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African Multilingualisms is the first book dedicated to presenting case studies of small-scale multilingualism in rural Africa. Contributors present extensive new data on sociolinguistic patterns found in these contexts and consider new, more ethnographically sensitive methods for exploring multilingualism of this kind.

• Cover
• African Multilingualisms
• African Multilingualisms: Rural Linguistic and Cultural Diversity
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Editors’ Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • Language Identification
  • Editorial Work
• Introduction
  • 1. EXPANDING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF VARIATION IN MULTILINGUALISM
  • 2. Urban and Rural Perspectives
  • 3. Societal Multilingualism
  • 4. Individual Multilingualism and the Ethnographic Approach
  • 5. Indigenous Multilingualism and Language Endangerment
  • Notes
  • References
• Part I: The Diversity of Multilingualisms in Rural Spaces
  • Chapter 1
  • Multilingualism among the Mbororo of the North-West Region of Cameroon
    • 1. INTRODUCTION
    • 2. Language Diversity
    • 3. Motivations for Multilingualism
    • 4. Understanding Rural Multilingualism
    • 5. Conclusion
    • Notes
    • References
  • Chapter 2
  • Nuances in Language Use in Multilingual Settings
    • 1. INTRODUCTION: CONTEXTUALIZING LOWER FUNGOM
    • 2. Definitional Issues
    • 3. Perspectives on Multilingual Conversations from Elsewhere in the World
    • 4. Language Use in Interaction in Lower Fungom
    • 5. Conclusion
    • Notes
    • References
  • Chapter 3
  • The So-Called Royal Register of Bafut within the Bafut Language Ecology
    • 1. INTRODUCTION: ARE LOWER FUNGOM AND LOWER CASAMANCE SUI GENERIS CASES?
    • 2. Bafut
    • 3. The Royal “Register” of Bafut
    • 4. Other Special Codes in Bafut
    • 5. Codes to Index Membership, Not Call Up Stereotypes
    • 6. Comparing Bafut and Lower Fungom
    • 7. Conclusion
    • Notes
    • References
  • Chapter 4
  • Multilingualism as It Unfolds
    • 1. INTRODUCTION
    • 2. Research Question
    • 3. Objectives
    • 4. Methodology
    • 5. Results
    • 6. Conclusion
    • Notes
    • References
  • Chapter 5
  • An Ecological Approach to Ethnic Identity and Language Dynamics in a Multilingual Area (Lower Casamance, Senegal)
    • 1. INTRODUCTION
    • 2. Historical Overview
    • 3. Languages and Identities in Lower Casamance
    • 4. Regional Ecologies
    • 5. Conclusion
    • Notes
    • References
  • Chapter 6
  • Multilingualism and the Paradox of Language Creation
    • 1. INTRODUCTION
    • 2. The Words of Lítâ
    • 3. Lítâ Sentence Structure
    • 4. Summary
    • Notes
    • Reference
• Part II: Multilingualisms in Contact
  • Chapter 7
  • Multilingualism in Rural Africa
    • 1. INTRODUCTION
    • 2. Sociolinguistics of Multilingualism and Language Contact
    • 3. Methodology
    • 4. Ossing Village in Cameroon
    • 5. Impact of Rural Multilingualism in Ossing Village
    • 6. Conclusion
    • Notes
    • References
  • Chapter 8
  • Spaces and Interactions in Multilingual Repertoire Construction
    • 1. INTRODUCTION
    • 2. Lower Casamance
    • 3. Participant-Based versus Location-Based Perspectives on Multilingualism
    • 4. Interactional Dynamics and the Choice of Linguistic Repertoire: A Case Study
    • 5. Sociosymbolic Functions of the Languages that Constitute a Linguistic Repertoire
    • 6. Ideologies and Linguistic Attitudes in the Construction of Multilingual Repertoires
    • 7. Spaces in the Construction of Multilingual Repertoires
    • 8. Conclusion
    • Notes
    • References
  • Chapter 9
  • Analyzing Court Discourse in a Multilingual Setting
    • 1. INTRODUCTION
    • 2. Legal Systems of Cameroon
    • 3. Cameroon Multilingualism
    • 4. Discourse Analysis and Speech Act Theory
    • 5. Analysis of Court Discourse
    • 6. Interviews
    • 7. Conclusion
    • Notes
    • References
  • Chapter 10
  • Multilingualism and Language Ideologies in the Context of War
    • 1. INTRODUCTION
    • 2. Methodology
    • 3. Geography and Demography
    • 4. Languages en présence
    • 5. The Complexity of Language Relationships
    • 6. The Function of Official Languages and of Nigerian Pidgin English
    • 7. Conclusion
    • Notes
    • References
• Part III: Methodologies for the Study of Rural Multilingualisms
  • Chapter 11
  • What an Ethnographically Informed Questionnaire Can Contribute to the Understanding of Traditional Multilingualism Research
    • 1. INTRODUCTION
    • 2. Research Methods in the Study of Multilingualism: Emphasis on Self-Reported Data
    • 3. Lower Fungom
    • 4. The Ethnographically Informed Questionnaire
    • 5. Results
    • 6. Discussion
    • 7. Conclusions
    • Notes
    • References
  • Chapter 12
  • Ways to Assess Multilingual Competence in Small, Unwritten Languages
    • 1. INTRODUCTION
    • 2. Definition of Terms
    • 3. Methodology
    • 4. Results
    • 5. Conclusion
    • Notes
    • References
  • Chapter 13
  • Essentialism and Indexicality in a Multilingual Rural Community
    • 1. INTRODUCTION
    • 2. Lower Bafut
    • 3. Relevant Literature and Definition of Key Concepts
    • 4. Method
    • 5. Findings and Discussion
    • 6. Perspectives on Using the Matched-Guise Technique
    • 7. Conclusion
    • Notes
    • References
    • Appendices
    • Appendix A: Sociolinguistic Questionnaire
    • Appendix B: The MGT Texts (Bushfire Outbreaks)
    • Appendix C: MGT Protocols
  • Names Index
  • Main Index
  • Language Index
  • About the Contributors