Revisiting antilanguage: cryptolects, the underworld and resistance identity
Revisiting antilanguage: cryptolects, the underworld and resistance identity

Summary/Abstract: This paper proposes an integrative model for the analysis of cryptolects which blends Halliday’s (1978) concept of antilaguage and Castells’ (2010) model for the construction of social identity. This integrative model of analysis is applied to youth varieties, in general, and to Camfranglais, in particular, with a view to establishing not necessarily whether these sociolects constitute antilanguages, but whether they correspond to the concept of antilanguage as advanced by Halliday. The ethno-linguistic data discussed in this paper clearly demonstrate that Camfranglais functions as an antilanguage through which its urban young speakers construct and project a resistance identity which opposes the expected norms imposed by the mainstream society.

• Details
• Contents