Discourse Constructions of Youth Identities
Editors
This volume sets out to foreground the issues of youth identity in the context of current sociolinguistic and discourse research on identity construction. Based on detailed empirical analyses, the twelve chapters offer examinations of how youth identities from late childhood up to early twenties are locally constructed in text and talk. The settings and types of social organization investigated range from private letters to graffiti, from peer group talk to video clips, from schoolyard to prison. Comparably, a wide range of languages is brought into focus, including Danish, German, Greek, Japanese, and Turkish. Drawing on various discourse analytic paradigms (e.g. Critical Discourse Analysis, Conversation Analysis), the contributions examine and question notions with currency in the field, such as young people's linguistic creativity and resistance to mainstream norms. At the same time, they demonstrate the embeddedness of constructions of youth identities in local activities and communities of practice where they interact with other social identities and factors, in particular gender and ethnicity.
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 110] 2003. viii, 343 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
-
Discourse constructions of youth identities: IntroductionJannis K. Androutsopoulos and Alexandra Georgakopoulou | pp. 1–25
-
I. Peer group identities
-
Linguistic variation and the construction of social identity in a German-Turkish setting: A case study of an immigrant youth group in Mannheim, GermanyWerner Kallmeyer and Inken Keim | pp. 29–46
-
Nicknames and teasing: A case study of a linguistically and culturally mixed peer-groupVally Lytra | pp. 47–73
-
Looking back when looking ahead: On adolescents’ identity management in narrative practicesAlexandra Georgakopoulou | pp. 75–91
-
It’s not that I really care about him personally you know: The construction of gender identity in London teenage talkAnna-Brita Stenström | pp. 93–117
-
II. Recasting literacy practices
-
Emotion and youth identities in personal letter writing: An analysis of pictorial signs and unconventional punctuationKuniyoshi Kataoka | pp. 121–149
-
Spelling rebellionMark Sebba | pp. 151–172
-
‘Nike Trainers, My One True Love — Without You I am Nothing’: Youth, identity and the language of trainers for young men in prisonAnita Wilson | pp. 173–196
-
Constructions of identity in German hip-hop cultureJan Berns and Peter Schlobinski | pp. 197–219
-
III. Representations and positionings
-
Socio-cultural orientation, urban youth styles and the spontaneous acquisition of Turkish by non-Turkish adolescents in GermanyPeter Auer and İnci Dirim | pp. 223–246
-
Swedish youth discourse: On performing relevant selves in interactionCatrin Norrby and Karolina Wirdenäs | pp. 247–278
-
The youth and the gatekeepers: Reproduction and change in language norm and variationTore Kristiansen | pp. 279–302
-
Mediated experience and youth identities in a post-traditional orderLilie Chouliaraki | pp. 303–331
-
Index | pp. 333–338
“
Discourse Constructions of Youth Identities is an important contribution not only to our understanding of 'youth' as a social category, but also to current explorations of discursive constructions of social categories in general. The papers are full of rich ethnographic detail and fine-grained analyses of language practices across a wide range of sites and forms of discursive production, set within a theoretical framework linking conversation analysis, discourse analysis and ethnography.”
Monica Heller, University of Toronto, Canada
“This volume is a needed and highly qualified international presentation of the studies, of youth language in (post-)modern societies. An excellent group of scholars offer a range of insights into some of the most intriguing questions of social uses of language by contemporary youth. The adolescents in particular offer very useful data, which illustrate how, through language use, variation and creativity, they (re)construct their social and cultural world. This opens up opportunities for documenting the continuously and rapidly changing social conditions of finding,
establishing, or negotiating roles, places, and identities in the global village. This long-awaited and forceful publication will be a welcome contribution to our understanding of the role of language in social life.”
establishing, or negotiating roles, places, and identities in the global village. This long-awaited and forceful publication will be a welcome contribution to our understanding of the role of language in social life.”
Jens Norman Jørgenson, University of Copenhagen
“It serves as a valuable reader both for scholars of language and identity and for those interested in youth culture.”
Liwei Gao, Defense Language Institute, Foreign Language Center, USA, in Language Vol. 82:1 (2006)
“I recommend this book to researchers who appreciate good ethnography, collecting rich data from multilingual, multicultural and multi-ethnic settings coupled with detailed analysis on the micro-level combined with macro-level interpretation.”
Aleksandra Galasinska, University of Wolverhampton, UK, in Multilingua Vol. 23 (2004)
“This is an excellent book. It is certainly one of the best contributions to the wider adolescence literature from scholars of language and communication. [...] probably the greatest contribution made by this volume is its sophisticated handling of identity throughout.”
Crispin Thurlow
“Die Beiträge in 'Discourse Constructions of Youth Identities' leisten insofern einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Weiterentwicklung in der Jugend(sprach)forschung, weil sie eindrucksvoll die Konstruktion von ganz verschiedenen Identitäten zeigen. [...] Besonders positiv hervorzuheben ist auch die internationale Reichweite der Beiträge, weil dadurch Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede der Identitätskonstruktion über die Ländergrenzen hinweg herausgestellt werden können. [...] Man kann insgesamt sagen, dass es den Herausgebern mit dieser Auswahl methodisch, analytisch, thematisch und situativ sehr verschiedener Beiträge gelungen ist, einen umfassenden Überblick über 'Discourse Constructions of Youth Identities' zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts zu geben.”
Janet Spreckels, in Gesprächsforschung 5 (2004), Seite 14
Cited by
Cited by 57 other publications
Ameen, Maliha, Noshina Saleem & InamUllah Taj
2023. Investigating the Role of English as a Second Language in Supporting Career Development at Tertiary Level Education in Pakistan. VFAST Transactions on Education and Social Sciences 11:1 ► pp. 180 ff. 
Androutsopoulos, Jannis
2006. Multilingualism, diaspora, and the Internet: Codes and identities on German‐based diaspora websites1. Journal of Sociolinguistics 10:4 ► pp. 520 ff.
Androutsopoulos, Jannis
2006. Cultural Studies und Sprachwissenschaft. In Kultur — Medien — Macht, ► pp. 237 ff.
Androutsopoulos, Jannis
2008. Cultural Studies und Sprachwissenschaft. In Kultur — Medien — Macht, ► pp. 237 ff.
Archakis, Argiris & Sofia Lampropoulou
2009. Talking different heterosexualities: the permissive, the normative and the moralistic perspective — evidence from Greek youth storytelling. Discourse & Society 20:3 ► pp. 307 ff.
Archakis, Argiris & Angeliki Tzanne
2022. Constructing social identities through story- telling. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 341 ff.
Auzanneau, Michelle & Caroline Juillard
2012. Introduction. Jeunes et parlers jeunes : catégories et catégorisations. Langage et société n° 141:3 ► pp. 5 ff.
Auzanneau, Michelle, Malory Leclère-Messebel & Caroline Juillard
2012. Élaboration et théâtralisation de catégorisations sociolinguistiques en discours, dans une séance de formation continue. La catégorie « jeune » en question. Langage et société n° 141:3 ► pp. 47 ff.
Wendy Ayres-Bennett & John Bellamy
2021. The Cambridge Handbook of Language Standardization,
Beuter, Katharina
2024. Chapter 8. Positioning the self and other in English lingua franca interactions. In Self- and Other-Reference in Social Contexts [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 342], ► pp. 166 ff.
Bucholtz, Mary & Elena Skapoulli
2022. Introduction youth language at the intersection. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 1 ff.
Clark, Urszula
2019. Introduction: Language and Literacy Across the Secondary School Curriculum. In Developing Language and Literacy in English across the Secondary School Curriculum, ► pp. 1 ff.
D'Arcy, Alexandra
Galasińska, Aleksandra
2006. Border ethnography and post-communist discourses of nationality in Poland. Discourse & Society 17:5 ► pp. 609 ff.
Georgakopoulou, Alexandra
2006. Postscript: Computer‐mediated communication in sociolinguistics. Journal of Sociolinguistics 10:4 ► pp. 548 ff.
Georgakopoulou, Alexandra
2008. ‘On MSN with buff boys’: Self‐ and other‐identity claims in the context of small stories1. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12:5 ► pp. 597 ff.
Georgakopoulou, Alexandra & Katerina Finnis
2022. Code-switching ‘in site’ for fantasizing identities. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 467 ff.
Grant, Tim & Nicci MacLeod
2020. Language and Online Identities,
Hall, Geoff & Joanna Gavins
2004. The year’s work in stylistics 2003. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 13:4 ► pp. 349 ff.
Hambye, Philippe
2008. Des banlieues au ghetto. Cahiers de sociolinguistique n° 13:1 ► pp. 31 ff.
Harklau, Linda & Rhia Moreno
2019. The Adolescent English Language Learner: Identities Lost and Found. In Second Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education [Springer International Handbooks of Education, ], ► pp. 1 ff.
Harklau, Linda & Rhia Moreno
2019. The Adolescent English Language Learner: Identities Lost and Found. In Second Handbook of English Language Teaching [Springer International Handbooks of Education, ], ► pp. 601 ff.
Humphrey, Sally
2006. ‘Getting the Reader on Side’: Exploring Adolescent Online Political Discourse. E-Learning and Digital Media 3:2 ► pp. 143 ff.
Jaspers, Jürgen
2008. Problematizing ethnolects: Naming linguistic practices in an Antwerp secondary school. International Journal of Bilingualism 12:1-2 ► pp. 85 ff.
Johnsen, Ragni Vik
2021. ‘Then suddenly I spoke a lot of Spanish’ – Changing linguistic practices and heritage language from adolescents’ points of view. International Multilingual Research Journal 15:2 ► pp. 105 ff.
Johnsen, Ragni Vik
2022. “Quierojuksar en lajulaftenito” – Playfulness and metalinguistic awareness in translingual family interactions. Multilingua 41:1 ► pp. 57 ff.
Jones, Samuel Hunter
2009. The Textbattle and the Contention of Youth Identities Online: An Ethnographic Case Study1. German Life and Letters 62:1 ► pp. 96 ff.
Lahusen, Christian & Johannes Kiess
2020. The Diverging Presence of Youth in Public Discourse: A Comparative Analysis of Youth-Related Debates Across Countries and Issue Fields. American Behavioral Scientist 64:5 ► pp. 574 ff.
Laws, Jacqueline, Chris Ryder & Sylvia Jaworska
2017. A diachronic corpus-based study into the effects of age and gender on the usage patterns of verb-forming suffixation in spoken British English. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 22:3 ► pp. 375 ff.
Liu, Kaiwen
2021. Language choices as audience design strategies in Chinese multilingual speakers’ Wechat posts. Global Media and China 6:4 ► pp. 391 ff.
Lytra, Vally
2022. Constructing academic hierarchies. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 449 ff.
Madsen, Lian Malai
2008. Un Deux Trois – Speak English! Young Taekwondo-Fighters’ Identity Construction Through Linguistic Competition. International Journal of Multilingualism 5:3 ► pp. 197 ff.
Maíz Arévalo, Carmen
2020. Chapter 3. “Pero… y las caritas esas, ¿cómo se ponen?”. In Complimenting Behavior and (Self-)Praise across Social Media [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 313], ► pp. 73 ff.
Miller, Catherine & Jacopo Falchetta
2021. Standardization and New Urban Vernaculars. In The Cambridge Handbook of Language Standardization, ► pp. 713 ff.
Núñez Pertejo, Paloma & Ignacio M. Palacios Martínez
O'Boyle, Aisling
2013. Valuing the talk of young people: are we nearly there yet?. London Review of Education 11:2
Palacios, Ignacio M.
Palacios Martínez, Ignacio M
2013. Zero quoting in the speech of British and Spanish teenagers: A contrastive corpus-based study. Discourse Studies 15:4 ► pp. 439 ff.
Palacios Martínez, Ignacio M.
2021. Taboo vocatives in the language of London teenagers. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) 31:2 ► pp. 250 ff.
Palacios Martínez, Ignacio M. & Paloma Núñez Pertejo
2014. Strategies used by English and Spanish teenagers to intensify language. Spanish in Context 11:2 ► pp. 175 ff.
Peuronen, Saija
2013. Heteroglossia as a resource for reflexive participation in a community of Christian snowboarders in Finland. Journal of Sociolinguistics 17:3 ► pp. 297 ff.
Placencia, María Elena
2019. Qué perfección: Complimenting Behaviour among Ecuadorian Teenage Girls on Instagram. In From Speech Acts to Lay Understandings of Politeness, ► pp. 93 ff.
Queen, Robin
2004. ‘Du hast jar keene Ahnung’: African American English dubbed into German. Journal of Sociolinguistics 8:4 ► pp. 515 ff.
Rothoni, Anastasia
2019. The Interplay of Global Forms of Popular Culture and New Media in Teenagers’ Literacy Practices. In Teenagers’ Everyday Literacy Practices in English, ► pp. 107 ff.
Rothoni, Anastasia
2019. Peer-Group Membership and Youth Identities in “Translocal” Activity Spaces. In Teenagers’ Everyday Literacy Practices in English, ► pp. 143 ff.
Sadruddin, Munir Moosa
2017. Exploring Self-Identity of Youth in Pakistan and Germany: Identifying Pushing Buttons Towards Violence/Silence, and Suggest a Plan of Action. SSRN Electronic Journal
Stamou, Anastasia G.
2013. Adopting a Critical Discourse Analytical Approach to the Mediation of Sociolinguistic Reality in Mass Culture: The Case of Youth Language in Advertising. Critical Studies in Media Communication 30:4 ► pp. 327 ff.
Stratton, James M.
2020. Adjective Intensifiers in German. Journal of Germanic Linguistics 32:2 ► pp. 183 ff.
Tetreault, Chantal
2022. Reflecting respect. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 65 ff.
Tsolidis, Georgina & Vikki Pollard
2009. Being a ‘wog’ in Melbourne – young people's self-fashioning through discourses of racism. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 30:4 ► pp. 427 ff.
Van De Mieroop, Dorien
2011. Identity negotiations in narrative accounts about poverty. Discourse & Society 22:5 ► pp. 565 ff.
Van De Mieroop, Dorien
2022. Co-constructing identities in speeches. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 491 ff.
Van De Mieroop, Dorien & Marleen van der Haar
2008. Negotiating Identities in the Context of Social Work Goals: The Case of an Intercultural Institutional Interaction. Research on Language & Social Interaction 41:4 ► pp. 364 ff.
van de Weerd, Pomme
2019. “Those foreigners ruin everything here”: Interactional functions of ethnic labelling among pupils in the Netherlands. Journal of Sociolinguistics 23:3 ► pp. 244 ff.
WILSON, ANITA
2009. Literacy and Writing: Ideology in Practice. Reviews in Anthropology 38:4 ► pp. 290 ff.
Wood, Marcy B.
2013. Mathematical Micro-Identities: Moment-to-Moment Positioning and Learning in a Fourth-Grade Classroom. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education 44:5 ► pp. 775 ff.
Yuan, Zhou-min & Xingchen Shen
2021. Radio program hosts’ self-identity mobilization in Chinese radio-mediated medical consultations. Pragmatics and Society 12:3 ► pp. 390 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 16 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CFG: Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General