Syncretic speech, linguistic ideology, and intertextuality
(Re)Presenting the Spanish translation of ‘Speaking Mexicano’ in Tlaxcala, Mexico
Jacqueline Messing | Georgetown University and University of Maryland-College Park & Escuela Xochitekali and Municipio de San Bernardino Contla de Juan Cuamatzi, Tlaxcala
Ramos Rosales Flores | Georgetown University and University of Maryland-College Park & Escuela Xochitekali and Municipio de San Bernardino Contla de Juan Cuamatzi, Tlaxcala
“Syncretism” describes the structural incorporation of indigenous languages like Mexicano (Nahuatl) from Central Mexico with majority languages like Spanish. Building on research of Hill and Hill (1986), and collaborations with local scholars including teacher Ramos Rosales Flores, We analyze a 1999 public linguistic event celebrating the Spanish publication of “Speaking Mexicano” in Tlaxcala. Syncretic Mexicano, so-called “mixed speech,” exists within a local ideological landscape in which legítimo Mexicano – true Mexicano – is an idealized, largely not-spoken form of the native language, free of Spanish. We analyze multiple ideologies and metadiscursive practices at this event. I (Messing) further explore interpretation of syncretism by locals, resident-scholars and outsider-scholars, adding intertextual complexity to the academic and local interpretations of purism.
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Meek, Barbra A.
2019.
Language Endangerment in Childhood.
Annual Review of Anthropology 48:1
► pp. 95 ff.
Messing, Jacqueline & Jennifer Roth‐Gordon
2019.
“For Jane, no language was ever alone”: A tribute to Jane H. Hill (1939–2018).
Journal of Sociolinguistics 23:2
► pp. 215 ff.
Hill, Jane H.
2014.
Looking Back, Looking Ahead.
Annual Review of Anthropology 43:1
► pp. 1 ff.
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