Language contact, language mixing and identity: The Akan spoken by Ghanaian immigrants in northern Italy

Abstract

In this paper, it will be argued that the Akan spoken within the Ghanaian immigrant community in Bergamo is currently going through a transitional process that leads from code-switching to language mixing, as illustrated in Auer ((1999) From codeswitching via language mixing to fused lects: Towards a dynamic typology of bilingual speech. International Journal of Bilingualism, 3, 309–332). Analysis of excerpts drawn from a sample of face-to-face interactions, as well as formal interviews (comprising 27 hours of recordings in total), involving a selected group of Ghanaian immigrants in northern Italy will provide a useful starting point for discussing a distinguishing feature of the variety of Akan spoken by the above-mentioned immigrants – that is, the systematic insertion of English ‘chunks’ (e.g. single words or phrases) which do not appear to fulfil any pragmatic or discursive function. It will be argued that this ‘mixed’ variety of Akan is an expressive device of considerable importance within the community’s repertoire, which is regularly employed in informal spontaneous interactions not only by those community members who speak Akan as a lingua franca, but by Akan native speakers as well.

Alison Phipps &Rebecca Kay (eds.), Languages in migratory settings: Place, politics and aesthetics.London & New York: Routledge, 2016. Pp. v + 134.

“…In addition to the emotional problems experienced in the Italian school environment (in spite of some acts of resistance reported by the children), the article highlights the changed connotations of languages that migration brings about. As found in other studies (Guerini 2006), Ghana’s vernacular language, Twi, tends to disappear even from the family site, while Italian and also English are treasured by the parents as linguistic capital, especially in view of a more desirable move to an English-speaking country. In opposing the expectation that migrant children should adapt ‘unilaterally and effortlessly’ (63) to the host country, the article pushes for stronger recognition and support of migrant children’s multilingualism.…”

Codeswitching in West Africa

“…183-184; emphasis in the original) Swigart, Asilevi, and Forson-and indeed all of the authors we have cited thus far-have concerned themselves with codeswitching in West Africa. Guerini (2006Guerini ( , 2014, however, has extended the debate into the Africa diaspora. Examining Akan-English codeswitching among immigrants to Italy, she too argues that a mixed code is emerging.…”

Výkon bilingválnych jednotlivcov pri psychodiagnostickom vyšetrení kognitívnych funkcií v ich prvom a druhom jazyku

“…Pri transfere základný jazyk zostáva, iba niektoré slová sa nahrádzajú slovami z druhého jazyka. Guerini (2014) poukázal na to, že bilingválni jednotlivci v Bergame plynule prechádzajú od procesu prepínania kódov k miešaniu jazykov.…”

“…Preskúmali sme prepínanie v kontexte psychologického testovania a naše výsledky svedčia o tom, že prepínanie medzi každodenne používanými jazykmi zanecháva stopu vo výkone každej nami skúmanej kognitívnej funkcie. Napriek tomu, že bilingválni jednotlivci plynule prechádzajú od procesu prepínania kódov k miešaniu jazykov by bolo zaujímavé rozdeliť na výskumné účely tieto dva procesy a preskúmať výkon v prvom a druhom jazyku podľa toho, či jednotlivec častejšie prepína medzi kódmi alebo skôr mieša jazyky, pretože prepínanie kódov sa spája s lepšími jazykovými kompetenciami ako zmiešanie (Guerini, 2014;Navracsics, 2010).…”