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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1151

Part of Session 193: Transcultural networks and neighborhoods (Other abstracts in this session)

Diasporic Englishes in trans-local African neighborhoods of the Ruhr metropolis

Authors: Meierkord, Christiane; Fonkeu, Bridget; Zumhasch, Eva
Submitted by: Meierkord, Christiane (Ruhr Universität Bochum, Germany)

The Ruhr area is a metropolis with a long history of immigration. Whilst most early immigrant communities originated from various European countries, recently the number of immigrants from African countries has increased, particularly since political instability has given rise to the numbers of refugees. Additionally, transmigration has grown, i.e. Africans frequently come to the Ruhr area to study or work on a non-permanent basis. Often, individuals belong to the middle classes in their home countries, are very well educated, and speak English as their second language (ESL).

As a result, the Ruhr area is now home to what can be labelled diasporic Englishes, varieties spoken by a clearly confined speech community, composed of individuals who share a migration history and maintain close contacts with their home countries. Often, these Englishes are used as lingua francas in the Ruhr area’s African (mainly Cameroonian, Ghanaian, and Nigerian) communities, which tend to live in trans-local (Appadurai 1996) neighborhoods held together by social and communicative practices.

As regards their use and function, these Englishes are similar to the ones spoken by the various Indian communities that exist across the world, e.g. in South Africa, Fiji, Kenia, or the United Kingdom and the United States (e.g. Mesthrie 1992), or to African American English speakers in Canada (Poplack & Tagliamonte 2001). Similar to these, the African speakers bring an indigenized variety of English with them. However, they do not migrate into an English-speaking country. They are immersed in a German-speaking ecology, which results in a kaleidoscopic array of languages at their disposal, to address communicative needs, to express identities and ethnic solidarity, and to construct their trans-local communities.

Our presentation will draw on the findings of our research carried out at the linguistics section at the Ruhr-University Bochum's English Seminar. We will report on the results of semi-structured and narrative focus group interviews and participant observation to

- map the various ESL communities that are spread in the Ruhr area, with a particular focus on those who originate from countries on the African continent.
- describe how English (in standardized and in pidginized varieties) is used by first and second generation immigrants, both within the communities but also as a lingua franca for interactions with Germans and immigrants from other areas, to construct a trans-local neighborhood and to create its space and boundaries in the metropolitan area.
- describe how this is visible through language choices in the private domain as well as in the diaspora communities’ public life, when individuals form organizations or contribute to the music scene as DJs (e.g. MCFreak) or rappers.

References:

Appadurai, Arjun (1996). The production of locality. In: Appadurai, Arjun (ed.). Modernity at Large. Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 178-199.

Mesthrie, Rajend (1992). English in Language Shift: The History, Structure and Sociolinguistics of South African Indian English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Poplack, Shana and Tagliamonte, Sali (2001). African American English in the Diaspora. Oxford: Blackwell.