EBONYI JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE
EJLLS Publication
EJLLS| Title: | Linguistic Fluidity and Identity Construction in University Students’ Discourse |
| Author(s): | Ifeoma OBUASI |
| Abstract: | Identity and its construction form a critical influence in linguistic investigations which calls for attention. This paper, based on this call, is an evaluation of how linguistic fluidity aids hybrid language formation in the bid to construct identities. It is a product of multilingualism of people from different and even mixed backgrounds trying to foster their identity in an esteemed environment – the University. The study investigates the make-up of the group for study with regards to gender and background among other.Looking at data from interviews and questionnaire, a corpus is drawn to show that fluid communication and identity construction is a part of the processes of language shift towards a hybrid. The study is carried out within the linguistic framework of Norman Fairclough (1995) and identity construction motives of Vignoles (2011). The Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is employed to examine the discourses thereby bringing the relationship between identity construction and linguistic fluidity to the fore with the resultant hybrid. Language is here constructed as identity identifier that assigns belongingness to members of a group even when such results in language shift. |
| Keywords: | language fluidity, students’ discourse, identity, belongingness |
