We call it "our language": A children's Swahili pidgin transforms social and symbolic order on a remote Hillside in up-country Kenya

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study describes a rare Swahili pidgin created by two five-year-old boys, one American and one African. The discussion examines the linguistic and social factors affecting the "origins, maintenance, change and loss" of their language and the place it created for their friendship. This place, constructed by and through language, both held and projected their new identities, interrupting the harsh hegemony of colonial racism and inequality that surrounded them.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)370-392
Number of pages23
JournalAnthropology and Education Quarterly
Volume42
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2011

Keywords

  • Child language identity and ideology
  • Communicative competence
  • Language origins and invention
  • Swahili pidgin

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • Anthropology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'We call it "our language": A children's Swahili pidgin transforms social and symbolic order on a remote Hillside in up-country Kenya'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this