Leonie Cornips, born in Heerlen, the Netherlands, in 1960. Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam. Professor of ‘Languageculture in Limburg’ at Maastricht University and Researcher syntax/sociolinguistics at the Meertens Institute.
Fellow (1 September 2013 – 30 June 2014)
THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCAL IDENTITIES THROUGH LANGUAGE PRACTICES IN LIMBURG: ADDRESSING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ‘HOW’ AND ‘WHAT’ OF LANGUAGE VARIATION
Research Question
(i) Which theoretical concepts are most suitable to describe the processual character of language use, (ii) which linguistic forms are put in use in processes of the construction of local identities and (iii) which linguistic forms are considered as unique for Limburg?
Project Description
This project focuses on linguistic practices as the locus of identity formation. The project addresses the interrelated questions as to how local identities are shaped through language and cultural practices and how processes of local identity formation are driven by power asymmetries between people living in the centre and the periphery. Fieldwork like observing organized carnival is one of the methods to study whether a peripheral place as Limburg is imagined differently by its inhabitants and outsiders. Another case study involves a group of ex-coalminers who speak a mixed language.
Selected Publications
1) Cornips, L. & Rooij, V. de (2013). Selfing and othering through categories of race, place, and language among minority youths in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In P. Siemund, I. Gogolin, M.E. Schulz & J. Davydova (Eds.), Multilingualism and Language Diversity in Urban Areas: Acquisition, identities, space, education (pp. 129-164). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
2) Cornips, L. (to appear). Language contact, linguistic variability and the construction of local identities. In: Language contact and change. Grammatical structure encounters fluidity of language. Åfarli& Mæhlum (eds). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
3) Cornips, L., J. Jaspers & V. de Rooij (to appear). The politics of labelling youth vernaculars in the Netherlands and Belgium. Multilingual urban sites. Structure, Activity and Ideology. Nortier & Svendsen (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.