Morphosyntactic retention and change: insights from African urban youth languages
Since the first half of the twentieth century, the existence of slang phenomena has been reported from various urban centres across Africa (cf. Hurst 2009, Mazrui 1995). This has been followed by the appearance of urban youth languages, which deviate more from the base language than slang does, but which nonetheless have their origins in another language (or languages) spoken in the city.
Innovation in youth languages is centrally found in lexical structure, through semantic change and borrowing, and extensive code-switching. As such, urban youth languages are often thought of as sites – and drivers of – linguistic innovation, characterised by linguistic creativity, rapid change and ephemeral vocabulary (Beck 2010). In terms of morphosyntax however, urban youth languages may retain the complex structures of their source languages, although there are some innovations in this area as well (cf. e.g. Githiora 2002, Namyalo 2015).
This paper explores morphosyntactic innovation and retention in urban youth languages, focusing on salient aspects of nominal and verbal morphology. We draw on examples from youth languages in particular from Eastern and Southern Africa, such as Sheng, Tsotsitaal and Luyaaye, which arose in language ecologies with a strong presence of Bantu languages.
We examine the way in which loanwords are adopted into the nominal system, as well as the extent to which pragmatic aspects of the noun classes are employed in youth languages – for example the use of class 2 morphology to express respect or politeness in Tsotsitaal (1). In verbal morphology, we discuss tense-aspect marking, such as the reintroduction of the habitual suffix -ag in urban varieties of Swahili (2).
(1) Ba-ou lady
2-old lady
‘An old lady’ (Tsotsitaal, Ditsele 2015)
(2) Kosa la ku-ni-omb-a msamaha, hakun-aga
5. lack 5-of inf-om1sg-ask-fv 3.forgivness neg.loc_cop-hab
‘You don’t ask me for forgiveness, there is nothing’ (Swahili, Suma Lee, Hakunaga)
The discussion of retention and innovation in youth languages is embedded in wider studies of morphosyntactic variation in Bantu, and how theses relate to processes of convergence and contact more. Studying the morphosyntactic structures found in urban youth languages can provide invaluable insights into language contact and change, as well as linguistic variation more broadly. Results from our study indicate that in addition to lexical and semantic innovation, the youth languages studied also show innovative structural aspects, but that these aspects are typically closely related to variation encountered in other Bantu languages with which they have sustained contact.
The talk also sheds light on the interplay between sociolinguistic factors and structural change, and shows that both innovation and retention can be the result of identity-linked language use patterns.
References
Beck, R. 2010. Urban Languages in Africa. Africa Spectrum 45 (3), 11-41.
Ditsele, Thabo. 2015. Setswana-based tsotsitaal in the North West Province. Paper presented at the LSSA/SAALA/SAALT Joint Annual Conference, North-West University, 24-26 June 2015.
Githiora, C. 2002. Sheng: Peer Language, Swahili Dialect or Emerging Creole? Journal of African Cultural Studies, 15 (2). 159-181.
Hurst, E. 2009. Tsotsitaal, Global Culture and Local Style: Identity and Recontextualisation in Twenty-first Century South African Townships. Social Dynamics 35 (2), 244-257.
Makoni, S. J Brutt-Griffler and P. Mashiri. 2007. The Use of “Indigenous” and Urban Vernaculars in Zimbabwe. Language in Society. 36. 25-49.
Mazrui, A. 1995. Slang and Codeswitching: The Case of Sheng in Kenya. Swahili Forum, 2, 168-179.
Namyalo, S. 2015. Linguistic strategies in Luyaaye: Word-play and conscious language manipulation. MS, Makerere University