Encoding politeness in African urban youth languages: evidence from Southern Africa

Abstract African urban youth languages (AUYLs) often function as languages of resistance and “anti-languages”, establishing alternative semiotic spaces. In this paper, we analyse the encoding of politeness and respect in AUYLs, drawing on examples from Southern Africa, and show that they have complex systems of politeness marking, comparable to the matrix languages on which they draw. This includes different types of address forms, polite reference forms, and the use of avoidance language. There are lexical and morphological strategies to achieve politeness in AUYLs and these can be used to express both negative and positive politeness. The picture that emerges from this study is consistent with previous findings showing the structural complexity of AUYLs. However, the paper suggests that the presence of complex politeness marking in AUYLs may reflect the complex, and at times ambiguous, relation of AUYLs with established, mainstream norms.