Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T23:07:07.280Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Authenticity and the Object of Analysis:

Methods of Youth Language Data Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2021

Rajend Mesthrie
Affiliation:
University of Cape Town
Ellen Hurst-Harosh
Affiliation:
University of Cape Town
Heather Brookes
Affiliation:
University of Cape Town
Get access

Summary

Researchers in the field of youth language in Africa have often been less than explicit about their sources of data and methods of collection. In order to provide recommendations for future research, this chapter reflects on the preceding chapters and highlights some considerations regarding different methods of data collection and different types of data on youth language practices. We consider naturalistic data and authenticity in youth language data. We present examples of data outcomes from a South African project that captured data on Tsotsitaal, and we also consider the methods presented in the chapters in this book in order to further illustrate the wide range of data outcomes in youth language research. The chapter makes the argument that the most important move is to define the object of analysis – and that it cannot be simplistically described as 'youth language'.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agha, Asif. (1998). Stereotypes and registers of honorific language. Language in Society, 27, pp. 151193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, Edward G. (2004). Eminem’s construction of authenticity. Popular Music and Society, 27(3), pp. 335355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauman, Richard and Briggs, Charles. (1990). Poetics and performance as critical perspectives on language and social life. Annual Review of Anthropology, 19(1), pp. 5988.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, Allan. (2001) Back in style: reworking audience design. In Eckert, P. and Rickford, J. R. (eds.), Style and Sociolinguistic Variation. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 139169.Google Scholar
Bembe, Princess. (2013). Between Amajimbos, Abomrapper and Pexers: youth language dynamics and identity constructions in Kwa-Thema. Paper presented at the African Urban and Youth Language Conference. Cape Town, 5–6 July 2013.Google Scholar
Beyer, Klaus. (2014). Urban language research in South Africa: achievements and challenges. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 32(2), pp. 247254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyer, Klaus. (2015). Youth language practices in Africa: achievements and challenges. In Nassenstein, N. and Hollington, A. (eds.), Youth Language Practices in Africa and Beyond. Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 2349.Google Scholar
Braun, Sabine. (2005). From pedagogically relevant corpora to authentic language learning contents. ReCALL, 17(1), pp. 4764.Google Scholar
Brookes, Heather. (2004). A repertoire of South African quotable gestures. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 14(2), pp. 186224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brookes, Heather. (2014). Urban youth languages in South Africa: a case study of Tsotsitaal in a South African township. Anthropological Linguistics, 56(3–4), pp. 356388.Google Scholar
Brookes, Heather and Kouassi, Roland. (2018). The language of youth in Africa: a sociocultural linguistic analysis. In Agwuele, A. and Bodomo, A. (eds.), Handbook of African Linguistics. Oxford: Routledge, pp. 391408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brookes, Heather and Lekgoro, Tshepiso. (2014). A social history of urban male youth varieties in Stirtonville and Vosloorus, South Africa. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 32(2), pp. 149195.Google Scholar
Bucholtz, Mary. (2002). Youth and cultural practices. Annual Review of Anthropology, 31(1), pp. 525552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvès, Anne-Emmanuèle, Kobiané, Jean-François and Martel, Edith. (2007). Changing transition to adulthood in urban Burkina Faso. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 38(2), pp. 265283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coupland, Nikolas. (2001). Dialect stylization in radio talk. Language in Society, 30(3), pp. 345375.Google Scholar
Coupland, Nikolas. (2007). Style: Language Variation and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deumert, Ana. (2014). Sociolinguistics and Mobile Communication. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frederiksen, Bodil Folke and Munive, Jairo. (2010). Young men and women in Africa: conflicts, enterprise and aspiration. Young. Nordic Journal of Youth Research, 18(3), pp. 249258.Google Scholar
Githiora, Chege. (2018). Sheng: Rise of a Kenyan Swahili Vernacular. Rochester: James Currey.Google Scholar
Golato, Andrea. (2017). Naturally occurring data. In Barron, A., Gu, Y. and Steen, G. (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Pragmatics. London: Routledge, pp. 2126.Google Scholar
Hodgman, Matthew R. (2013) Class, race, credibility, and authenticity within the hip-hop music genre. Journal of Sociological Research, 4(2), pp. 402413.Google Scholar
Hurst, Ellen. (2008). Style, structure and function in Cape Town Tsotsitaal. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
Hurst, Ellen. (2016). Metaphor in South African tsotsitaal. Sociolinguistic Studies, 10(1&2), pp. 153175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurst, Ellen and Buthelezi, Mthuli. (2014). A visual and linguistic comparison of features of Durban and Cape Town tsotsitaal. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 32(2), pp. 185197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurst, Ellen and Mesthrie, Rajend. (2013). ‘When you hang out with the guys they keep you in style’: the case for considering style in descriptions of South African tsotsitaals. Language Matters, 44(1), pp. 320.Google Scholar
Hurst-Harosh, Ellen. (2020). Tsotsitaal in South Africa: Style and Metaphor in Youth Language Practices. Cologne: Rüdiger Koppe Verlag.Google Scholar
Hurst-Harosh, Ellen and Nassenstein, Nico. (2021). The pragmatics of African youth languages. In Groff, C., Hollington, A., Hurst-Harosh, E., Nassenstein, N., Nortier, J., Pasch, H. and Yannuar, N. (eds.), Global Perspectives on Youth Language Practices. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Hymes, Dell. ([1975] 1981). Breakthrough into performance. In ‘In Vain I Tried to Tell You’: Essays in Native American Ethnopoetics. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 79141.Google Scholar
Isiaka, Adeiza Lasisi. (2018). Plurality, translingual splinters and music-modality in Nigerian youth languages. In Hurst-Harosh, E. and Kanana, F. E. (eds.), African Youth Languages: New Media, Performing Arts and Sociolinguistic Development. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 161180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jakobson, Roman. (1960) Concluding statement: linguistics and poetics. In Sebeok, T. A. (ed.), Style in Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 350377.Google Scholar
Kanana, Fridah Erastus and Hurst-Harosh, Ellen. (2020). Global and local hybridity in African youth language practices. Africa Development/CODESRIA, 45(3), pp. 1332.Google Scholar
Kouassi, Roland and Hurst-Harosh, Ellen. (2018). Social media as an extension of, and negotiation space for, a community of practice: a comparison of Nouchi and Tsotsitaal. In Hurst-Harosh, E. and Kanana, F. E. (eds.), African Youth Languages: New Media, Performing Arts and Sociolinguistic Development. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 75102.Google Scholar
Labov, William. (1972). Sociolinguistic Patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Labov, William. (1981). Field Methods of the Project on Linguistic Change and Variation. Sociolinguistic Working Paper Number 81. Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.Google Scholar
Labov, William. (2001). Principles of Linguistic Change. Volume 2, Social Factors. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Makukule, Idah. (2017). The Role of Language in the Performance of Male Township Youth Identities on Thokoza Street Corners. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. (2020). Authentic. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/authentic.Google Scholar
Mesthrie, Rajend. (2014) English tsotsitaals? – An analysis of two written texts in Surfspeak and South African Indian English slang. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 32(2), pp. 173183.Google Scholar
Mesthrie, Rajend and Hurst, Ellen. (2013). Slang registers, code-switching and restructured urban varieties in South Africa: an analytic overview of tsotsitaals with special reference to the Cape Town variety. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, 28(1), pp. 103130.Google Scholar
Nassenstein, Nico. (2015). The emergence of Lingala in Kinshasa (DR Congo). In Nassenstein, N. and Hollington, A. (eds.), Youth Language Practices in Africa and Beyond. Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 8197.Google Scholar
Nassenstein, Nico. (2020). Tokooos! as a linguistic fashion: the recontextualization and appropriation of Lingala youth Language. Linguistics Vanguard, 6, p. 20190035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potter, Jonathan and Shaw, Chloe. (2018). The virtues of naturalistic data. In Flick, U. (ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Collection. London: SAGE, pp. 182199.Google Scholar
Rampton, Ben. (2009). Interaction ritual and not just artful performance in crossing and stylization. Language in Society, 38(2), pp. 149176.Google Scholar
Rudwick, Stephanie. (2005). Township language dynamics: isiZulu and isiTsotsi in Umlazi. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 23(3), pp. 305317.Google Scholar
Schilling-Estes, Natalie. (2004). Field methods. In Chambers, J. K., Trudgill, P. and Schilling‐Estes, N. (eds.), The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 1519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vierke, Clarissa. (2015). Some remarks on poetic aspects of Sheng. In Nassenstein, N. and Hollington, A. (eds.), Youth Language Practices in Africa and Beyond. Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 227255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Widdowson, Henry. (2003). Defining Issues in English Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×