Rural/Urban Dichotomies and Youth Language

Abstract

‘African Urban Youth Languages’, a term usually used to refer to urban linguistic styles such as Sheng, Nouchi, Tsotsitaal, etc., have traditionally represented a streetwise, urban identity, linked to the rapid modernising and urbanizing forces present in contemporary Africa (Kiessling and Mous 2004). There has been some evidence that this indexicality has created a dichotomy between rural and urban youth, in terms of their representations of each other, and their language, clothing and other modalities of style/semiotic resources. However, recent research indicates that this dichotomy is not as absolute as it appears. These linguistic styles have been noted in rural areas, apparently spreading outwards from urban centres. Rural centres borrow from urban centres, but also innovate their own styles. Furthermore, urban styles may borrow from rural forms of language, which can provide the opaque qualities looked for in slang terminology, which typically draws on metaphor, euphemisms, neologisms and archaic terms in the formulation of innovative lexical items. Deumert (2013) additionally suggests that speakers draw on ‘rural authenticity’ by using rural (or ‘deep’) speech forms. This chapter argues that the dichotomy of rural/urban is a necessary and productive one, which has implications for both language maintenance and change.