Choices in language accommodation at the crossroads: convergence, divergence, and mixing

Journal article

This article seeks to explain a community's unique collective pronunciation of an otherwise shared word form through the lens of indexical field (Silverstein 2003). Three groups of speakers physically converge at an area in south-western Senegal dubbed ‘the crossroads'. Those familiar with the area regard each group as speaking a separate language, two of which are closely related genetically. Although there are areas of overlap and clear borrowings, despite close proximity and long-term language contact among the speakers, the languages remain grammatically and phonetically distinct. Specifically, one community pronounces all (corresponding and otherwise) words with initial velar plosives as voiced [ɡ], whereas one other uses [k], and the third uses [ɡ] in some instances and [k] in others. An example of this potential for phonetic convergence or divergence across the three languages occurs in the word for ‘peace', [kə- ~ ɡə-ssumay]. Unexpectedly, if viewed through the lens of ethnic identity, the community that is of a more distantly related grouping, the Baïnounk of Djibonker, more often aligns itself with the pronunciation of the Jóola of Brin, while that of the closer genetically (but geographically remoter) group uses the uncommon [ɡə-] form heard among the Jóola of Essil. It is postulated here that the groupings of Djibonker and Brin are indexing an identity that is mutually aligned with a broader, pan-Jóola identity, whereas those from Essil are distancing themselves from this identity, which, ironically, they interpret as being indexical of the Baïnounk identity.

Authors: Hantgan, A

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Anthropological Society of Oxford
• Journal: Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford Online
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 102-118
• Publication date: 2017-01-01
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-ovromj2e1
• ISSN: 2040-1876
• Language: English
• Keywords: JASO