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Article published In:
Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 7:1 (2018) ► pp.68–88

Youth, language and urban public space

Where geography and linguistics meet

| Utrecht University
| Utrecht University

This paper presents an interdisciplinary study on the interface between young people, their language use, group belonging and urban space. Relevant literature from the fields of sociolinguistics and urban geography is reviewed and integrated, focusing on language, identity and place. The outcomes are based on on-site interviews and focus group meetings that were used to explore and explain the in-depth meanings of our assumption: language is a situated practice. Participants reported to adjust their language use to place ‘automatically’, indicating the awareness of unwritten norms. Furthermore, being in or out of place and adjustment of language use is merely a function of the presence of other people. It is concluded that the space where young people find themselves is crucial for physical and social distance between the self and others and, therefore, the way language is used.

Keywords: youth, identity, sociolinguistics, urban public space, group belonging
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework: Where urban geography and sociolinguistics meet
    • 2.1Language and the interface with identity and place
    • 2.2Place and the interface with identity and language
  • 3.Research design: Geographical context, methods and participants
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Language is situational
    • 4.2Communicative practices in public space
    • 4.3Intra- and intergroup relations
      • 4.3.1Intra-group relations
      • 4.3.2Intergroup relations
  • 5.Conclusions and future research
    • 5.1The future
  • References
Published online: 10 August 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dujal.17001.aal
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