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- Convenors:
-
Taiwo Oloruntoba-Oju
(University of Ilorin)
Bert van Pinxteren (Leiden University)
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- Chair:
-
Bert van Pinxteren
(Leiden University)
- Format:
- Panel
- Stream:
- Development of Colonial Languages
- Location:
- Room 1234
- Sessions:
- Thursday 9 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
The panel is interested in the language profile of the Africans in diaspora in Germany, especially the transition from the original immigrants to the next young generation. The panel is particularly interested in the use of colonial and African languages and the interface with the host language.
Long Abstract:
Most African immigrants to Europe (Germany in comparison) enter a completely strange linguistic environment. They are faced with limited choices as they attempt to adapt into the unaccustomed linguistic ecology. They speak their "African" languages (which may be a colonial language like English or French, a pidgin or an indigenous African language) when they can, and their host language, in whatever form, when they must. None of these languages in contact ever remains the same again in this compulsive multilingual situation. However, there are different generations involved, the original adult immigrant generation with well-formed linguistic habits prior to immigration, and the next young generation comprising those who arrived as children with the adults or who are born in the host country. The language or languages spoken will depend on the host language and related social policies, and the language attitudes of the parents. The latter will determine for example whether they are exposed to their natal African languages or the degree of linguistic immersion or integration within the host culture.
This panel is interested in the language profile of the Africans in diaspora in Germany and especially the transition from the original adult immigrants to the next young generation. The panel is particularly interested in the use of colonial and African languages and the interface with the host language. Obvious lines of enquiry include the developing contact phenomena, language attitudes, the structure of the African languages, issue of interference and the developing multi-competencies.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 9 June, 2022, -Paper short abstract:
The study examines language attitudes and choices among selected African groups in Germany, as well as the implication for the development of indigenous African languages in diaspora, and reciprocal host behaviour. The role of gender and nurture in language development in diaspora is also examined.
Paper long abstract:
Many factors influence the language choices, or the scale of linguistic preferences, by persons of African origin in diaspora. Studies have shown that the most important of these factors are the survival needs of immigrants, along with other enabling or disenabling local contexts. By extension, the survival, development and form of the relevant indigenous African languages in the diaspora will also depend on these factors and the related language attitudes. This paper examines the language attitudes and language choices of selected African populations in Germany, and the implications of these choices for the maintenance and development of indigenous African languages in diaspora. Of particular interest is the prospect for the use and development of these languages among the future generations of Africans in the country. Since children’s language behaviour and choices are assumed to be most impacted by their interaction with mothers and caregivers, this survey targets groups of Ghanaian and Nigerian mothers in Germany. What are their linguistic preferences in different domains of engagement, and what are the foreseeable impacts? How do the choices impact interactions within the host community? Equally important is the influence of dominant colonial languages such as English and French on the Africans, as these languages offer an additional competitive choice against the host language, German. How do the various participants navigate this sociolinguistic complex? This study is seen as a contribution to the scholarship of language attitudes, language choices, and reciprocal perspectives between Africans and the host community in Germany.
Paper short abstract:
Faced with cultural and linguistic choices, Cameroonian migrants in Germany embark on the complex issues of multilingual and multicultural identity negotiation in a bid to make sense of their proper selves. The study has implication for hybrid identities in relation to individual and group.
Paper long abstract:
Cameroonian Migrants in Europe are observed to be caught in the web of cultural and linguistic development in a bid to fit in their new environments. Consequently, throughout their stay in Europe, they are in search of identity in between cultures such that while keeping pace with diaspora requirements, strive to be connected with their original languages and cultures. This paper particularly explores the new world of Cameroonian migrants in Germany, and how they see themselves in terms of multiculturalism and multilingualism. It investigates how they construct identity to be able to make sense of their proper selves amidst a plurality of cultures and languages. The study is driven by the following theories: 1)Tajfel & Turner (1997)’s Social Identity Theory (sense of a person’s self and group membership). 2) Hubert Herman’s Dialogical Self Theory (1993)- the self as multi-voiced and dialogical-relates the self to the social world.) 3) Serge Moscovici’s Social Representations Theory (2000)-The dynamics of group decisions and consensus-forming. The foregone theories will be used at the background of Post Structuralist (Constructivist) Theory. The study adopts a sociolinguistic descriptive qualitative method of 100 Cameroonian immigrants of all walks of life in 10 cities across Germany, of all sexes from between 18-65 years. Data will be collected through questionnaire, interviews, and focus-group discussions, and will be analysed following Wengraf’s (2001) Model of Sequentialization, after Darne’s Typology , with focus on incidences related to language use and cultural aspects. The study has implication for group and individual identities among diasporas.
Paper short abstract:
The study examines the language profile of Africans in diaspora, colonial and African languages relationships, attitudes, interference in the language contact situation and how language is passed on to the younger generation in Germany. Keywords: Language, interference, attitude, Germany, African
Paper long abstract:
The study examines the language profile of Africans in diaspora. It will also examine the relationship between the colonial and African languages, Africans' language attitudes, and the problems of interference in the language contact situation and how language is passed on to the younger generation in Germany.
Migration and trade have resulted in large number of new languages in Africa and the diaspora. It has also caused transformation processes and the merging of multiple languages as a result of human contact. Language structures were also affected by cultural factors, demography and language development.
The study reveals that Afro-Germans are sub-saharan African descents who are citizens of Germany. They experience social isolation and prejudice. As a result of their skin colour and hair texture, fellow citizens reject them even though they are born and bred in Germany. Due to this rejection, they can not actually define where they belong.
Key words: Language contact, Migration, Afro-German, Identity, Language
Paper short abstract:
This paper attempts to track the construction of learner frustration among African students attempting to learn German as foreign students in Germany.
Paper long abstract:
The general perception among African students in Germany is that German language is somewhat difficult to learn as an adult. Working within the social constructionist and psychoanalytic discourse perspectives, this paper specifically examines how Nigerian students in Germany construct German learning difficulties and other diasporic frustrations. It argues that these constructions are a collection of symbolic materials through which the desperation and other migration-induced traumatic experiences that characterize the daily living of Nigerians in Germany can be tracked. The paper explores how this discourse is constructed among the concerned students through self-report instruments administered to a selected group of students.