Copyright by Qiuana La’teese Lopez 2012 The Dissertation Committee for Qiuana La’teese Lopez Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: White Bodies, Black Voices: The Linguistic Construction of Racialized Authenticity in US Film Committee: Patience Epps, Supervisor Lars Hinrichs, Co-Supervisor John Beavers Elaine Chun Megan Crowhurst Lisa Green Sonja Lanehart White Bodies, Black Voices: The Linguistic Construction of Racialized Authenticity in US Film by Qiuana La’teese Lopez, A.A.; B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2012 Dedication For my mom who always believed in me. Rest in Peace. Acknowledgements I would like to begin by thanking the many (and I do mean many) members of my committee for helping me through what someone once called the first unofficial book of my academic career. I first thank Lisa Green who inspired me to start studying black speech. Her book, African American English: A Linguistic Introduction, which I used in the first class I designed and taught, is what started me on this journey. The chapter on African American English in the media encouraged me to look further into the uses of black speech by white characters. I also thank Sonja Lanehart who began to mentor me once Lisa moved to another state. Without her willingness to read rough drafts of conference papers and to travel in order to meet with me at restaurants in between Austin and San Antonio my progress on this project would have stagnated. Both of these women are examples of the type of scholar I aspire to be. I am grateful to both Lars Hinrichs and Patience Epps, who both were added to my committee later in the writing process, but ironically became my co-advisors. When Lars agreed to be an advisor, he brought with him the energy and sociolinguistic knowledge to help motivate me to completion. He also worked hard to get insight from scholars in other areas such as race and film theory by sending them my work and arranging meetings with us. By agreeing to be an advisor, Pattie became a lifesaver. Although she spent a brief time on my committee, her readiness to read my draft and provide comments was invaluable. I am appreciative of John Beavers and Megan Crowhurst for agreeing to be a part of my committee and asking critical questions and expressing theoretical concerns about my research. Lastly and most importantly, there is Elaine Chun. Any words that I use to describe the gratitude I feel toward Elaine do not truly capture it. Her expertise of v mocking practices, on language and race, and on social practices in general, is why I asked her to be a part of my committee. However, the hours she generously spent discussing the characters, theories, and organization of my dissertation went beyond the call of duty. I learned more from those conversations than many of the classes I have taken. A good portion of my dissertation comes as result of answering thought- provoking questions raised by her. I also thank Mary Bucholtz who although not an official member of my committee has greatly influenced my dissertation as well as my professional life. Ian Hancock deserves a special mention for being a part of the early stages of my dissertation committee and for being a good friend. I further extend a sincere “thank you” to my two undergraduate researchers Jacob Sims and Virginia Williams who spent much time watching and transcribing a good amount of the films in my study. Thanks to Lynda de Jong Boudreault, my editor and friend, and to those in the department who have helped me in a myriad of ways. These include but are not limited to: Richard Meier, Leslie Crooks, Benjamin Rapstine, and Gina Pollard. I want to show appreciation to my family and friends. I am grateful to Stacy Chen, Gabriela Garcia, and Emile Destruel-Johnson for coming together to form a brief but useful dissertation reading group, which helped me in the early stages of the writing process. I would also like to mention Sarah Wagner and Kate Shaw Points, the only other sociolinguists in the department and Jessica White-Sustaita, who was the only other student of black language. They were kind enough to attend practice talks and read abstracts and fellowship applications. Additionally, I would like to express the heartfelt gratitude I feel toward Montgomery Stewart whose calming effect always brought me down from the frenzy I would get into during this stressful process. I will also never forget the following people who made my time here in Austin more enjoyable: Justin vi Mcintosh and Eric Campbell who made up the 5-2-5 crew, Adam Hammick, Shawn Chang, Cynthia Weber, Hyun-Jong Hahm, Ramon Guerrero, Udelle Robinson, Madlene Hamilton, Stephanie Villard, Theresa Cole, and Lynn Hou. Finally, I would like to give credit to my mom and dad for helping me realize that I can do anything I set my mind to and to my cousin Tanaya Gainey who sent a text message of encouragement almost everyday during the month before I submitted my dissertation to my committee. I would also like to express my appreciation to George Lopez whose support throughout my entire college experience is immeasurable. vii White Bodies, Black Voices: The Linguistic Construction of Racialized Authenticity in US Film Qiuana La’teese Lopez, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin 2012 Co-Supervisors: Patience Epps and Lars Hinrichs By examining the range of stances that white characters in Hollywood films are represented as taking in relation to blackness, this dissertation considers the question of how language becomes ideologically linked to categories of race through linguistic representations. Through an analysis of 59 films (1979-2008) from multiple genres, this study focuses on the linguistic practices of the characters that contribute to larger semiotic practices performed by discernible social types. The first linguistic practice, crossing, plays on the stereotype of the inauthentic, white male, who tries to gain coolness through linguistic representations of African Americans. The second practice, passing, conjures images of blackface because in addition to using linguistic representations of African Americans, the passing characters darken their skin. By demonstrating complex links between language and social meanings such as ideologies about authenticity, identity and racial and gendered stereotypes, these films use linguistic features along with other visual and physical semiotic displays to both construct and comment on black and white authenticity. viii Specifically, crossing was found to comment on disseminated images of the young, white male as lacking a particular type of masculinity and sexuality and overcompensating for them by imitating widely circulating images of the hypermasculine, hypersexual and hyperphysical black male. In addition, it commented on the tendency to read this linguistic practice as inauthentic. Therefore, the social meaning of the white linguistic representations of African Americans used when crossing was found to be related to authenticity or who had the right to use ethnically-marked linguistic features. On the other hand, passing was argued to communicate the ideologies that some whites may have of African Americans, particularly African American men. The linguistic resources utilized in these performances are not used to form identity, but for humor and to distance the character from being read as traditional minstrelsy. By highlighting some of the linguistic strategies that speakers in Hollywood use to (re)produce not only indexical links between linguistic forms and racialized stereotypes but also ideologies about racial authenticity, this dissertation provides an empirical study of some of the semiotic practices that involve the re-indexicalization of minority vernacular resources by members of the majority. ix Table of Contents List of Tables ....................................................................................................... xiii List of Figures ...................................................................................................... xiv List of Illustrations .................................................................................................xv Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................1 1.1 Theoretical Approach ................................................................................2 1.2 Overview of Dissertation ..........................................................................8 Chapter 2: A Review of Authenticity, Performance and Style ................................9 2.1 Style ..........................................................................................................9 2.1.1 First Wave ...................................................................................10 2.1.2 Second Wave ..............................................................................13 2.1.3 Third Wave .................................................................................14 2.2 From identity to practices of identification .............................................15 2.2.1 Performativity and Acts of Identity ............................................15 2. 2.1.2 Acts of Identity ..............................................................16 2.2.2 Performance ................................................................................19