ERIC Number: EJ1215823
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1747-7506
EISSN: N/A
Multilingualism and Language Practices of Nigerien Migrants in Ghana
Amuzu, Evershed Kwasi; Nutakor, Yvonne Eyram; Amfo, Nana Aba Appiah
Current Issues in Language Planning, v20 n4 p389-402 2019
This paper aims at examining language socialisation practices of members of two groups of migrants of Nigerien origin living in Ghana, i.e. Tamasheque-speaking beggars in Accra and Hausa/Zambarima/Buzu-speaking hawkers at the Akuapem Ridge. We examine the migrants' language practices in various domains, such as work and home, interrogate whether such practices reflect the level of socioeconomic integration they experience and ascertain the role that members of the host communities play in their language socialisation. The Communities of Practice (CofP) framework, an ethnographic approach (which involves long-term observation and unstructured recorded interviews) is employed in the collection of data on the migrants' language practices. However, two sets of data, from questionnaire surveys in Accra and the Akuapem Ridge, were collected to help describe these host communities' language practices, which the migrants are expected to encounter. Batibo's triglossic structure model was relied on in conducting those surveys and in interpreting the data. This study finds that there is strong correlation between a migrant group's socioeconomic integration and their sociolinguistic integration: while adult Tamasheque-speaking beggars are generally unable to learn any new languages in Ghana because they choose to remain marginalised, their children, who are the ones who beg and are the bread winners, as well as the hawkers, who sell wares roaming streets along the Ridge, typically get to learn at least Akan, the dominant local language of their host communities.
Descriptors: Socialization, African Languages, Poverty, Language Usage, Ethnography, Foreign Countries, Work Environment, Family Environment, Communities of Practice, Dialects, Second Language Learning, Disadvantaged, Parent Child Relationship, Immigrants, English (Second Language), Adults, Children
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Ghana; Nigeria
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A