The Languages of Urban Africa

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 210-228) and index. Table of Contents: 1. An introduction to the languages of urban Africa / Fiona Mc Laughlin -- I. African urban languages and their histories -- 2. The historical dynamic of multilingualism in Accra / M. E. Kropp Dakubu -- 3. Urban Wolof: profile of a language / Fiona Mc Laughlin -- 4. The spread of Lingala as a lingua France in the Congo basin / Eyamba G. Bokamba -- II. Theoretical approaches to the study of African urban languages -- 5. Are African cities really different linguistically? Some insights from Cape Town, Cecile Vigouroux / Simon Fraser -- 6. Discourses, community, identity: Processes of linguistic homogenization in Bamako / Mali, Ce'cile Canut -- 7. Polarizing and blending: compatible practices in a bilingual urban community in Cape Town / Kay McCormick -- III. The question of identity in African urban languages -- 8. The story of old-urban vernaculars in North Afric, Atiqa Hachimi / Atiqa Hachimi -- 9. Language choice in Dar-es-Salaam's billboards / Charles Bwenge -- 10. The multiple facts of Abidjan's urban language form / Nouchi, Sabine, Kube -- 11. Multilingualism and language use in Porto-Novo / Benin Wale Adeniran -- 12. On the linguistic vitality of Ga~ in Accra / James Essegbey -- IV. The evolution of urban languages in Africa -- 13. Innovations on the fringes of the Swahili-speaking world: observations from Bujumbura / Haig Der Houssikian -- Index. Contributor Bio:  MC Laughlin, Fiona Fiona Mc Laughlin is an Associate Professor of African Languages and Linguistics at the University of Florida, USA, where she currently heads a research project on the languages of urban Africa.