English as a local language [[electronic resource] ] : post-colonial identities and multilingual practices / / Christina Higgins

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910816212703321
• Autore: Higgins Christina
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Buffalo, : Multilingual Matters, 2009
• ISBN: 1-84769-182-X; 9786612465901; 1-282-46590-2; 1-84769-693-7
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (xii, 171 p. ) : ill
• Collana: Critical language and literacy studies ; ; 2
• Disciplina: 427/.676
• Soggetti: English language - Africa, East; English language - Variation - Africa, East; Sociolinguistics - Africa, East; English language - Globalization; Africa, East Languages
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Formerly CIP.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- Chapter 1. Multivoiced Multilingualism -- Chapter 2. From Pre-colonial Beginnings to Multivocality -- Chapter 3. Double-Voices in the Workplace -- Chapter 4. Miss World or Miss Bantu? Competing Dialogues on Female Beauty -- Chapter 5. The Polyphony of East African Hip Hop -- Chapter 6. Selling Fasta Fasta in the East African Marketplace -- Chapter 7. New Wor(l)d Order -- Appendix -- References -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: When analyzed in multilingual contexts, English is often treated as an entity that is separable from its linguistic environment. It is often the case, however, that multilinguals use English in hybrid and transcultural ways. This book explores how multilingual East Africans make use of English as a local resource in their everyday practices by examining a range of domains, including workplace conversation, beauty pageants, hip hop and advertising. Drawing on the Bakhtinian concept of multivocality, the author uses discourse analysis and ; ethnographic approaches to demonstrate the range of linguistic and cultural hybridity found across these domains, and to consider the constraints on hybridity in each context. By focusing on the cultural and linguistic bricolage in which English is often found, the book illustrates how multilinguals respond to the tension between local identification and dominant conceptualizations of English as a language for global communication.