Multilingual Margins: A journal of multilingualism from the periphery

Linguistic prehistory and identity in Nigeria's Bini-Ife pre-eminence contestation

Demola Lewis — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

On the basis of genetic classification, Edoid (of the Bini people of Nigeria) is conceived as an offshoot of Benue-Congo earlier than Yoruboid (of the Ife people of Nigeria). However, the reverse is the case when viewed from the sociolinguistic platforms of population, prestige and power. Thus, in 2004, the Edoid patriarch of Bini launched a biography, wherein he narrated the Bini origin of the Ife monarchy. This sparked a barrage of unguarded responses from both sides of the controversy, largely centred on different interpretations to oral tradition. By exploring language as custodian of prehistory, this paper makes a linguistic contribution to the continuing debate about which predates the other between Ife (Yoruboid) and Bini (Edoid) of southwestern Nigeria. It pieces together evidence of cognate lexical simplification, patterns of cognate counting systems, sound inventory, and decadence of vowel harmony, which support the chronological pre-eminence of Edoid over Yoruboid; thus, calling for archaeological, anthropological and geographical inspection.

Seeing the point from which you see what you see: An essay on epistemic reflexivity in language research

Linus Salo — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This essay deals with epistemic issues in language research, focusing particularly on the field of language planning and policy (LPP). It outlines Pierre Bourdieuâ€™s principle of epistemic reflexivity as a device for understanding what the view of the research object owes to the researcherâ€™s past and present position in social space. I hold that developing such an understanding is particularly vital for LPP scholars, by virtue of the ways in which the objects investigated here tend to linger in the borderlands between science and politics. Accordingly, the essay unearths the philosophical roots of epistemic reflexivity and highlights some of its implications in the research practice with examples from Swedish LPP research. It also examines the value of a reflexive stance in interviews as a way of pinpointing the relevance of epistemic reflexivity in every moment of the scholarly investigation. In conclusion, the argument is that since epistemic reflexivity is a useful device for any critical researcher who wishes to grasp the knowledge he or she produces, it is so also for language researchers, and particularly so in relation to the ideologically normative practices of LPP scholarship. Therefore, a reflexive gaze is a pivotal driver for yielding better language research.

Language, food and gentrification: signs of socioeconomic mobility in two Gothenburg neighbourhoods

Johan Järlehed, Helle Lykke Nielsen, Tove Rosendal — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines at how language and food intersect and interact in gentrification processes. As a capital-driven social process aiming at enhancing the socioeconomic value of urban space, gentrification implies mobility both in the sense that it attracts new people, businesses and capital to an area, and in the form of displacement of less affluent and prestigious people, businesses and semiotic resources from central to marginal urban spaces. The paper examines linguistic and visual traces of such mobilities in two neighbourhoods in Gothenburg, Sweden. Based on the observation that food and food practices are central for the production and reproduction of social distinction, the analysis centres on food related establishments and signs. In particular, it discusses the distinction-making function of prestigious languages, elite gastronomic registers, and gourmet food trucks, and how these depend on the marginalization of low status languages, popular gastronomic registers and cheap generic food carts. Peopleâ€™s interaction with these resources contributes to the reconfiguration of social and urban space.

Download entire issue

libict — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Book Review: The multilingual citizen: Towards a politics of language for agency and change