African Multilingualisms

African Multilingualisms is the first book dedicated to presenting case studies of small-scale multilingualism in rural Africa. Contributors present extensive new data on sociolinguistic patterns found in these contexts and consider new, more ethnographically sensitive methods for exploring multilingualism of this kind.

Although multilingualism is the norm in the day-to-day lives of most sub-Saharan Africans, multilingualism in settings outside of cities has so far been under-explored. This gap is striking when considering that in many parts of Africa, individual multilingualism was widespread long before the colonial period and centuries before the continent experienced large-scale urbanization. The edited collection African Multilingualisms fills this gap by presenting results from recent and ongoing research based on fieldwork in rural African environments as well as environments characterized by contact between urban and rural communities of speakers. The contributors—mostly Africans themselves, including a number of emerging scholars—present findings that both complement and critique current scholarship on African multilingualism. In addition, new methods and tools are introduced for the study of multilingualism in rural settings, alongside illustrations of the kinds of results that they yield. African Multilingualisms reveals an impressive diversity in the features of local language ideologies, multilingual behaviors, and the relationship between language and identity.

Contents

Preface (Gabriel Mba)

Editors’ Preface (Jeff Good and Pierpaolo Di Carlo)

Biographical Notes

Introduction

African Multilingualisms: Understanding the Diversity of Multilingualisms in Sub-Saharan Africa

Pierpaolo Di Carlo and Jeff Good

The Diversity of Multilingualisms in Rural Spaces

1. Multilingualism among the Mbororo of the North-West Region of Cameroon: An Overview

Pius W. Akumbu and Esther P. Chie

2. Nuances in Language Use in Multilingual Settings: Code-Switching or Code Regimentation in Lower Fungom?’

Rachel A. Ojong Diba

3. The So-Called Royal Register of Bafut within the Bafut Language Ecology: Language Ideologies and Multilingualism in the Cameroonian Grassfields

Pierpaolo Di Carlo and Ayu’nwi N. Neba

4. Multilingualism as It Unfolds: Language Vitality in Naturally Occurring Speech in Kelleng, a Rural Setting in Cameroon

Emmanuel Ngué Um, Marguérite G. Makon, and Célestine G. Assomo

5. An Ecological Approach to Ethnic Identity and Language Dynamics in a Multilingual Area (Lower Casamance, Senegal)

Alexander Yao Cobbinah

6. Multilingualism and the Paradox of Language Creation: The Case of Lítâ (Research Note)

Gratiana Ndamsah

Multilingualisms in Contact

7. Multilingualism in Rural Africa: A Case Study of Ossing Village in Cameroon

Tabe Florence A. E.

8. Spaces and Interactions in Multilingual Repertoire Construction: A Case Study in an Urban Area of Casamance (Senegal)

Ndiémé Sow

9. Analyzing Court Discourse in a Multilingual Setting: The Case of the Buea Court of First Instance

Endurence M. K. Dissake and Gratien G. Atindogbé

10. Multilingualism and Language Ideologies in the Context of War: The Case of Refugees from Boko Haram in the Minawao Camp in the Far North Region of Cameroon (Research Note)

Amina N. Goron

Methodologies for the Study of Rural Multilingualisms

11. What an Ethnographically Informed Questionnaire Can Contribute to the Understanding of Traditional Multilingualism Research: Lessons from Lower Fungom

Angiachi D. Esene Agwara

12. Ways to Assess Multilingual Competence in Small, Unwritten Languages: The Case of Lower Fungom

Gabriel Mba and Angela Nsen Tem

13. Essentialism and Indexicality in a Multilingual Rural Community: The Case of Lower Bafut in North-West Cameroon

Margaret Chenemo and Ayu’nwi N. Neba

About the Contributors