![]() ![]() One of the four strategies is euphemism-the use of obscene or scatological Spanish words in place of English equivalents (‘caca’ or ‘cojones’ to land a particularly comedic punch that ‘poop/shit’ or ‘testicles/balls’ may fail to achieve). By “indexical” strategies (Ochs, 1990), I mean that such language could implicitly “point to” a more offensive piece of communication that goes unspoken and unacknowledged-this is precisely what makes this variety of racism covert. For the sake of space, I’ll focus on three of these in the next two paragraphs. Hill explained that an example of Mock Spanish may involve up to four “indexical” strategies at once. This is much like the taking of more material resources-like land, as in a classic colonial example-where those who benefit from and enjoy this new “property” may quickly forget about its stolen origins all together. This humor necessarily involves an appropriation or re-claiming of language-a “type of theft,” a slight yet forceful shift in power where a piece of language is taken and used in ways for which it wasn’t originally intended (Hill 2008). Hill committed roughly two decades of research to show how Spanish-inspired humor thrives in otherwise monolingual English communication to this effect. “They do use Spanish, but in limited and specialized ways that support a broader project of social and economic domination of Spanish speakers in the region” (Hill, 1993, p. ![]() Hill’s examination starts from the idea that White Americans don’t necessarily “manifest some abstract zero degree of monolingualism” as so popularly imagined. Southwest, Hill would later argue that Mock Spanish has indeed enjoyed global appeal. While originating from research in the U.S. Hill explored “Mock Spanish” (see 1993, 2008) as a type of cosmopolitan, “with-it” linguistic expression that evokes a type of colloquial, carefree, humorous persona. In a similar vein, the late anthropologist Jane H. What is “Mock Spanish” and how does it support racism? Verbal, nonverbal, or environmental, these are the “brief and everyday slights, insults, indignities and denigrating messages sent to people of color by well-intentioned White people who are unaware of the hidden messages being communicated” (Sue, 2010). Racial microaggressions, first identified as such in 1970 by African-American psychiatrist Chester M. Yet, so much of racist language is often covert (hidden, implicit) in nature and does not necessarily register as racist by those who use such language to communicate. Racist language often uses words or turns of phrase to crystallize and undesirable stereotypes, for instance. In its usage, racist language “points to” categories of people seen as a threat or disruption to a dominant culture of Whiteness that organizes everyday society. In fact, one’s intentions have little to bear on the impact that a piece of language has in defining social order. If intentions are good, can language still be racist?Ībsolutely. In short: Language that is offensive, racist, and violent is the work of human beings who, through and in language, are practicing and committing offensive, racist and violent acts. 1), Laura Ahearn (2017) reminds us that words and language always live in social worlds and are products of those who interact and locate their identities within those worlds. To the point that humans “require language in order to be” (Butler, 1997, p. In order for such language to do its work, we must, as Judith Butler writes, believe that language possesses “a power to injure, and position ourselves as the objects of its injurious trajectory” (1997, p. Offensive and/or racist language takes many forms, and the weight of its impact lands in ways that speak volumes about those within earshot. Race, Racial Justice and Indigenous Language RevitalizationĪuthor: Adam Schwartz, Oregon State University Guidelines for Publishing in Applied Linguistics Indigenous Language Scholarship Support Fundĭistinguished Scholarship and Service Awardĭistinguished Service and Engaged Research Graduate Student AwardĪpplied Linguistics Events and Call For Proposals Fund for the Future of Applied LinguisticsĪn Open Letter Regarding Diversity in AAAL ![]()
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