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Bordering on National Language Varieties: Political and linguistic borders in the Wolof of Senegal and The Gambia

Mitsch, Jane F
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2877-6188
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1451114927

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Linguistics.
Political borders can act as powerful instruments of inclusion and exclusion, and language can often be used to reinforce the social reality of borders (Boberg 2000, Auer 2005, Llamas 2007, Watt & Llamas 2014). This dissertation explores the way Wolof speakers’ ideologies, practices, and sociolinguistic variation help shape a political border. Sociolinguistic studies have shown the potency of political borders (and national identities) in shaping the linguistic landscape in the English-speaking world (Boberg 2000, Llamas 2007, Watt & Llamas 2014) as well as in the Germanic-speaking world (Auer 2005, de Vriend 2008). These studies illustrate how political borders can be reinforced by linguistic borders and how they can play a role in language change. But these studies have focused on predominantly monolingual areas in Europe and North America. In this dissertation I use ethnographic and sociolinguistic methods to examine the way border interaction, national orientation, and Wolof language use interact in four communities immediately adjacent to the political border. Following sociolinguists like Britain (2013) and Johnstone (2004), I adopt a framework in which places and spaces are socially constructed through the practices and routines (linguistic and otherwise) of local inhabitants. The political border that separates Senegal and The Gambia is a relic of colonial history, formerly separating a French colony from a British colony, but the same borders continue to separate two independent nations, Senegal and The Gambia. Along with the colonial boundaries, these two independent nation-states have maintained as official languages French and English, respectively. Prior to becoming a borderland, this area was part of an indigenous kingdom known as Saloum. Saloum is (unofficially) recognized today as a Wolof-speaking territory and a Wolof variety. Exploring the linguistic and social practices of the borderland inhabitants allows a localized perspective of how language, place, and borders are constructed from the periphery. By studying the routines, ideologies and linguistic patterns of speakers in this area, I examine how the border influences social and linguistic practices of Wolof speakers in this borderland where historically unified local identity (Saloum) is shared, but nationality (Senegalese and Gambian) is divided. Living in this border area and engaging in participant observation for nine months in 2013, I collected 64 sociolinguistic interviews in four different communities on both sides of the border, including both urban and rural sites on both sides. Using linguistic variables associated with different levels of grammar, I assess to what degree the political border also constitutes a linguistic border. Through the lens of the local social and linguistic practices, I focus on how the border is constructed and/or subverted. The results show a complex relationship between linguistic variables, cognitive space, and local versus national orientations. In order to better understand how a border may become a source for linguistic divergence between borderland communities, I examined variables from three levels of Wolof grammar: phonetic, morphosyntactic, and lexical. While each variable had a slightly different pattern in the way borderland speakers use its variants, it became clear that none of the features categorically contribute to a linguistic border. For each feature, there are varying degrees of overlap for different segments of the population. The phonetic features and the lexical features are part of a gendered construction of nationality (and modernity) versus traditional locality while the morphosyntactic variable is linked to mobility and contact with the Gambian capital. This study reveals that ideologically, the borderland (and the boundary) can represent different things to different borderland inhabitants. It also shows, more importantly, that a linguistic border is not an automatic reflex of a political border, but that speakers’ linguistic practices can reflect a range of local identities.
Brian Joseph (Advisor)
Donald Winford (Committee Member)
Cynthia Clopper (Committee Member)
Fiona McLaughlin (Committee Member)
Mark Moritz (Committee Member)
232 p.
Linguistics
sociolinguistics; borders; ethnography; Senegal; The Gambia

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Mitsch, J. F. (2016). Bordering on National Language Varieties: Political and linguistic borders in the Wolof of Senegal and The Gambia [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1451114927

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Mitsch, Jane. Bordering on National Language Varieties: Political and linguistic borders in the Wolof of Senegal and The Gambia . 2016. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1451114927.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Mitsch, Jane. "Bordering on National Language Varieties: Political and linguistic borders in the Wolof of Senegal and The Gambia ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1451114927

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1451114927
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.