In this study, English practices among multilingual refugees in Norway, Ida is part of a project exploring linguistic structures of and emic perspectives on English practices among newly-arrived multilingual Congolese refugees in Norway, who have had long transits in Uganda. A combination of phonological and ethnographic analyses are carried out on the data material collected within the refugees’ first two years in Norway.

 In this research project, syllable structures in situated English practices among seven of these refugees are examined acoustically. The findings reveal that the participants employ different strategies to make syllables better suited to Bantu phonotactics, e.g. [pitendedi] pretended, similar to strategies that have been reported in Ugandan English and African Frenches, respectively. The participants have grown up speaking several Bantu language, French and/or English, so their English practices cannot be explained through the concept of first language influence. Instead, Mufwene’s (2001; 2002) ecological approach, looking at statistical dominance of linguistic features in the ecology, better explain the refugees’ English practices.

This project is part of a longitudinal collaborative project called Language across time and space: Following UN-refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Norway, led by Prof. Guri Bordal Steien. Together they employ structural, cognitive, social and critical approaches to language practices and language learning among the same individuals. These are 12 Congolese refugees, who were all relocated to Norway by the UN in 2019, after 10-30 years in transit in Uganda.