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Pré-Publication, Document De Travail Année : 2020

Do Spoken Languages Distinguish Middle Class Milieus?

Résumé

This essay (primarly a master's thesis) aims to answer the questions if spoken languages distinguish middle class milieus in urban Kenya? It is based on sociological research focusing on the emerging middle class as well as linguistic approaches. Since 2013, a project of the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies has been researching rising middle class(es) in Africa with the aim to improve this often recited but insufficient class-analysis approach (cf. Neubert and Stoll 2015). Neubert and Stoll (2015) argue that due to sociocultural differences within the population there is also a horizontal distinction that becomes visible through the existence of milieus. For the analysis, I focus on two milieus in Nairobi that capture the same age-group but differ in terms of socioeconomic position, origin, and lifestyles: Young Professionals and Social Climbers. The data was collected during a three-month stay in Nairobi in 2019. They include observations and field-notes collected over sixty semi-structured recorded interviews and literature research. In order to answer my research question whether spoken languages distinguish middle class milieus, the illustrated cases show, that language and the self-accounts about them are used to distinguish middle class milieus. Languages are used for both—for creating belonging and for distancing oneself. Belonging to a specific group of people, for instance, can be observed by Social Climbers performing to speak English. Creating distance to other groups is shown by Young Professionals who neglect to name their way of speaking Sheng, in order to distinguish themselves from lower and less-educated classes and milieus. On a broader level, this study combines sociology and language research that do have the same roots but in recent time have rarely been reconnected. In addition, this study contributes towards the micro-meso-macro discussion within sociology and emphasizes the importance of microanalysis within meso and macro frameworks. Thus, by answering this research question, this study on a theoretical level calls for more holistic studies and emphasizes the importance of adding micro perspectives to meso or macro studies. For the strain of language study on the other side, it contributes toward multilingual research and provides an example of the complexity of language choices within a society that has more than one language.
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halshs-03995095 , version 1 (17-02-2023)

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  • HAL Id : halshs-03995095 , version 1

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Helena Merle Funk. Do Spoken Languages Distinguish Middle Class Milieus?: A Case Study on Accounts of Language Choices within two Social Milieus in Nairobi. 2020. ⟨halshs-03995095⟩
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