The structure of Tsotsitaal and Iscamtho

Code switching and in-group identity in South African townships

Bibliographic Data

ID4816936
AuthorsSarah Slabbert, Carol Myers‐scotton, Carol Myers-Scotton
Year1997
Volume35
Issue2
Pages317-342
Publication date1997-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLinguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0024-3949 • E-ISSN: 1613-396X
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ling.1997.35.2.317
OpenAlexW2090902519
LanguageEN
Citations received15

This paper examines the structure of two varieties, Tsotsitaal and Iscamtho, that are spoken predominantly by males who live in the Black urban townships of South Africa. While many think that Tsotsitaal and Iscamtho lack predictable structure, this paper argues that all versions follow the same type of morphosyntactic constraints that structure code switching as well as playing a part in other language-contact phenomena. Data come largely from conversations recorded in Soweto, a major township outside Johannesburg. As in-group markers, the varieties are characterized by much slang and lexical variation across versions of the same variety. Tsotsitaal can be identified as a variety, or set of versions, with a nonstandard version of Afrikaans as its matrix language, while Iscamtho versions have a South African Bantu language - usually Zulu - as their matrix language. Issues considered include these: how are Tsotsitaal and Iscamtho similar and different from other language-contact phenomena; to what extent do their structures support the matrix-language frame model of Myers-Scotton (1993a)

Aesthetics · Code (set theory) · Code-switching · Geography · Group (periodic table) · Identity (music) · Linguistics · Physics · Programming language · Sociology · Anthropology · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy

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