Abstract
Straattaal (‘street language’) used by members of various ethnic
groups contains linguistic material from English and several heritage languages
with relatively many Sranan words. Moroccan Flavored Dutch (MFD) is Dutch
with elements from Moroccan languages on the level of pronunciation, lexicon
and/or grammar. Both Straattaal and MFD can be used by young Dutch-
Moroccans. The basic question is: How is the use of MFD and Straattaal by
Moroccan-Dutch females perceived within the Moroccan community in CMC?
Data were collected by searching posts on social media. Male and female young
Dutch-Moroccans comment negatively on Moroccan girls using Straattaal.
However, MFD is used too, even by the same participants, receiving little overt
attention. The use of and attitudes towards youth languages by females elsewhere sometimes differ from the Moroccan-Dutch context. Examples from
Algeria, Indonesia and Hong Kong show that they are used by both females
and men without overt negative connotations compared to Western Europe
where they seem to be used predominantly by males. A possible explanation
could be that there seems to be a gender restriction for varieties used as antilanguages (Halliday 1976), while youth varieties that mark socially upward
mobility can be used by both males and females.
groups contains linguistic material from English and several heritage languages
with relatively many Sranan words. Moroccan Flavored Dutch (MFD) is Dutch
with elements from Moroccan languages on the level of pronunciation, lexicon
and/or grammar. Both Straattaal and MFD can be used by young Dutch-
Moroccans. The basic question is: How is the use of MFD and Straattaal by
Moroccan-Dutch females perceived within the Moroccan community in CMC?
Data were collected by searching posts on social media. Male and female young
Dutch-Moroccans comment negatively on Moroccan girls using Straattaal.
However, MFD is used too, even by the same participants, receiving little overt
attention. The use of and attitudes towards youth languages by females elsewhere sometimes differ from the Moroccan-Dutch context. Examples from
Algeria, Indonesia and Hong Kong show that they are used by both females
and men without overt negative connotations compared to Western Europe
where they seem to be used predominantly by males. A possible explanation
could be that there seems to be a gender restriction for varieties used as antilanguages (Halliday 1976), while youth varieties that mark socially upward
mobility can be used by both males and females.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 26 |
| Journal | Applied Linguistics Review |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Special issue: Metalinguistic Discourse on Multilingual Urban and Youth Speech Styles and Linguistic PracticesGuest editors: Margreet Dorleijn and Jacomine Nortier