The use of discourse markers among youth in Senegambia borderland

Authors

  • Jane Mitsch Ohio State University Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v10i1-2.27933

Keywords:

variation, discourse markers, language contact, Wolof, Senegal, The Gambia

Abstract

While the foundational work on ‘African youth language’ by Kießling and Mouss (2004) is informative and offers insight into the agency of young city-dwellers in creating ‘resistance identities’, it also excludes large portions of African ‘youth’, most notably young women, but also most of the youth not residing in large African metropolises. A more holistic approach to ‘African youth language’ and the way linguistic resources are variably employed in the construction of identity can reveal some of the ways nationality, gender, and modernity get associated in an indexical ?eld. In this paper I examine the way discourse markers are part of the linguistic resources used by borderland youth as indexical tools that help construct gendered, national identities. Although French, English, and Wolof discourse markers are all in circulation within the borderland, the young speakers in this study variably index national-orientation and gender through their usage of ‘native’ vs. ‘borrowed’ discourse markers.

Author Biography

  • Jane Mitsch, Ohio State University
    Jane Mitsch is a Ph.D. candidate in the Linguistics Department at Ohio State University. She specializes in sociolinguistics, contact linguistics, and sociophonetics and the study of borders. Her last two publications are ‘Language bridging borders: Wolof repertoires in the Senegambian Borderlands’, in Minding the gap: On bridges, breaches, and borders (SUNY Buffalo Graduate Romance Studies Journal) (2015); and ‘Geminate production in two varieties of Wolof’, in C. Celata and L. Costamagna (eds) Consonant gemination in first and second language acquisition (2014).

Published

2016-06-04

How to Cite

Mitsch, J. (2016). The use of discourse markers among youth in Senegambia borderland. Sociolinguistic Studies, 10(1-2), 67–87. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v10i1-2.27933

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