Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Notes on Contributors -- 1 Introduction to the languages of urban Africa -- 2 The historical dynamic of multilingualism in Accra -- 3 The story of old-urban vernaculars in North Africa -- 4 The spread of Lingala as a lingua franca in the Congo Basin -- 5 Senegal's early cities and the making of an urban language -- 6 Discourse, community, identity: processes of linguistic homogenization in Bamako -- 7 The multiple facets of the urban language form, Nouchi -- 8 On assessing the ethnolinguistic vitality of Ga in Accra -- 9 Multilingualism and language use in Porto Novo -- 10 Language choice in Dar es Salaam's billboards -- 11 Innovations on the fringes of the Kiswahili-speaking world -- 12 Polarizing and blending: compatible practices in a bilingual urban community in Cape Town -- References -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z.

The Languages of Urban Africa consists of a series of case studies that address four main themes.  The first is the history of African urban languages. The second set focus on theoretical issues in the study of African urban languages, exploring the outcomes of intense multilingualism and also the ways in which urban dwellers form their speech communities.  The volume then moves on to explore the relationship between language and identity in the urban setting.  The final two case studies in the volume address the evolution of urban languages in Africa. This rich set of chapters examine languages and speech communities in ten geographically diverse African urban centres, covering almost all regions of the continent.  Half involve Francophone cities, the other half, Anglophone.  This exciting volume shows us what the study of urban African languages can tell us about language and about African societies in general.   It is essential reading for upper level undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers in sociolinguistics, especially those interested in the language of Africa.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.