Ethnic difference and language ideologies in popular Dominican literature: the case of Haitianized speech
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Silke Jansen
Abstract
In the vast amount of popular and folkloric literature which depicts everyday life in the rural Dominican Republic, Haitian characters are perpetually present. In particular, Juan Antonio Alix's (1833–1918) décimas contain humorous imitations of kreyòl speech and of Haitian's attempts at speaking Spanish. These linguistic representations will be the focus of this article. In contrast to previous studies on literary ethnic speech which tend to treat literary texts as original linguistic data (cf. especially Lipski 2005), we propose to analyze them as metalinguistic documents, under the assumption that (popular) literature functions as one of the sites where identities and representations of racial and cultural differences are negotiated and linguistic ideologies are generated, discussed and diffused. In light of the semiotic processes of iconization, fractal recursivity and erasure as proposed by Irvine and Gal (2000), we will examine how borders between ethnic, cultural and racial affiliations are drawn by means of literary stylization, in order to shed some light on the history of language policies and ideologies in Hispaniola.
©2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Munich/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Transnacionalidad e identidades lingüísticas en la frontera dominico-haitiana
- Representing and regimenting languages in a transnational setting: the case of the Haitian-Dominican border
- Ethnic difference and language ideologies in popular Dominican literature: the case of Haitianized speech
- The Haitian language: defying odds and opening possibilities
- Research Notes
- Challenges and opportunities for Haitian Creole in the educational system of post-earthquake Haiti
- Reflections inspired by a scholarly book on the Haitian Creole language and a good old-fashioned language debate
- Book Reviews
- Book Review
- New insights into the emergence of whiteness in Dominican national discourse
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Transnacionalidad e identidades lingüísticas en la frontera dominico-haitiana
- Representing and regimenting languages in a transnational setting: the case of the Haitian-Dominican border
- Ethnic difference and language ideologies in popular Dominican literature: the case of Haitianized speech
- The Haitian language: defying odds and opening possibilities
- Research Notes
- Challenges and opportunities for Haitian Creole in the educational system of post-earthquake Haiti
- Reflections inspired by a scholarly book on the Haitian Creole language and a good old-fashioned language debate
- Book Reviews
- Book Review
- New insights into the emergence of whiteness in Dominican national discourse
