Contouring and Blurring of Linguistic Human Categorization: Rwandan or Burundian? (B02)

• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 442261292

The focus of the project lies on the indication of language borders and national belonging in Central Africa. The colonial demarcation of borders turned two closely-related languages in Rwanda and Burundi into separate linguistic entities. Yet, more recent waves of migrants to neighboring Uganda reveal the actual ambiguity of boundaries between the languages: Whenever needed, these can be accentuated or levelled by speakers – whereafter national borders no longer correlate with creative and hybrid language practices of migrants and transients. The project thus investigates: How do speakers highlight or conceal linguistic difference and which new and fluid affiliations emerge in the process?

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1482: Studies in Human Categorization
• Applicant Institution: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Nico Nassenstein