Code-switching in Chicano Theater Print & Media Print & Media Code-switching in Chicano Theater: Power, Identity and Style in Three Plays by Cherríe Moraga Carla Jonsson Skrifter från moderna språk 17 Institutionen för moderna språk Umeå universitet 2005 Print & Media Institutionen för moderna språk Umeå universitet SE-901 87 Umeå Tfn. + 46 90 786 51 38 Fax. + 46 90 786 60 23 http://www.mos.umu.se/forskning/publikationer/ Skrifter från moderna språk 17 Umeå universitet ISSN 1650-304X Skriftseriens redaktör: Raoul J. Granqvist © 2005 Carla Jonsson Omslag: Michael Haglund. Inspirerat av Simón Silva. Layout: Print & Media, Ralf Elo Tryckt av Print & Media, Umeå universitet, 2005: 2000796 ISBN 91-7305-837-8 ISSN 1650-304X Print & Media Para Nancy, Tore y Michael con todo mi amor Print & Media Print & Media Table of contents Conventions of Typography, Transcription and Translations 13 Preface and Acknowledgements 15 1 Introduction 19 1.1 Introduction 19 1.2 Aims 22 1.3 Fieldwork and material 23 1.3.1 Material 24 1.3.2 Playwrights and theater groups 25 1.4 Theoretical perspectives 26 1.4.1 Linguistic anthropology 27 1.4.2 Critical applied linguistics 28 1.4.3 Poststructuralism 29 1.4.4 Postcolonialism 30 1.4.5 Feminist theory: Third World feminism and Chicana feminism 33 1.5 Limitations 36 1.6 Disposition of the thesis 37 Part I: The Chicano Context 2 The Chicanos/-as: Their History and Present Situation 38 2.1 Introduction 38 2.2 Defining the term Chicano/-a 38 2.2.1 A border culture 41 2.2.2 Hybridity, third space, nepantla and in-between-ness 45 2.3 Defining the terms Hispanic and Latino/-a 53 2.4 The history of the Chicanos/-as 55 2.4.1 The war between the US and Mexico 55 Print & Media 2.4.2 The Chicano movement 58 2.5 Present situation 59 2.5.1 Minority/majority: Linguistic minorities and minority languages 60 2.5.2 Ethnicity and Ethnic groups 62 2.6 Summary 66 3 Chicano Discourse and Its Significance as a Code 67 3.1 Introduction 67 3.1.1 Variety/dialect 67 3.1.2 Standard (legitimate)/non-standard 68 3.2 Defining Chicano discourse 72 3.3 The significance of Chicano discourse as an emblem of identity 76 3.4 Summary 77 4 Chicano Theater: Its History and Significance 78 4.1 Introduction 78 4.2 Defining Chicano theater 78 4.3 History of Chicano theater 79 4.4 Playwright Cherríe Moraga 83 4.5 The plays 86 4.5.1 Giving Up the Ghost 87 4.5.2 Heroes and Saints 87 4.5.3 Shadow of a Man 88 4.6 Audience 89 4.7 Summary 90 Part II: Code-switching and Code-mixing in Chicano Theater 5 Linguistic Focus: Language Contact Phenomena 91 5.1 Introduction 91 5.2 Research on code-switching: Main approaches 94 Print & Media 5.2.1 Research on code-switching in writing 97 5.3 Terminological discussion 99 5.3.1 Bilingualism 99 5.3.2 Language contact phenomena 101 5.3.3 Codes 101 5.3.4 Code-switching 103 5.3.4.1 Different types of code-switching 104 5.3.5 A code-switching – code-mixing continuum 106 5.3.5.1 Language-of-interaction 108 5.3.5.2 Local and global meaning 110 5.3.5.3 Nonce borrowings 113 5.3.5.4 Exclusion of forms 115 5.3.5.5 A middle position 116 5.3.5.6 Mixed code 117 5.3.6 Fused lects 122 5.3.7 We-code/they-code 123 5.4 Summary 128 6 Local Functions of Code-switching in the Plays 129 6.1 Introduction 129 6.2 Typologies: Advantages and limitations 130 6.3 Quotations 136 6.4 Interjections 142 6.5 Reiterations 150 6.5.1 Reiterations for emphasis 151 6.5.2 Reiterations for added meaning 156 6.5.3 Instructional (informative) reiterations 159 6.6 ‘Gaps’ 163 6.6.1 Spanish and Chicano words, phrases and expressions 166 6.6.2 Hybrid Chicano words 188 6.7 Word/language play 193 6.8 Summary 201 Print & Media 7 Global Functions of Code-switching and Code-mixing in the Plays 203 7.1 Introduction 203 7.2 Power relations: Domination, resistance and empowerment 204 7.2.1 (Language) ideology 205 7.2.2 Power: A Foucauldian perspective 209 7.2.3 The politics of language 212 7.2.4 Bourdieu: Language as an instrument of (symbolic) power 213 7.2.5 Bourdieu: Symbolic domination 217 7.2.6 Bourdieu: Symbolic marketplaces 223 7.2.7 Bakhtin: Dialogism, double-voicedness, monoglossia and heteroglossia 231 7.3 Identity construction 237 7.3.1 Identity and identification 237 7.3.1.1 Diaspora identification 242 7.3.2 Language and identity 243 7.4 Summary 248 8 Summary and Concluding remarks 250 8.1 Overall summary 250 8.2 Concluding remarks 254 9 Bibliography 256 Print & Media Conventions of Typography, Transcription and Translations Typographic conventions: In the examples, plain type is used to indicate American English, bold face type is added to highlight words in Spanish and hybrid Chicano words.1 Underlining indicates examples of Chicano discourse features (eg. underlying Spanish grammatical structures and alternative orthography in Spanish or English etc.).2 In order to be faithful to Moraga’s plays, I have left visual markers used in the text, such as, for instance, . (i.e. periods with a space between). These should not be confused with … and/or …. (i.e. periods without a space between) used when omitting passages from a quotation. Translations: My own free translations are offered in the right hand column after each example where Spanish or Chicano words occur.3 I have employed free translations, as opposed to word by word translations in an attempt not to dissect the text more than necessary. I have not changed non-standard grammatical forms. Instead, these have been left as the author wrote them. The aim of the translations is merely to make the Spanish words accessible to the non-Spanish-speaking readers and not to ‘standardize’ the English used in the texts. Eg. This is una fiesta muy This is a very fun party, don’t divertida, don’t you thin’? you thin’? 1 Concomitantly this distinction between regular and bold text serves to signal instances of code-switching and code-mixing. However, it is important to mention that Moraga (1994a, b, c) does not use extra-linguistic visual markers in the text to mark Spanish or Chicano words. 2 I have chosen to underline instead of using sic since I do not wish to distract the reader from the flow in the original text and, more importantly, I do not wish to mark these distinctions as mere mistakes. 3 If Spanish or Chicano words are used in a text without being examples, e.g. in quotations, the translation follows in a footnote. Print & Media Transcription conventions: In regards to transcription conventions, it has not been necessary for me to develop these in great detail since the extracts from my informants mainly are used as background information, i.e. not for linguistic analysis. In general, words have been transcribed as uttered by the informant, e.g. can’t, gonna etc. The mark-ups used in this thesis are the following: bold indicates Spanish [ ] empty brackets indicate unintelligible stretches of speech. [ays] brackets with a few letters indicate parts of words that were not pronounced by the informants, e.g. alw[ays]. [laughter] indicates laughter. Print & Media Preface and Acknowledgements Ever since my mother wisely sent me to a grocery store, in my home town in Sweden, to accompany my Spanish speaking abuelitos (grandparents) on a shopping expedition, I have experienced the advantages of being bilingual. At the age of four I captured the essence of being an interpreter. Since birth I have ‘lived’ bilingualism and still today I am fortunate to live in a bilingual home. For me bilingualism is a gift without equivalent, which has opened the door not only to foreign cultures but to people, to new friends and to new possibilities. With this experience I embarked on the journey that this thesis has entailed – academically, spiritually and geographically. My own positive experiences of bilingualism have served as the principal incentive to go forward with this investigation. However, my work could never have been done without the support and guidance of others. First of all, I want to thank my parents, Nancy and Tore Jonsson. Thank you both for your love, time and support that has made this and so much more possible. Thank you for always encouraging me in whatever I have wanted to do and for having instilled in me the feeling that almost anything is possible. Mami thank you for teaching me to appreciate the value of languages and for encouraging me to be me. Thank you for tirelessly listening, for always understanding, for teaching me about the magic in life and for continously showing me that love is the answer. Pappa thank you for inventing your own pappa-ledighet (parental leave) thus giving me time to grow and learn in your company. Thank you for all the qualities that I have acquired from you, among these: determination and perseverance, which have been indispensable throughout my thesis work. Your optimism, enthusiasm and energy inspires me! Michael, mi angelito de amor, thank you for all your love, for your encouragement, for insisting and for believing. For always being there for me, for following me wherever I need to go and for being the best possible ‘research assistant.’ I share this with you! Print & Media Mi familia in the US, in Peru and in Sweden deserves a special mention.