic boundaries inherited from apartheid. Instead, the dominant linguistic patterns of informal inter-ethnic communication in Windhoek rely either mostly on English, or on mixed linguistic repertoires combining ‘Coloured Afrikaans’ and English. Which of the two linguistic options dominates depends on the interactant...
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Afrikaans was first introduced in Namibia’s current territory by migrant Oorlam and Baster groups who imposed it in its Cape Dutch form as a prestige language and inter-ethnic medium of communication. The status of Afrikaans in Namibia... more
Afrikaans was first introduced in Namibia’s current territory by migrant Oorlam and Baster groups who imposed it in its Cape Dutch form as a prestige language and inter-ethnic medium of communication. The status of Afrikaans in Namibia was consolidated during the South African regime which systematically promoted it while preventing indigenous languages from spreading out of their intra-ethnic contexts of use. A linguistic consequence of independence, which Namibia gained in 1990, was that English suddenly became the country’s only official language, as well as the dominant language in education. Despite the hegemonic status that English acquired in Namibia, Afrikaans is today still popularly represented as the main lingua franca in Namibia, or at least as an important one. However, the position of Afrikaans in urban areas could nowadays be under threat from the sustained influx of migrants from Namibia’s northern districts, including those that constitute the traditional homeland o...
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The study of code-switching has been mostly undertaken from two perspectives that have developed apart from one another, i.e. the grammatical perspective and the conversational perspective. I attempt in this chapter to join these two... more
The study of code-switching has been mostly undertaken from two perspectives that have developed apart from one another, i.e. the grammatical perspective and the conversational perspective. I attempt in this chapter to join these two perspectives by testing the hypothesis that grammatical and conver- sational forms of code-switching can be jointly predicted via macrosociolinguis- tic factors. To that end, I first show on the basis of sociolinguistically diverse data from South Africa, featuring language with different degrees of typological distance (i.e. Afrikaans, English, Sesotho), that macrosociolinguistic factors by themselves can predict specific grammatical CS patterns irrespective of linguis- tic factors. I then proceed to show that under certain conditions, there is evi- dence in these data of one-to-one relationships between specific patterns of grammatical code-switching and those conversational code-switching patterns which Auer (1999) refers to as language mixing and language alternation.
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Research Interests: Computer Science, Second Language Acquisition, Languages and Linguistics, Language Acquisition, Multilingualism, and 13 moreMulti- & Bilingualism & Biliteracy, Ghana, Cognitive Linguistics, Linguistics, Bilingual Language Acquisition, Bilingualism and cognition, Language and Cognition, Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Bilingualism, Suriname, Code Switching, Code switching and code mixing, and Javanese
Research Interests: Computer Science, Languages and Linguistics, Language Acquisition, Multilingualism, Multi- & Bilingualism & Biliteracy, and 10 morePidgins & Creoles, Cognitive Linguistics, Linguistics, Pidgin and Creole Languages, Bilingualism and cognition, Language and Cognition, Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Bilingualism, Code Switching, and Bilingual
This volume brings together linguistic, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives on code-switching. Featuring new data from five continents and languages with a large range of linguistic affiliations, the contributions all... more
This volume brings together linguistic, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives on code-switching. Featuring new data from five continents and languages with a large range of linguistic affiliations, the contributions all address the role of social factors in determining the forms and outcomes of code-switching. This book is a significant addition to the empirical and theoretical foundations of the study of code-switching.
Research Interests: Computer Science, Languages and Linguistics, Language Acquisition, Multilingualism, Multi- & Bilingualism & Biliteracy, and 10 morePidgins & Creoles, Cognitive Linguistics, Linguistics, Pidgin and Creole Languages, Bilingualism and cognition, Language and Cognition, Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Bilingualism, Code Switching, and Bilingual
Research Interests:
The study of code-switching has been mostly undertaken from two perspectives that have developed apart from one another, i.e. the grammatical perspective and the conversational perspective. I attempt in this chapter to join these two... more
The study of code-switching has been mostly undertaken from two perspectives that have developed apart from one another, i.e. the grammatical perspective and the conversational perspective. I attempt in this chapter to join these two perspectives by testing the hypothesis that grammatical and conver- sational forms of code-switching can be jointly predicted via macrosociolinguis- tic factors. To that end, I first show on the basis of sociolinguistically diverse data from South Africa, featuring language with different degrees of typological distance (i.e. Afrikaans, English, Sesotho), that macrosociolinguistic factors by themselves can predict specific grammatical CS patterns irrespective of linguis- tic factors. I then proceed to show that under certain conditions, there is evi- dence in these data of one-to-one relationships between specific patterns of grammatical code-switching and those conversational code-switching patterns which Auer (1999) refers to as language mixing and language alternation.
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Afrikaans may be a standardized language, but it is acknowledged that the standardization it has undergone is not quite thorough and should be continued, particularly at the grammatical level. How the standardization process should be... more
Afrikaans may be a standardized language, but it is acknowledged that the standardization it has undergone is not quite thorough and should be continued, particularly at the grammatical level. How the standardization process should be continued has, ...
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... GERALD STELL Centre for Linguistics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, België E-pos: gstell@vub.ac.be GERALD STELL is 'n navorsingsgenoot aan die Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Hy verwerf sy doktorsgraad in 2008 by... more
... GERALD STELL Centre for Linguistics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, België E-pos: gstell@vub.ac.be GERALD STELL is 'n navorsingsgenoot aan die Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Hy verwerf sy doktorsgraad in 2008 by dieselfde instelling. ...
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Code-switching in its function as a marker of ethnicity within the same speech community has so far mostly been illustrated with case studies involving closely related codes (eg dialect/standard) rather than distinct standard languages.... more
Code-switching in its function as a marker of ethnicity within the same speech community has so far mostly been illustrated with case studies involving closely related codes (eg dialect/standard) rather than distinct standard languages. The purpose of this presentation ...
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In the context of the White and Christian-dominated Afrikaans language movements, followed by apartheid, little attention has been paid to an Afrikaans literary variety used among Muslim Cape Coloureds, a group often referred to as ‘Cape... more
In the context of the White and Christian-dominated Afrikaans language movements, followed by apartheid, little attention has been paid to an Afrikaans literary variety used among Muslim Cape Coloureds, a group often referred to as ‘Cape Malays’. Descending mainly from Asian slaves brought by the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC, Dutch East India Company), and bearing the marks of cohabitation with non-Asian populations at the Cape, the Cape Malays at an early stage developed a distinct religious culture through their adherence to Islam, as well as a distinct Cape Dutch linguistic identity through their connections with the Dutch East Indies and the Islamic world. These cultural idiosyncrasies found expression in a local literature, religious and (more rarely) secular, using as a medium a variety of Cape Dutch/Afrikaans written either in the Arabic alphabet or in the Roman alphabet.
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William I has definitely not gone down in Belgian history as a herald of French language and culture. Paradoxically, this is pretty much what he was in the so-called 'Quartier Allemand' of his Grand Duchy of Luxembourg until the outbreak... more
William I has definitely not gone down in Belgian history as a herald of French language and culture. Paradoxically, this is pretty much what he was in the so-called 'Quartier Allemand' of his Grand Duchy of Luxembourg until the outbreak of the Belgian Revolution. In that territory, German was initially regarded as the sworn enemy, i.e. the language of hegemonic Prussia, against which a symbolic bulwark needed to be erected. Ironically, German which was favoured at the expense of French later on, when the latter language was seen as the language of expansionist Belgium after 1830. Against this background of power relations, measures in favour of Dutch, the 'Landtaal', were until 1830 seriously contemplated for the Quartier AUemand of the Grand Duchy, and to a certain extent enforced without meeting with any noticeable public discontent. The events that took place in 1830 brought the official policy of 'netherlandicization' to a standstill, although some of its agents remained in place for a while. Nowadays, little direct evidence of Dutch linguistic influence from Willem's reign can be found in the Grand Duchy. But the Orangist imagery, manipulated by Luxembourgish nationalists as a symbol of political and cultural independence versus Prussia, motivated the cultivation of a remote Dutch connection in the interest of the nascent Luxembourgish linguistic particularism.
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Back in the days of colonial South Africa, "Cape Dutch" used to refer collectively to the Dutch-based varieties typical of the Cape. The most formal of these varieties was close, if not similar to European Dutch. Conversely, the least... more
Back in the days of colonial South Africa, "Cape Dutch" used to refer collectively to the Dutch-based varieties typical of the Cape. The most formal of these varieties was close, if not similar to European Dutch. Conversely, the least formal of these varieties had a distinctly local character. The late 19 th century nationalist réveil that produced the ''Afrikaner'' identity, set against British imperialism, came together with efforts to spread the notion of an 'Afrikaans' language, i.e. a language truly local, truly South African, and quite distinct from Dutch. Not as radical, the Afrikaans language activists from the period following the second Boer War (1899-1902) endeavoured to situate the idea of an Afrikaans language within a ''pan-Netherlandic'' context. The codification of Afrikaans has continuously been marked by the-sometimes conflicting-concerns of nurturing 'truly Afrikaans' linguistic features, while maintaining a connection with Standard Dutch for achieving distance from English. South Africa's democratization somewhat dampened Dutch-oriented purism by giving renewed impetus to ideas of making Standard Afrikaans more stylistically and ethnically representative of actual usage.
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This study deals with the effects of urbanization on ethnolinguistic boundaries in Subsaharan African postcolonial environments using as a case study Namibia, an ethnically diverse country where indigenous languages co-exist with English... more
This study deals with the effects of urbanization on ethnolinguistic boundaries in Subsaharan African postcolonial environments using as a case study Namibia, an ethnically diverse country where indigenous languages co-exist with English and Afrikaans, the country's two lingua francas. The data consist in spatialized perceptions of sociolinguistic distinctions elicited via Perceptual Dialectology methodologies, implemented for the first time in a multilingual environment. The study shows that the respondents perceive a sociolinguistic urban/rural divide. Urban areas are depicted as ethnically diverse environments where indigenous languages fade out in favour of lingua francas through language-mixing and language loss. Additionally, there is a perception that cities are home to ethnically unspecified standard and non-standard varieties of Afrikaans and English, set against rural Afrikaans and English varieties marked by interferences from indigenous languages. Based on social and linguistic characterizations given by the respondents, the study concludes that urban environments provide scope for ethnically neutral identities to supersede traditional ethnolinguistic ones while there are indications that ethnic authenticity, linked to rural areas and indexed by 'unmixed varieties', remains strongly valued.
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In a context where new English varieties from the Outer Circle have been receiving increasing attention, I propose to outline a descriptive approach to their uses and functions based on their patterns of co-occurrence with local languages... more
In a context where new English varieties from the Outer Circle have been receiving increasing attention, I propose to outline a descriptive approach to their uses and functions based on their patterns of co-occurrence with local languages across intra and inter-ethnic boundaries. The case study I offer is Namibia, a multi-ethnic and multilingual African country where English has been the sole official language since 1990 without having had much local history as a lingua franca prior to that date. The general question that I pose is to what extent and how English is used in informal interactions in Namibia. Considering Namibia's ethnolinguistic diversity as well as the locally widespread practice of code-switching, the questions I more specifically ask are: What are the patterns of code-switching with which English finds itself associated both within and across Namibia's interethnic boundaries, and what are their social functions? Based on a corpus of intra-and inter-ethnic interactions involving a range of Namibian ethnicities, I show evidence of a continuum of linguistic practices ranging from different patterns of code-switching involving English and local languages to more or less monolingual English varieties. I finally situate that evidence within the perspective of new Englishes theory, emphasizing the possible relevance of code-switching patterns to the emergence of indigenized English varieties in general, and of an indigenized Namibian variety in particular.
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The issue of linguistic distinctions in creole continua has been extensively debated. Are creole continua comprised of just an "acrolect" and a "basilect," or do they also comprise additional varieties? Studies of variation in creole... more
The issue of linguistic distinctions in creole continua has been extensively debated. Are creole continua comprised of just an "acrolect" and a "basilect," or do they also comprise additional varieties? Studies of variation in creole continua have been typically based on directly observed linguistic data. This study argues that perceived sociolinguistic distinctions can offer one point of departure for establishing what linguistic components constitute creole continua. Following a protocol developed within "Perceptual Dialectology" (see, e.g., Preston 1999) this study describes perceived sociolinguistic distinctions via folk linguistic descriptors elicited by means of linguistic map-drawing and labeling tasks. The aim of this study is to investigate perceived language variation in the Caribbean island of Trinidad, where Standard English historically co-exists as an official language with creolized varieties of English, which the literature generally refers to as "Trinidadian Creole English." " The main finding of this study is that Standard English has a strong perceptual association with Trinidad's historic urban centers, while nonstandard varieties collectively referred to as "dialect" or "creole" are associated with the rest of the island. The study discusses indications that linguistic boundaries-largely parallel to ethnoracial boundaries-are perceived within the standard and non-standard part of the Trinidadian continuum. One major perceived linguistic criterion for differentiation within the non-standard part of the continuum is the presence or absence of Standard English elements. The saliency of "mixed" varieties suggests that a variety located halfway between Standard English and Trinidadian Creole English could be emerging. The study concludes that the urban-rural divide and ethnoracial distinctions constitute two salient social fault lines that future studies of language variation in Trinidad should take account of while searching the Trinidadian continuum for objectively verifiable linguistic boundaries.
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It is not clear which population group most qualifies as the 'founders' of Namibian English. While Namibia's historical Afrikaans-speaking settler population has a tradition of Afrikaans-English bilingualism, English as a lingua franca... more
It is not clear which population group most qualifies as the 'founders' of Namibian English. While Namibia's historical Afrikaans-speaking settler population has a tradition of Afrikaans-English bilingualism, English as a lingua franca was first introduced after independence by returning Black Namibian exiles with mostly Oshiwambo as a first language. This study seeks to determine which ethnolinguistic group plays the largest part in shaping contemporary Namibian English. Based on phonetic and ethnographic data, the findings suggest a loosening continuum between a White variety aligned with South African models and more locally rooted varieties. This partly reflects local language ideologies, which among the Blacks involve the pursuit of a Namibian urban identity set against both Namibian Whiteness and traditional Namibian ethnicities.
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This chapter provides a socio-historical account of the English language in Namibia from early colonial times to the present. Although its current dominant status in Namibia may at first sight appear historically incongruous, English was... more
This chapter provides a socio-historical account of the English language in Namibia from early colonial times to the present. Although its current dominant status in Namibia may at first sight appear historically incongruous, English was locally acknowledged as a prestige language along with Afrikaans and German from the earliest stages of the South African occupation (1915-1990), one with which SWAPO, the dominant liberation movement, as well as its populous northern support base, strongly identified. This chapter pays attention to the considerations that led to English becoming Namibia's only official language upon independence. Furthermore, this chapter reviews indications thatdespite the challenges besetting its implementation as medium of instruction-English is developing distinctively local spoken varieties.
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Despite regular objections, creole research tends to regard Europeans-to-nonEuropeans ratios in colonial settings as a decisive factor in degrees of restructuring. As a result, relatively high proportions of Europeans are seen as the... more
Despite regular objections, creole research tends to regard Europeans-to-nonEuropeans ratios in colonial settings as a decisive factor in degrees of restructuring. As a result, relatively high proportions of Europeans are seen as the explanation for the emergence of partially restructured varieties. Quite problematic, however, is that some colonial settings with relatively low proportions of Europeans show little historical evidence of restructuring. To address this apparent paradox while avoiding too locale-specific explanations, I attempt to sketch a unified sociolinguistic account of restructuring, or the absence thereof. Central to the account I propose is the notion of upward social mobility in colonial societies, whose linguistic impact I illustrate by means of a comparison between Orange River Afrikaans (ORA) 1 and Cape Malay Dutch (CMD), i.e. two partially restructured non-European varieties of Dutch that arose at the colonial Cape. I emphasize that ORA, which developed in socially fluid frontier settings, seems in certain respects to display less restructuring than CMD, which developed in increasingly segregated settings. I present the fact that Europeans were less represented where ORA developed than where CMD did as evidence that social mobility might to an extent override European/non-European demographics as a factor in degrees of restructuring. I finally discuss the extent to which a socio-historical reconstruction of ORA and CMD can shed light on historical sociolinguistic developments elsewhere than the Cape, such as in particular colonial Ibero-America.
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This study addresses the question of how focused code-switching practices can become. It takes two complementary approaches to determine sorts and degrees of focusing, namely, a sequential analyst perspective, and a holistic perspective... more
This study addresses the question of how focused code-switching practices can become. It takes two complementary approaches to determine sorts and degrees of focusing, namely, a sequential analyst perspective, and a holistic perspective involving general sociolinguistic data and member's perspectives. The case study presented involves a multilectal interaction between urban speakers of Oshiwambo, the main ethnic language of Namibia, where it co-exists with English and Afrikaans, the country's lingua francas. The analysis reveals a range of structurally or qualitatively distinctive CS patterns involving Oshiwambo (dialects), English, and Afrikaans, used by all participants. Mostly alternational CS and specific types of backflagging display sequential regularity, while other CS patterns seem randomly distributed, at first sight an attribute of 'free variation'. However, the examination of social indexicalities attached to the observed CS patterns shows that they all contribute to the performance of a multi-layered balancing act between urban and ethnic authenticities.
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This study discusses Kasietaal, a continuum of language practices associated with youth in the lowincome areas of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. To what extent does Kasietaal fit the description of an urban youth speech style or of a... more
This study discusses Kasietaal, a continuum of language practices associated with youth in the lowincome areas of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. To what extent does Kasietaal fit the description of an urban youth speech style or of a new lingua franca? To answer this question, this study discusses sociolinguistic perceptions of younger and older residents of Katutura, Windhoek's historically Black neighbourhood. It also uses linguistic materials produced by a Kasietaal performance elicited from a subset of the younger informants. The data suggest that Kasietaal is a post-independence phenomenon, with a manipulated lexicon of diverse origins as its most salient feature. But Kasietaal is not just a "floating lexicon" like South Africa's Tsotsitaal: It is tied to an Afrikaans variety with lowstatus lingua franca functions, with which it is likely to be co-evolving for want of other linguistic options for projecting urban inter-ethnic solidarity.
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This study sheds light on the socioeconomic factors determining the (re)location of sociolinguistic prestige in postcolonial environments. It uses the case of Namibia, an ethnolinguistically diverse African country that replaced... more
This study sheds light on the socioeconomic factors determining the (re)location of sociolinguistic prestige in postcolonial environments. It uses the case of Namibia, an ethnolinguistically diverse African country that replaced Afrikaans-an established lingua franca-with English as its official language to weaken the hold of the formerly ruling White Afrikaans-speaking minority on its linguistic marketplace while symbolically empowering the Black majority. Using phonetic features elicited from an ethnolinguistically representative sample, the study finds that Whites align with South African norms while Non-Whites are developing distinctly local varieties. While 'Coloured' Afrikaans varieties exert some gravitational pull on Black Afrikaans varieties, a more autonomous Black English variety spearheaded by women is emerging. Informant perceptions confirm the observed polarisation between Whites and Non-Whites, with the former not perceived as a linguistic target, while the valorisation of an ethnically neutral Black urban identity appears as a major driving force behind variation. Introduction: Prestige and language variation in (post)colonial settings Central to variationist sociolinguistics, sociolinguistic prestige is specified as 'overt' or 'covert'. Overt prestige is the highest form of prestige. It lies with authority-marking 'standard' varieties propagated in education, while covert prestige-largely synonymous with social stigma-lies with solidarity marking 'vernacular' varieties, which are natively transmitted (Labov 2001). The dichotomy between overt and covert prestige is reflected in social and stylistic stratification. Whereas-in the case of stable sociolinguistic variables-standard variants occur more among higher classes and women and in 'careful styles', vernacular variants occur more among lower classes and men and in 'casual styles'. Gradually changing distributions of variants, i.e. 'change-in-progress', are spearheaded by women. Specific variants can spread consciously across styles, i.e. from standard models, or (at first) unconsciously from vernaculars. Inter-gender contrasts in variation patterns derive from pressure among women to distance themselves from men by more actively pursuing 'legitimate' linguistic capital (particularly in the form of standard variants) or innovation, which is captured in Labov's (2001) 'gender paradox'. Change-in-progress takes place against the backdrop of 'shared norms of evaluation', which may undergo abrupt disruption following 'dislocating events'. National independences from colonial powers form 'dislocating events' that have drawn increasing sociolinguistic attention. Sociolinguistic accounts of new colonial varieties were initially focused on vernaculars arising from levelling or koineization in settlement colonies, as well as from creolisation, which occurs against a backdrop of language shift and racial segregation (Kerswill 2010). In both cases, there is scope for distinctly local varieties of the coloniser's language to emerge. These may eventually acquire the
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This study examined how six different ethnolinguistic groups in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, adjust their language use during intergroup encounters. Invoking communication accommodation theory, we predicted that relatively low-vitality... more
This study examined how six different ethnolinguistic groups in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, adjust their language use during intergroup encounters. Invoking communication accommodation theory, we predicted that relatively low-vitality groups (high-vitality groups) would be inclined towards linguistic convergence (maintenance), but that these general patterns would be moderated by prevailing sociocultural norms and each group's language proficiency. These hypotheses were largely supported. Relatively low-vitality groups tended to linguistically converge (typically via lingua francas), whereas relatively high-vitality groups tended to engage in linguistic maintenance. This resulted in two distinct patterns of adjustment: (a) symmetrical accommodation in interactions involving groups of relatively equal vitality, typically consisting of mutual convergence to lingua francas or mutual maintenance of a shared heritage language and (b) asymmetrical accommodation in intergroup interactions involving groups of relatively unequal vitality, typically consisting of upward convergence among lower vitality groups, and maintenance among higher vitality groups.
Research Interests:
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,... more
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 Afrikaansspeakers 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.
Research Interests: African Studies, Sociolinguistics, Language Variation and Change, Sociophonetics, Dutch, and 11 moreAfrikaans (Language and Literature), Afrikaans, Language contact, Namibia, Dutch historical linguistics, Dutch linguistics, Languages in Contact, Dutch literature and language, Contact Linguistics Language Contact and Sociolinguistic Variation, Variationist sociolinguistics, and Afrikaans (linguistics)
Afrikaans was first introduced in Namibia’s current territory by migrant Oorlam and Baster groups who imposed it in its Cape Dutch form as a prestige language and inter-ethnic medium of communication. The status of Afrikaans in Namibia... more
Afrikaans was first introduced in Namibia’s current territory by migrant Oorlam and Baster groups who imposed it in its Cape Dutch form as a prestige language and inter-ethnic medium of communication. The status of Afrikaans in Namibia was consolidated during the South African regime which systematically promoted it while preventing indigenous languages from spreading out of their intra-ethnic contexts of use. A linguistic consequence of independence, which Namibia gained in 1990, was that English suddenly became the country’s only official language, as well as the dominant language in education. Despite the hegemonic status that English acquired in Namibia, Afrikaans is today still popularly represented as the main lingua franca in Namibia, or at least as an important one. However, the position of Afrikaans in
urban areas could nowadays be under threat from the sustained influx of migrants from Namibia’s northern districts, including those that constitute the traditional homeland of the Ovambo, the country’s numerically dominant group, where English is better known than
Afrikaans. An indication of the pressure that Afrikaans might be subject to in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital city, is the demographic preponderance that the Ovambo group has locally acquired within the last three decades. Based on a qualitative survey conducted among an
ethnoracially representative sample of young Namibians, this article provides a description of the status and use of Afrikaans in contemporary Windhoek, as well as a reflection on its
potential for locally maintaining itself as a lingua franca. It generally shows that Afrikaans has to compete with English in that function, while indigenous languages are still largely restricted to intra-ethnic contexts of use. Afrikaans is clearly perceived as the lingua franca
with more “covert prestige” in that it is associated with informality and a sense of local identity. By contrast, English is generally associated with overt prestige and formal functions, and it is characteristically used as a lingua franca within groups that do not understand Afrikaans, such as among particular Ovambo migrants. It is not enough, however, to give an
account of Windhoek’s sociolinguistic profile in which English and Afrikaans are presented as the two main lingua francas without specifying which form of Afrikaans is used in which contexts as a lingua franca. Standard varieties of Afrikaans do not seem to possess enough
neutrality to function as a medium of inter-ethnic interaction as they are perceptually amalgamated with “White Afrikaans”, that is, the linguistic marker of an ethnoracial group, namely, the Afrikaners, that is still largely seen as self-insulating in the context of Windhoek. Those varieties of Afrikaans perceived as more neutral for the purpose of inter-ethnic
communication are Coloured varieties of Afrikaans, with which various Non-Coloured ethnic groups seem to identify. However, there are indications that English rather than those varieties tends to be used by Non-Whites in communication with Whites, even when Afrikaans is
notionally shared as a native language. Where Standard Afrikaans is used in inter-ethnic communication, it is mostly unilaterally by Afrikaners, as it is apparently not widely used in informal contexts outside of that group. Also relevant to a description of the uses of Afrikaans as a lingua franca in the context of Windhoek is the practice among Non-Whites of combining it with English in the form of Afrikaans-English mixed codes. As regards the long-term prospects of Afrikaans in Windhoek, the data suggest that Afrikaans in its local Coloured varieties has potential for spreading as an attribute of a local urban identity among migrant groups, as it already has done among Ovambo born in the city or in the southern districts in general, to the point that language shift might be taking place among them from Oshiwambo to combinations of Afrikaans and English.
urban areas could nowadays be under threat from the sustained influx of migrants from Namibia’s northern districts, including those that constitute the traditional homeland of the Ovambo, the country’s numerically dominant group, where English is better known than
Afrikaans. An indication of the pressure that Afrikaans might be subject to in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital city, is the demographic preponderance that the Ovambo group has locally acquired within the last three decades. Based on a qualitative survey conducted among an
ethnoracially representative sample of young Namibians, this article provides a description of the status and use of Afrikaans in contemporary Windhoek, as well as a reflection on its
potential for locally maintaining itself as a lingua franca. It generally shows that Afrikaans has to compete with English in that function, while indigenous languages are still largely restricted to intra-ethnic contexts of use. Afrikaans is clearly perceived as the lingua franca
with more “covert prestige” in that it is associated with informality and a sense of local identity. By contrast, English is generally associated with overt prestige and formal functions, and it is characteristically used as a lingua franca within groups that do not understand Afrikaans, such as among particular Ovambo migrants. It is not enough, however, to give an
account of Windhoek’s sociolinguistic profile in which English and Afrikaans are presented as the two main lingua francas without specifying which form of Afrikaans is used in which contexts as a lingua franca. Standard varieties of Afrikaans do not seem to possess enough
neutrality to function as a medium of inter-ethnic interaction as they are perceptually amalgamated with “White Afrikaans”, that is, the linguistic marker of an ethnoracial group, namely, the Afrikaners, that is still largely seen as self-insulating in the context of Windhoek. Those varieties of Afrikaans perceived as more neutral for the purpose of inter-ethnic
communication are Coloured varieties of Afrikaans, with which various Non-Coloured ethnic groups seem to identify. However, there are indications that English rather than those varieties tends to be used by Non-Whites in communication with Whites, even when Afrikaans is
notionally shared as a native language. Where Standard Afrikaans is used in inter-ethnic communication, it is mostly unilaterally by Afrikaners, as it is apparently not widely used in informal contexts outside of that group. Also relevant to a description of the uses of Afrikaans as a lingua franca in the context of Windhoek is the practice among Non-Whites of combining it with English in the form of Afrikaans-English mixed codes. As regards the long-term prospects of Afrikaans in Windhoek, the data suggest that Afrikaans in its local Coloured varieties has potential for spreading as an attribute of a local urban identity among migrant groups, as it already has done among Ovambo born in the city or in the southern districts in general, to the point that language shift might be taking place among them from Oshiwambo to combinations of Afrikaans and English.