“Moi je whitise jamais.” Accent, subjectivity, and the process of linguistic accommodation in a migratory and postcolonial context
Type de matériel :
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This article analyzes the role of subjectivity in phonetic accommodation processes of speakers in a migratory and postcolonial context. It uses the case study of a young adult migrant of Cameroonian origin, who is an activist belonging to a pan-African society in Paris. Subjectivity, the process of constructing the subject, is always marked by the “paradox of subjection” (Butler 2002), which involves tension between subjection and emancipation. Beginning with an analysis of phonostylistic variation in public interactions with a political aim, this article aims to show to what extent an accent functions as a locus of desire that is central in the subjectivation of the racialized subject and manifests a tension between the speaker’s desire to identify with the Other and his or her desire for singularization. This desire results in part from postcolonial power relations that constrain the speaker’s agency.
Réseaux sociaux