Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T12:19:04.624Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Multilingualism and Super-Diversity: Some Historical and Contrastive Perspectives

from Part One - Multilingualism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2022

Salikoko Mufwene
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Anna Maria Escobar
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Get access

Summary

In this chapter the author revisits the concept of “super-diversity” from the perspective of colonial history. He presents the phenomenon as the outcome of the reversal of migrations, this time from especially the European former exploitation colonies to the European metropoles since the wake of World War II. The opposite direction of migrations had prevailed before, ignoring those of non-European enslaved and contract laborers from trade and exploitation colonies to settlement and other colonies. The author highlights differences in political and economic power associated with the differing directions of migrations, with the Europeans always having the upper hand, including in how to identify the migrants. Differences include the superposition of European languages as High varieties, associated with new communicative domains, over indigenous ones in the (trade and) exploitation colonies. This is in contrast with the marginalization and resentment of “allochthonous” languages in European urban centers, in addition to the stigmatization of the xenolectal and mixed character of the “autochthonous” language varieties produced by the migrants. The label “super-diversity” appears to reflect this fear of the foreigners from the colonies. Otherwise, the increase in societal multilingualism is not new. “Super-diversity” indexes the Othering of the immigrants.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Language Contact
Volume 2: Multilingualism in Population Structure
, pp. 145 - 171
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albaugh, Ericka A. 2014. State-building and multilingual education in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Arnault, Karel. 2012. Super-diversity: Elements of an emerging perspective. Diversities 14.115.Google Scholar
Austin, Peter K. & Sallabank, Julia (eds.). 2011. The Cambridge handbook of endangered languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Austin, Peter K. & Sallabank, Julia (eds.). 2014. Endangered languages: Beliefs and ideologies in language documentation and revitalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Berzock, Kathleen Bickford (ed.). 2019. Carvans of gold, fragments in time: Art, culture, and exchanges across medieval Saharan Africa. Evanston, IL: Block Museum of Art & Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Blommaert, Jan. 2014. Infrastructures of superdiversity: Conviviality and language in an Antwerp neighborhood. European Journal of Cultural Studies 17.431–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, Jan & Rampton, Ben. 2011. Language and superdiversity. Diversities 13.122.Google Scholar
Bokamba, Eyamba G. 2008. The lives of local and regional Congolese languages in globalized linguistic markets. In Globalization and language vitality: Perspectives from Africa, ed. by Vigouroux, Cécile B. & Mufwene, Salikoko S., 97125. London: Continuum Press.Google Scholar
Broeder, Peter, Extra, Guus, & Maartens, Jeanne. 2002. Multilingualism in South Africa, with a focus on KwaZulu-Natal and Metropolitan Durban. Cape Town: PRAESA, University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
Brown, Joshua R. (ed.). 2022. The verticalization model of language shift: The great change in American communities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Buzasi, Katalin. 2016. Linguistic situation in twenty sub-Saharan African countries: A survey-based approach. African Studies 75.358–80.Google Scholar
Casas, Batolomé de las. 1552. In defense of the Indians. Trans. and ed. by Stafford Poole, C.M., in 1992, from the original Latin manuscript. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Chanda, Nayan. 2007. Bound together: How traders, preachers, adventurers, and warriors shaped globalization. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Cheshire, Jenny, Fox, Susan, Kerswill, Paul, & Torgersen, Eivind. 2013. Language contact and language change in the multicultural metropolis. Revue Française de Linguistique Appliquée 18.6376.Google Scholar
Clyne, Michael. 2003. Dynamics of language contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Crosby, Alfred W. 1992. Ills. In Atlantic American societies: From Columbus through abolition 1492–1888, ed. by Karras, Alan L. & McNeill, John Robert, 1939. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Crul, Maurice, Schneider, Jens, & Lelie, Frans. 2013. Super-diversity: A new perspective on integration. Amsterdam: VU University Press.Google Scholar
Crystal, David. 2000. Language death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deumert, Ana. 2014. Digital superdiversity: A commentary. Discourse, Context and Media 4–5.116–20.Google Scholar
Di Carlo, Pierpaolo & Good, Jeff (eds.). 2020. African multilingualism: Rural linguistic and cultural d iversity. Lanham, MA: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Douzet, Frédérick. 2004. Le cauchemar hispanique de Samuel Huntington. Hérodote: revue de géographie et de géopolitque 115.3150.Google Scholar
Dyke, Paul A. van 2005. The Canton trade: Life and enterprise on the China coast, 1700–1845. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.Google Scholar
Fagyal, Zsuzsanna. 2010. Accent de banlieue: aspects prosodiques du français populaire en contact avec les langues de l’immigration. Paris: L’Harmattan.Google Scholar
Garcia, Ofelia & Mason, Leah. 2008. Where in the world is US Spanish? Creating a space of opportunity for US Latinos. In Language and poverty, ed. by Harbert, Wayne, 78101. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haugen, Einar. 1953. The Norwegian language in America: A study in bilingual behavior. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Haugen, Einar. 1972. The ecology of language, ed. by Dil, Anwar S.. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Hymes, Dell. 1974. Foundations of sociolinguistics: An ethnographic approach. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Ivkovic, Dejan. 2015. Towards a semiotics of multilingualism. Semiotica 207.89126.Google Scholar
Kerswill, Paul. 2006. Migration and language. In Sociolinguistics/Soziolinguistik. An international handbook of the science of language and society, 2nd ed., vol. 3, ed. by Mattheier, Klaus, Ammon, Ulrich, & Trudgill, Peter, 2271–85. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Lüpke, Friederike. 2015. Ideologies and typologies of language endangerment in Africa. In Language documentation and endangerment in Africa, ed. by Essegbey, James, Henderson, Brent, & McLaughlin, Fiona, 59105. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Lüpke, Friederike & Storch, Anne. 2013. Repertoires and choices in African languages. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Mandani, Mahmood. 1996. Citizen and subject: Contemporary Africa and the legacy of late colonization. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mazrui, Ali A. & Mazrui, Alamin M.. 1998. The power of Babel: Language and governance in the African experience. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2001. The ecology of language evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2008. Language evolution: Contact, competition and change. London: Continuum Press.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2009. The indigenization of English in North America. In World Englishes: Problems, properties, prospects, ed. by Hoffmann, Thomas & Siebers, Lucia, 353–68. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2010a. The role of mother-tongue schooling in eradicating poverty: A response to Language and poverty. Language 86.910–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2010b. Les langues et leur valeur de marché vues d’une perspective macro-écologique. In Pour la (socio)linguistique, ed. by Gasquet-Cyrus, Méderic, Giacomi, Alain, Touchard, Yvonne, & Véronique, Daniel, 267–84. Paris: L’Harmattan.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2016. A cost-and-benefit approach to language loss. In Endangerment of languages across the planet, ed. by Filipovic, Luna & Pütz, Martin, 115–43. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2017. Language vitality: The weak theoretical underpinnings of what can be an exciting research area. Language. Perspectives 93.e202e223.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2018. Language contact and evolutionary linguistics: An African(ist)’s and creolist’s perspective. In Dynamics of language: Plenary and focus lectures, 20th International Congress of Linguists, ed. by Mesthrie, Rajend & Bradley, David, 3651. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2020. Linguistic diversity, formal education, and economic development: The Sub-Saharan African chicken-and-egg dilemma? In Language & the sustainable development goals, ed. by Coleman, H. & Harding-Esch, P., 153–64. London: The British Council.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2021. Language shift. The international encyclopedia of linguistic anthropology, ed. by Stanlaw, James M.. Wiley Online Library, accessed 7 March 2022.Google Scholar
Nettle, Daniel & Romaine, Suzanne. 2000. Vanishing voices: The extinction of the world’s languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Osterhammel, Jürgen & Petersson, Niels. 2005. Globalization: A short history. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Pavlenko, Aneta. 2018. Superdiversity and why it isn’t: Reflections on terminological innovation and academic branding. In Sloganizations in language education discourse, ed. by Breidbach, S., Küster, L., & Schmenk, B., 142–68. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Rampton, Ben. 1995. Crossing: Language and ethnicity among adolescents. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Rodney, Walter. 1972. How Europe underdeveloped Africa. London: Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications.Google Scholar
Samarin, William J. 1986. Protestant missions and the history of Lingala. Journal of Religion in Africa 16.138–63.Google Scholar
Silverstein, Michael. 2015. How language communities intersect: Is “superdiversity” an incremental or transformative condition? Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies. Paper 107.Google Scholar
Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove. 2000. Linguistic genocide in education – or world-wide diversity and human rights? Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Van den Avenne, Cécile. 2017. De la bouche des indigènes: échanges linguen Afrique coloniale. Paris: Éditions Vendémiaire.Google Scholar
Vertovec, Steven. 2007. Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies 30.1024–54.Google Scholar
Vigouroux, Cécile B. 2013. Informal economy and language practice in the context of migrations. In Language, migration and social inequalities: A critical sociolinguistic perspective on institutions and work, ed. by Duchêne, Alexandre, Moyer, Melissa, & Roberts, Celia, 296328. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Vigouroux, Cécile B. 2017. Rethinking (un)skilled migrants: Whose skills, what skills, for what and for whom? In The Routledge handbook of migration and language, ed. by Canagarajah, Suresh, 312–29. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Weinreich, Uriel. 1953. Languages in contact: Findings and problems. New York: Linguistic Circle of New York.Google Scholar
Yakpo, Kofi. 2019. Inheritance, contact, convergence: Pronominal allomorphy in the African English-lexifier Creoles. English World-Wide 40.201–25.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×