John Benjamins Publishing Company
Indexicality and iconization in Mock ing Spanish
Abstract
When we speak Mock Spanish, the relevant aspects of this practice are usually activated and acknowledged in terms of indexical connections to specific stereotypes regarding the Spanish language and its speakers. However, when we speak about “Mock Spanish”, in order to deconstruct such an indexical ideological presupposition and entailment, it is important to focus on the iconic features of this language, or better, of this linguistic practice. The aim of this paper is to investigate the complex network of sign-relationships that inform the linguistic and ideological phenomenon of Mock Spanish. The work by Jane Hill (1998, 2005) will be the main reference used to highlight the indexical meanings of this language and their ideological presupposition. Exploring its entailments, additionally, requires integrating the indexical aspect with the semiotic process of ‘iconization’ (Irvine and Gal 2000). Iconization between Spanish speakers and language – ideologically naturalized through an intertextual series of Mock Spanish – is a key element in the construction (and deconstruction) of the negative racial stereotypes of Spanish speakers and, inversely, of the White ‘hegemony’ in the public space. In conclusion, an overall understanding of Mock Spanish as a ‘metapragmatics’ (Silverstein 1993) will be useful to further analyze the issue of language ideology.
Abstract
When we speak Mock Spanish, the relevant aspects of this practice are usually activated and acknowledged in terms of indexical connections to specific stereotypes regarding the Spanish language and its speakers. However, when we speak about “Mock Spanish”, in order to deconstruct such an indexical ideological presupposition and entailment, it is important to focus on the iconic features of this language, or better, of this linguistic practice. The aim of this paper is to investigate the complex network of sign-relationships that inform the linguistic and ideological phenomenon of Mock Spanish. The work by Jane Hill (1998, 2005) will be the main reference used to highlight the indexical meanings of this language and their ideological presupposition. Exploring its entailments, additionally, requires integrating the indexical aspect with the semiotic process of ‘iconization’ (Irvine and Gal 2000). Iconization between Spanish speakers and language – ideologically naturalized through an intertextual series of Mock Spanish – is a key element in the construction (and deconstruction) of the negative racial stereotypes of Spanish speakers and, inversely, of the White ‘hegemony’ in the public space. In conclusion, an overall understanding of Mock Spanish as a ‘metapragmatics’ (Silverstein 1993) will be useful to further analyze the issue of language ideology.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Preface and acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. General framework
- The intricate dialectics of iconization and structuration 11
- The iconicity ring model for sound symbolism 27
- Iconicity as a key epistemic source of change in the self 47
- Indexicality and iconization in Mock ing Spanish 63
-
Part II. Symmetry
- Iconicity of symmetries in language and in literature 79
- Chiastic iconicity 103
- Tonal iconicity and narrative transformation 135
-
Part III. Visual and intermedial iconicity
- Władysław Strzemiński’s theory of vision and Ronald Langacker’s theory of language 155
- Iconicity for an iconoclast 173
- This is not a pipe 193
- Image superimposition in signed language discourse and in motion pictures 213
-
Part IV. Gesture and sign language
- Iconicity in gesture 245
- Where frozen signs reclaim iconic ground 265
- Recurring iconic mapping patterns within and across verb types in German Sign Language 289
-
Part V. Onomatopoeia and sound symbolism
- Echoes of the past 331
- The correlation between meaning and verb formation in Japanese sound-symbolic words 351
- The phonosemantics of the Korean monosyllabic ideophone ttak 369
- The iconicity of emotive Hijazi non-lexical expressions of disgust 389
- Author index 405
- Subject index 407
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Preface and acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. General framework
- The intricate dialectics of iconization and structuration 11
- The iconicity ring model for sound symbolism 27
- Iconicity as a key epistemic source of change in the self 47
- Indexicality and iconization in Mock ing Spanish 63
-
Part II. Symmetry
- Iconicity of symmetries in language and in literature 79
- Chiastic iconicity 103
- Tonal iconicity and narrative transformation 135
-
Part III. Visual and intermedial iconicity
- Władysław Strzemiński’s theory of vision and Ronald Langacker’s theory of language 155
- Iconicity for an iconoclast 173
- This is not a pipe 193
- Image superimposition in signed language discourse and in motion pictures 213
-
Part IV. Gesture and sign language
- Iconicity in gesture 245
- Where frozen signs reclaim iconic ground 265
- Recurring iconic mapping patterns within and across verb types in German Sign Language 289
-
Part V. Onomatopoeia and sound symbolism
- Echoes of the past 331
- The correlation between meaning and verb formation in Japanese sound-symbolic words 351
- The phonosemantics of the Korean monosyllabic ideophone ttak 369
- The iconicity of emotive Hijazi non-lexical expressions of disgust 389
- Author index 405
- Subject index 407
