Straattaal

This article shows how dominant negative stereotypical ideas of 'straattaal' and its speakers are constructed and reproduced. The article also shows how, within particular contexts, these ideas may be subject to renegotiation. Data for this article were collected during fieldwork in Amsterdam-East; they consist of selected fragments from interviews with a youth worker and observations of interactions between this youth worker and 'straattaal' speaking youngsters. The analysis of the data shows that the prominence of the negative stereotypical ideas held by the youth worker varies across interactional situations. The value and interpretation of 'straattaal' is highly context-dependent and the use of 'straattaal' may, therefore, signal strongly diverging social 'messages'.