From ibharu to amajoin: translocation and language in a new South African township

The ongoing migration from the rural areas of South Africa to its cities is exerting strong influences on the language practices of the young, as they learn to cope with new living spaces where languages and cultures converge. Drawing on the theories of transcultural and transidiomatic practices (Jacquemet, 2005; Pennycook, 2007), this article looks at the attitudes and language practices reported by one group of teenagers in a newly integrated working-class township which forms part of Cape Town, South Africa. In evaluating their changing language practices, the article takes into consideration the impact of the exact part of the city where their families have settled, continued links with the rural heartland and the schools to which parents choose to send their children.