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Marginalization

Yet despite the officially marginalized status of many African languages on the continent and African-based creoles and language styles in the diaspora, these varieties are the articulators of dynamic identities, both old and new. Far from enjoying a simple covert prestige by their native speakers, language forms associated with Africa and the diaspora have circulated widely through the channels of popular music (African-American English and rap, Jamaican Patwa and reggae, French Creole and zouk), religion (Arabic and Black Islam, Yoruba and Orisha worship), and ethnic solidarity building (Swahili in the African American community). These language varieties have entered into the public domain and the public cultural consciousness in regions far removed from the places where they are spoken as native languages. The fact remains, however, that their currency as forms of popular expression (and their use in low and middle-level economic activity) are unsupported by policies that promote their standardization and development as vehicles of social, educational, and economic opportunity. The proposed program will be used to explore this contradiction as well as to describe and analyze these language forms and their power to capture the imagination of both speakers and listeners.


next up previous
Next: Importance of Empirical Research Up: Language Policy Studies in Previous: Language, Style, and the
Harold Schiffman
8/17/2000