Language Ideologies in Music: Emergent Socialities in the Age of Transnationalism
The aim of this publication project is to bring together studies of language ideologies in the context of popular music. Language ideologies can give an intricate understanding of linguistic affiliation in an age of transnationalism, where apriori categorisations – among them the native speaker, language and the speech community – cannot be taken for granted (Blommaert & Rampton 2011). Compared to ethnic or national contexts, social ties in popular music cultures are less institutional and therefore less naturalised. Their ubiquitous, globally marketised nature promises inspiring insights into the role of language and discourse in the emergence of territorial and non-territorial socialities. We approach language and community as socio-cognitive categories, emerging in social interaction that determines and is determined by language use, language acquisition practices, linguistic identification and the creation of new linguistic forms. Discourses impacting on the either the creation of fixity, normativity and authenticity, or on constructions of difference, fluidity and hybridity, and their interactions, are here of prime interest (cf. Pennycook 2010, Otsuji and Pennycook 2010). Previous research that has focused on language and music gives valuable insight, predominantly into identification strategies and linguistic hybridity in musical-linguistic forms (e.g. Alim & Pennycook 2008, Terkourafi 2010). The aim of this publication project is to analyse the discursive base of the formation of new socialities which we aim to illustrate with evidence from music contexts.
In the complex cultural practices in music, people develop global and at the same time often very local forms of belonging, grounded in varied forms of music, sound and language from many different places. Taking a holistic approach, the volume will present case studies of different settings and musical styles from around the world, such as Sheng in Genge music, Pacific reggae, Philippine creole rap or Caribbean reggae. These allow a view on how linguistic resources are reiterated or appropriated as to newly form or reconstruct social stances, leading to local affiliation, global resistance, style positioning and/or the construction of new and old ethnicities.
We welcome papers on any of the following kinds of topics:
• Case studies on the intersections of language ideologies and music
• Theoretical approaches to emergent socialities in musical contexts
• Interactions of paralinguistic, linguistic (phonological, semantic, syntactical, …) and musical indexicalities
• Construction of social styles through the reinforcement, resistance or reappropiation of the links between language and discourse of different social actors
• Discourse trajectories and practices of reiteration in connection to global/local flows and global/local fixity
• Language and language ideologies in the creation of socio-cognitive categories of belonging
As soon as we have a clear idea about the number of contributions we will enter into discussions with interested publishers. We expect papers to be in English and between 8000 and 14000 words (or 20-35 pages). The papers will be peer-reviewed by external reviewers and the editors.
Expressions of interest, titles and abstracts should preferably be sent in electronic format to the following address by March 1: sippola@uni-bremen.de
Deadlines:
• March 1, 2015: Expression of interest and a title and abstract for a proposal.
• September 1, 2015: First versions of full papers.
Editors: Carsten Levisen (Aarhus U, Roskilde U) Britta Schneider (FU Berlin) Eeva Sippola (U Bremen)
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