Pure fiction – the interplay of indexical and essentialist language ideologies and heterogeneous practices. A view from Agnack

Simple item page
dc.contributor.author Lüpke, Friederike
dc.date.accessioned 2016-08-18T00:05:59Z
dc.date.available 2016-08-18T00:05:59Z
dc.date.issued 2016
dc.description.abstract This paper investigates the complex interplay between different sets of language ideologies and multilingual practice in a village in Lower Casamance (Senegal). In this heterogeneous linguistic environment, which is typical of many African settings, individuals have large and adaptive linguistic repertoires. The local language ideologies focus on different aspects of identity which languages serve to index, but enable individuals to focus on different facets of identity according to context. National language ideologies are essentialist and have as their goal to put constructed homogeneous communities on the polyglossic map of Senegalese languages. In contrast to similarly essential Western ideologies, however, these national ideologies operating in Senegal are not linked to actual standard language practices. Using the example of individuals in two households and by presenting rich ethnographic information on them, the paper explores the relationship between language use and language ideologies before describing a sampling method for documenting language use in these contexts. It is argued that the documentation of these contexts cannot be achieved independently of an understanding of the language ideologies at work, as they influence what is presented as linguistic practice, and that arriving at a holistic description and documentation of the multilingual settings of Africa and beyond is central for advancing linguistic theory in sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and contact linguistics.
dc.description.sponsorship National Foreign Language Resource Center
dc.identifier.citation Friederike Lüpke. 2016. 'Pure fiction – the interplay of indexical and essentialist language ideologies and heterogeneous practices. A view from Agnack.' In African language documentation: new data, methods and approaches, Special Publication No.10 of Language Documentation & Conservation, edited by Mandana Seyfeddinipur, pp. 8–39. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24650
dc.identifier.isbn 978-0-9856211-6-2
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24650
dc.publisher University of Hawai'i Press
dc.relation.ispartofseries LD&C Special Publication
dc.rights Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License
dc.title Pure fiction – the interplay of indexical and essentialist language ideologies and heterogeneous practices. A view from Agnack
dc.type.dcmi Text
prism.endingpage 39
prism.startingpage 8
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
1_Luepke.pdf
Size:
541.17 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
LD&C Special Publication No. 10: African language documentation: new data, methods and approaches