Urban Wolof across Borders

“Through the lens of linguistic ethnography, Urban Wolof across Borders offers a captivating linguistic journey, providing readers with a comprehensive exploration of the language dynamics among millions of Wolof speakers in Senegal and worldwide. Aziz possesses a unique ability to interconnect central macrolinguistic and microlinguistic aspects, expanding the limits of Wolof studies and paving the way for future research endeavours.” —Pedro Álvarez–Mosquera, University of Salamanca, Spain “This important book provides major new insights into urban Wolof, Senegalese transmigration andits impact on language practices. Breaking with the conventional approach of looking at these practices through the lens of codeswitching, Dieng shows how the Senegalese diaspora use a single linguistic repertoire that draws on many languages. His questioning of the very notion of codeswitching in the African context has significance that goes well beyond the specific case of Senegal and will be of great interest to those working in Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, African Diaspora Studies and Francophone African Studies. It is a truly fascinating read.” —Tony Chafer, Professor of African and French Studies, University of Portsmouth, UK This book takes urban Wolof beyond Senegal to consider the effects of mobility on language and examine how the diasporans engage in their daily language practices as transmigrants. The parallel between languaging and migrating underpins the author's argument, as he examines the dynamicity of languaging at both micro and macro levels, as speakers navigate across spaces and languages. Moving away from a code-based approach, the author makes a compelling case that the urbanite, rather than shuttling between codes, deploys instead idiolectal features from a unique linguistic repertoire which comprises at once semiotic, cognitive, and language features. His indigenous approach affords novel perspectives in linguistic ethnography and complements the Euro-Western methodologies. Aziz Dieng is a linguistic ethnographer and French teacher. He is a member of the Higher Education Academy.