From I’m the One That I Want to Kim’s Convenience
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Hye Seung Chung
Abstract
In this chapter, I examine the “implicit yellowvoice performances” by Asian American and Asian Canadian performers as well as the racial implications of such performative acts. In particular, I pay close attention to Margaret Cho’s “Mom” persona in stand-up comic routines and Ins Choi’s “Appa” (Dad) character in Kim’s Convenience (played by Paul Sun-Hyun Lee in CBC’s sitcom adaptation of the play). Ultimately, I argue that while accents play a key role in dramatizing generational and cultural differences between immigrant parents and their assimilated children, the excessive use of exaggerated accents (faked by native speakers, members of speech outgroup) contributes to perpetuating “employment discrimination, anxiety about miscegenation, the necessity of misrecognition, mocking humor…and Orientalist cultural imaginings” (Ono and Pham, 2009).
Abstract
In this chapter, I examine the “implicit yellowvoice performances” by Asian American and Asian Canadian performers as well as the racial implications of such performative acts. In particular, I pay close attention to Margaret Cho’s “Mom” persona in stand-up comic routines and Ins Choi’s “Appa” (Dad) character in Kim’s Convenience (played by Paul Sun-Hyun Lee in CBC’s sitcom adaptation of the play). Ultimately, I argue that while accents play a key role in dramatizing generational and cultural differences between immigrant parents and their assimilated children, the excessive use of exaggerated accents (faked by native speakers, members of speech outgroup) contributes to perpetuating “employment discrimination, anxiety about miscegenation, the necessity of misrecognition, mocking humor…and Orientalist cultural imaginings” (Ono and Pham, 2009).
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- The pragmatics of accents 1
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Part 1. Ideologies of accents in national contexts
- Attitudes to accents 19
- Urban youth accents in France 41
- Encountering accented others – and selves – in provincial Japan 63
- ‘Could I have an appointment for a viewing?’ 85
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Part 2. Accents in second language education teaching and learning
- The pragmatic force of second language accent in education 117
- A lack of phonological inherentness 141
- English-language attitudes and identities in Spain 163
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Part 3. Accents in the media and the workplace
- From I’m the One That I Want to Kim’s Convenience 189
- Divine intervention 205
- In the ear of the beholder 229
-
Concluding remarks
- From sound to social meaning 247
- Index 263
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- The pragmatics of accents 1
-
Part 1. Ideologies of accents in national contexts
- Attitudes to accents 19
- Urban youth accents in France 41
- Encountering accented others – and selves – in provincial Japan 63
- ‘Could I have an appointment for a viewing?’ 85
-
Part 2. Accents in second language education teaching and learning
- The pragmatic force of second language accent in education 117
- A lack of phonological inherentness 141
- English-language attitudes and identities in Spain 163
-
Part 3. Accents in the media and the workplace
- From I’m the One That I Want to Kim’s Convenience 189
- Divine intervention 205
- In the ear of the beholder 229
-
Concluding remarks
- From sound to social meaning 247
- Index 263
