Out-group Phonological Markers and the Negotiation of Identity

This paper reports on an initial examination of the use of out-group linguistic forms by speakers in a multilingual speech community in Malaysia. It employs the poststructuralist model of identity, and within codeswitching research, considers the notions of contextualisation cues, accommodation and the practice of crossing as a conceptual framework and explanatory apparatus for the variation encountered. To obtain the significance of the linguistic behaviour, the analysis seeks to triangulate the perspectives of the analyst and the speakers, and to relate localised instances of talk to the overarching social context. By showing how multiple identities are created and negotiated in the course of talk, projected through particular ways of speaking, the analysis attests to language and particularly phonology as an active site for the construction of identity. The discussion also raises questions about whether the uses of out-group forms should be couched in derisory terms, or whether they are more plausibly viewed as a strategic resource, used to generate solidarity and a sense of collectiveness among speakers, thereby foregrounding the ideological link between language use and identity among members of a multilingual speech community.