Youth language in Africa: Introduction to the special issue

This article introduces this special issue of Linguistics Vanguard which focuses on youth language practices in Africa. The study of youth language and the linguistic practices of youth in the African continent is a rich field that has been expanding and deepening in recent years. This special issue emerged from a collection of papers presented at a workshop during the International Congress of Linguists (ICL20) in Cape Town, July 2018. The articles that come together in this special collection showcase some of the most productive and fascinating aspects of youth language in Africa and demonstrate why this field is particularly relevant for sociolinguistics today. This introduction describes some of the key subfields in African Youth Language research. It also introduces the articles in the special issue, in relation to three main themes: the linguistic analysis of youth language; the relationship between youth language and identity; and individual creativity and stylistic choice.