The joke is in the code: Paper presented at the Department of African Languages and Literature and the African Languages Research Institute International Conference 7-9 August 2017 (University of Zimbabwe, Harare – Zimbabwe)

Abstract

The paper explores the relationship between humor circulated via the social media and linguistic marginalization within the Shona language. The Shona language is an amalgamation of five dialects ‘unified’ by Doke (1931). This unification was however done using Zezuru as the standard. This elevated the status of Zezuru within the language vis-à-vis its dialect counterparts thereby attaining a position of linguistic superiority. Everyday retorts demanding that a person speaks in ‘proper’ Shona is one of this phenomenon’s manifestation in daily interpersonal interactions. Jokes sent via the WhatsApp social media platform reveal a sociolinguist situation in which humor is used to celebrate the superiority of one dialect over its counterparts, which are linguistically marginalised. The jokes revolve around issues of intolerance of allophonic variation, the principle of linguistic economy and proper pronunciation, among others. The study is couched on a conceptual framework the combines the Hostility theory and Critical Discourse Analysis.