Microvariation & Youth language practices in Africa

Microvariation and youth language practices in Africa is a research project funded by German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The project examines the morphosyntax of youth language practices in East, Central and Southern Africa.

University of Essex
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about The Project

Youth languages are widely thought of as sites of innovation and change. This project contributes to our understanding of youth languages by focusing on African youth language practices. We investigate young people’s linguistic creativity with special focus on morphosyntactic variation. This means we look at the ways in which speakers put together words and grammatical markers in innovative ways. In this project we focus on youth languages in the Bantu speaking area of Africa, in particular South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Dr Congo and Kenya.

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latest Activities

Data collection on the streets in Kitwe, Copper Belt, Zambia

Exploring Youth Language Practices on Tertiary Campuses and on the Street: Insights from Research Trips to Zambia and Malawi

In November 2024, Dr Elvis ResCue made a folllow up research trip to Zambia where he worked with our project colleague from the University of ...
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Workshop, advisory board meeting and team meeting Essex

Workshop, advisory board meeting and team meeting at the University of Essex in May/June 2024

Workshop, advisory board meeting and team meeting at the University of Essex in May/June 2024 On the ...
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Research Trip Zambia and Malawi

Research Trip to Johannesburg (South Africa) and Bulawayo (Zimbabwe)

To follow-up with and finalize research on youth language practices in South Africa and Zimbabwe, I went on a research trip to Johannesburg and Bulawayo ...
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Our Partners

Crucial to the project is the involvement of and close collaboration with our partners