Writing as Performance
Writing as Performance
The article Texting Africa is an inspection of African multilingual practices from the perspective of sociolinguistics, and it focuses specifically on a fairly new phenomenon: texting. In brief, surveys of people who use the medium of texting more than average have shown that they tend to do so in multiple languages, and with multiple meanings. As the paper notes, people who are seen as good at texting are noted for their swift replies, and their ability to play with the languages that they use, indicating that they are capable of utilising various languages, and the cultural influences surrounding them.
The paper itself is divided up into various sections, all of which lead to a logical endpoint: the structure of the paper is that of an inverted pyramid, with the first two sections setting the scene of the paper in broad brushstrokes, and the following sections all circling around the main point, shedding light on it depending on the particular facet they are explaining. Because of this, the paper flows well, with the thesis being easy to understand.
One point that was particularly enjoyable was the focus on multiple linguistic points being a way for the texting person to interact with the culture which informed that language (Deumert & Lexander, 2013, 526). Since so much of our language use is informed by our own particular culture – think of how the use of various words has changed over even a period of twenty years, or how we are beginning to move into referring to all performers as ‘actors’ rather than differentiating between the sexes – it is good to see that this is represented in scholarly works.
Overall, Deumert and Lexander seem to have accomplished what they set out to do. They proposed that people who use the medium of texting in the modern day have to be at least somewhat fluent in a range of languages and cultures in order to truly be part of the growing culture that surrounds this method of communication. The paper itself is clear and methodical, and draws the reader logically through the process of research.
Reference
Deumert, A. & Lexander, K. V. (2013). Texting Africa: Writing as Performance. Journal of Sociolinguistics 17(4): 522-546.
