Young people's language as a marker of group identity in multi ethnic encounters in an urban context.
Summary:
This research focuses on the complicated ways in which urban public spaces are used by groups of young people. Different groups claim territory and distinguish themselves from each other through their clothes or music, although we will be concentrating on the use of language and its relationship with ethnicity.
Data will be collected through interviews with and observations of members of various groups. By combining expertise from two different disciplines – sociolinguistics and urban geography – we hope to gain an understanding of how linguistics play a role in creating group identities in the context of public urban spaces

• dr. Irina van Aalst