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Interracial Panjabi in a British adolescent peer group1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

M B H Rampton
M B H Rampton
Affiliation:
Department of English Language & Linguistics, University College of Ripon and York St. John
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Abstract

Several sociologists have noted the emergence of syncretic multiracial youth cultures in Britain and addressed its political significance. Most discussion has focused on Afro-Caribbean influences, but this article considers Asian involvement by analyzing the use of Panjabi by black and white adolescents in a mixed peer group. Informant reports suggested that Panjabi crossing was common, though assessments varied according to its contexts of occurrence. Analysis of spontaneous speech reduced these to two: agonistic interactions, where Panjabi played an auxiliary role in familiar playground practices (primarily among males); and bhangra, in which predominantly white females looked toward a nascent youth culture with Panjabi at its core. Despite major differences, bilingual sponsors and nonconversational structures were crucial in both settings. Opposition to establishment hierarchy might be more a part of the interracial meaning potential of Creole, but Panjabi was important, both in managing the divisions that cross-cut youth community and in extending horizons beyond the confines of local neighborhood experience. (Ethnography of communication, ethnic relations, adolescent multilingualism, language contact, code-switching, second language learning)

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Articles
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Language in Society , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , September 1991, pp. 391 - 422
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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