Secret Manipulations

Language and Context in Africa
1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-0-19-976902-5
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 262 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 455 g

Explores an uncommon and socially complex type of language change
Presents new evidence from languages in Nigeria, Uganda, and Sudan

Secret Manipulations is the first comprehensive study of African register variation, polylectality, and derived languages. Focusing on a specific form of language change-deliberate manipulations of a language by ist speakers-it provides a new approach to local language ideologies and concepts of grammar and metalinguistic knowledge.

Anne Storch concentrates on case studies from Nigeria, Uganda, Sudan, the African diaspora, and 16th century Europe. In these cases, language manipulation varies with social and cultural contexts, and is almost always done in secret. At the same time, this manipulation can be an act of subversion and an expression of power, and it is often central to the construction of social norms, as it constructs oppositions and gives marginalized people a chance to articulate themselves. This volume illustrates how manipulated languages are constructed, how they are used, and how they wield power.

Zielgruppe

Secret Manipulations will appeal to scholars and graduate students of African languages, language ideology, and linguistic anthropology.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Storch, Anne

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Ethnolinguistik
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Historische & Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Einzelne Sprachen & Sprachfamilien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
Acknowledgments
1.: Change and Manipulation
2.: Social Distances
3.: Secrecy
4.: Mimesis
5.: Sacrilege
6.: Ambiguity
7.: Contact
8.: Conclusions
Appendix
List of Languages
References
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Anne Storch is Professor of African Linguistics at the University of Cologne.