Table Of ContentIDENTITY AND DIALECT
PERFORMANCE
Identity and Dialect Performance discusses the relationship between identity and dia-
lects. It starts from the assumption that the use of dialects is not just a product
of social and demographic factors, but can also be an intentional performance of
identity. Dialect performance is related to identity construction and in a highly
globalised world, the linguistic repertoire has increased rapidly, thereby changing
our conventional assumptions about dialects and their usage.
The key outstanding feature of this particular book is that it spans an exten-
sive range of communities and dialects; Canada, Colombia, Egypt, French Guiana,
Germany, Italy, Japan, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Scotland, Senegal, Spain, Syria, The
Netherlands, The Sudan, and the UK and US.
Reem Bassiouney is Professor of Linguistics at The American University of Cairo
Her recent book publications include Functions of Code-Switching in Egypt (2006),
Arabic Sociolinguistics (2008), Arabic and the Media (2010, editor), Arabic Language and
Linguistics (2012, co-editor), Language and Identity in Modern Egypt (2014), and The
Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics (forthcoming, co-editor).
Routledge Studies in Language and Identity
Series Editor: Reem Bassiouney
The Routledge Studies in Language and Identity (RSLI) series aims to examine
the intricate relation between language and identity from different perspectives.
The series straddles fields such as sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, applied lin-
guistics, historical linguistics and linguistic anthropology. It aims to study identity
and language by utilizing novel methods of analysis as well as ground breaking
theoretical approaches.
Titles in series:
Arabic in Israel: Language, Identity and Conflict
Muhammad Amara
Identity and Dialect Performance: A Study of Communities and Dialects
Reem Bassiouney
For more titles, please visit www.routledge.com/languages/series/RSLI
IDENTITY AND DIALECT
PERFORMANCE
A Study of Communities
and Dialects
Edited by Reem Bassiouney
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Reem Bassiouney; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Reem Bassiouney to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bassiouney, Reem, 1973– editor.
Title: Identity and dialect performance : a study of communities and dialects /
edited by Reem Bassiouney.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY: Routledge,
2017. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017018132 (print) | LCCN 2017027081 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781315279732 (eBook) | ISBN 9781315279725 (pdf) |
ISBN 9781315279718 (ePub) | ISBN 9781315279701 (Mobipocket) |
ISBN 9781138241756 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138241787
(pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Dialectology. | Languages in contact. | Group identity.
Classification: LCC P367 (ebook) | LCC P367 .I33 2017 (print) | DDC
417/.2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017018132
ISBN: 978-1-138-24175-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-24178-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-27973-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
CONTENTS
List of figures viii
List of tables x
List of contributors xi
Acknowledgements xvii
Introduction 1
PART I
Dialects in localised and delocalised contexts 15
1 Nonstandard dialect and identity 17
John Edwards
2 The elusive dialect border 35
Dick Smakman and Marten van der Meulen
3 Dialect performances in superdiverse communities:
The case for ethnographic approaches to language
variation 49
Anna De Fina
vi Contents
PART II
Nation-states and identity construction in relation to
a standard and a dialect 69
4 The construction of linguistic borders and the rise of
national identity in South Sudan: Some insights into Juba
Arabic (Árabi Júba) 71
Stefano Manfredi
5 From language to dialect and back: The case of Piedmontese 86
Mauro Tosco
6 Darija and the construction of “Moroccanness” 99
Dominique Caubet
7 “Sloppy speech is like sloppy dress”: Folk attitudes towards
nonstandard British English 125
Carmen Ebner
PART III
Contact, variation, performance and
metalinguistic discourse 141
8 From varieties in contact to the selection of linguistic
resources in multilingual settings 143
Isabelle Léglise and Santiago Sánchez Moreano
9 “You live in the United States, you speak English,” decían
las maestras: How New Mexican Spanish speakers enact,
ascribe, and reject ethnic identities 160
Katherine O’Donnell Christoffersen and Naomi L. Shin
10 The social meanings of Wolof and French: Contact dialects,
language ideology, and competing modernities in Senegal 179
Fiona Mc Laughlin
11 The social value of linguistic practices in Tetouan and
Ghomara (Northwestern Morocco) 192
Ángeles Vicente and Amina Naciri-Azzouz
Contents vii
12 New presentations of self in everyday life: Linguistic
transgressions in England, Germany, and Japan 210
Patrick Heinrich
13 Language and identity in Siwa Oasis: Indexing belonging,
localness, and authenticity in a small minority community 226
Valentina Serreli
PART IV
The media, dialect performance, and language variation 243
14 YouTube Yinzers: Stancetaking and the performance of
‘Pittsburghese’ 245
Scott F. Kiesling
15 Performing identity on screen: Language, identity, and
humour in Scottish television comedy 265
Natalie Braber
16 Identity, repertoire, and performance: The case of
an Egyptian poet 286
Reem Bassiouney
17 Ruination and amusement – dialect, youth, and revolution
in Naija 303
Anne Storch
18 Dialectal variation and identity in post-revolutionary
Libyan media: The case of Dragunov (2014) 321
Luca D’Anna
19 The effect of TV and internal vs. external contact on
variation in Syrian rural child language 340
Rania Habib
Index 357
FIGURES
3.1 Percentage of turns with Sicilian by day. 55
3.2 Marked vs. neutral speech acts in Sicilian. 60
3.3 Distribution of marked speech acts (boys and girls). 61
6.1 Telquel magazine, June 2002 © Dominique Caubet. 109
6.2 Le Journal Hebdomadaire; drawing by Beyoud. © Dominique
Caubet. 112
8.1 Imbabura and Chimborazo. 149
14.1 Pitch track of an example of the L*+H L% falling question
intonation. 255
14.2 Frame of Donny from the ‘Idlewild’ episode. Approximately line
51 in the transcript. 256
14.3 Frame grab of Kreutzer from the ‘Idlewild’ episode.
Approximately line 50 in the transcript. 256
14.4 Frame grab of Greg from the ‘Idlewild’ episode. Approximately
line 50 in the transcript. 257
15.1 Glasgow mug design, used with permission, Sprint Design, Glasgow. 272
15.2 Drinks coaster with local phrase (this is a catch phrase from
Chewin’ the Fat), used with permission, Sprint Design, Glasgow. 272
15.3 Ned (this is not from Chewin’ the Fat as no images were
available, but of a Glaswegian comedian, Neil Bratchpiece,
dressed as a ned). Used with permission, Creative Commons
Attribution Licence. 275
15.4 Banter Boy: Gary, used with copyright permission BBC. 276
17.1 About Naija lingo (Ofunne & Nwokogba 2007: http://www.
naijalingo.com/about). 311
17.2 Revolutionary collections of ‘campus slang’ (Chigozie 2015). 312
17.3 Musings of a Crazy Nigerian (Farouk 2012). 313
Figures ix
17.4 Blasted English (http://www.nairaland.com/2132954/girl-
failed-english-exam). 316
19.1 Main effects of the fixed effects TV, internal and external
contacts. Fixed Effects Target: [ʔ] / (q) 350
19.2 The effect of internal contact with friends and relatives who use
[ʔ] predominantly on the use of [q] vs. [ʔ]. 350
19.3 Coefficients indicating the significant categories within each
fixed factor. Fixed coefficients target: [ʔ] / (q) 351
