<<Link to Paper Here: https://rdcu.be/dstyR>>
This analysis examines an archaeology of statal ... more <<Link to Paper Here: https://rdcu.be/dstyR>>
This analysis examines an archaeology of statal narratives as they relate to the multilingual linguistic milieu of the Philippines since independence at mid-20th century. Critical transformations to statal narratives linked to language over the last century have been shaped by interacting, sometimes competing discourses, deriving from a paradoxical mix of influences: on one hand, contemporary narratives of language have been shaped by modernist discourses focused on the unification of the nation through language, but more recently, these discourses have shifted to focus also on the possibilities of figuring local and regional languages in pragmatic terms that index an increasing orientation to preoccupations inherent in discourses of late modernity. In late modern contexts, discourses of multilingualism and multiculturalism in the Philippines have been intertwined with ideological orientations that promote regional peace, cooperation, and economic growth in part informed by the country’s involvement in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), where the recognition and maintenance of the multilingual and multicultural character of participating nations are framed as key mandates. By examining the emergence and transformation of discourses from modern to late modern ones at the level of the statal narrative, this analysis sheds light on emergent forms of nationalist narratives focused on both the instrumental value of global languages such as English, but also the valuation and figuration of local and regional languages in new ways and the contentious processes in history though which these discourses have taken hold.
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Philippine archipelago transitioned from nearly 400 yea... more At the turn of the twentieth century, the Philippine archipelago transitioned from nearly 400 years of colonial occupation under the Spanish to imperial occupation under the Americans. This analysis interrogates the dynamics through which the heterogeneous languages of the Philippine archipelago were maintained alongside state-sanctioned languages that over time came to create and sustain various forms of consciousness potentiated around the nexus of language. Using a theoretical foundation that intertwines Gramsci and Bakhtin's understanding of the heteroglossic nature of language, the ways in which the interanimation of languages emerges as a potential site for the realization of certain forms of political consciousness is explored. This analysis interrogates the tensions emergent in forms of discourse linked to the question of language that gave rise to the contemporary linguistic situation in the Philippines today, both "from above" as well as "from below" at the fin de siècle.
This analysis interrogates one of the most highly recognizable, but little understood metalinguis... more This analysis interrogates one of the most highly recognizable, but little understood metalinguistic descriptors of language in the contemporary Philippine linguistic scene: the concept of "deep language. " Here, "deep language" is explored as a complex, polysemous term generally used to describe homegrown conceptualizations of "pure" forms of Philippine-type languages and speakers. The contemporary understanding of "deep language" in the Philippines is theorized to have been informed by a complex combination of folk and academic discourses that have percolated throughout shared ideologies and conceptualizations of language since national independence at mid-20th century. The metric of "depth" in the analysis of language is shown to function centrally as a conceptual metaphor that enables everyday speakers to theorize person-types and the passage of time in a folk chronotope reckoned through the sign of language.
Everyday speakers of the minority language of Ilocano in the Philippines often hold many ideologi... more Everyday speakers of the minority language of Ilocano in the Philippines often hold many ideological projects in their minds simultaneously; these become particularly productive and apparent in the linguistically regimented space of the classroom. Here, students and teachers work together to mutually construct a distinct sense of ethnolinguistic identity through critical codeswitching practices from "other tongues" to the "mother tongue." The central frame of doing school is primarily constructed linguistically through the use of the licensed codes of English and/or Filipino. The frame of the classroom space may undergo temporary transformation through the invocation of the keys of discipline and play, dialogically marked through the switch into the mother tongue of Ilocano. In the highly regimented space of the classroom, salient possibilities for the bracketing of distinct ethnolinguistic identities are engendered by the discursive and structural effects brought about by codeswitching.
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2020
The present analysis interrogates the ways that American educators and bureaucrats at the turn of... more The present analysis interrogates the ways that American educators and bureaucrats at the turn of the twentieth century conceptualised the project of nationalism and modernity in the newly annexed nation of the Philippines through the trope of 'linguistic unification'. These robust ideologies of language arose from the perception that national progress and democracy were centrally achievable through a shared linguistic code, arising from Enlightenment concepts of nationhood imported from Europe and subsequently figured in the uniquely American framework of exceptionalism, expansionism, and economic logics framed in the political and religious concept of 'benevolent assimilation'. Focusing attention on a series of documents written by American teachers and administrators during the transitional time of the Insular Government from 1900 to 1916, the details of the ideological foundations of the role of English in the Philippines is explored.
This article describes and analyzes the form and function of the term 'nosebleed' as it is used b... more This article describes and analyzes the form and function of the term 'nosebleed' as it is used by speakers in the contemporary Philippine linguistic scene. 'Nosebleed' operates as a metapragmatic, semiotic stance marking device used to bracket various kinds language/s in relation to concepts of high sociocultural value in the archipelago: local concepts of the commensurability of language-and person-types, and culturally-enregistered joking styles that mitigate hiya, or 'shame' in interaction. This analysis draws from popular discourses to outline the ideological foundations of the term and goes on to examine its social and linguistic effects to theorize the ways that homegrown metapragmatic tools such as 'nosebleed' can shape varieties of language over time.
The Social Dynamics of Pronominal Systems: A Comparative Approach, 2019
This analysis explores the complex existential relationship that multilingual speakers in the Phi... more This analysis explores the complex existential relationship that multilingual speakers in the Philippines forge between sign (language) and object (ego) when referring to themselves in Taglish using both the first-person pronouns, I (English) and ako (Tagalog) in single tweets. Bringing together complementary analytical approaches on pronouns, codeswitching/mixing, and voice, this analysis explores the ways in which the self can be dynamically constituted in the dialogic interplay of first-person pronouns in English and Tagalog on the social media platform of Twitter. Data explored in this chapter help to investigate the philosophical question of whether I and ako operate in a one-to-one existential relationship with the ego and to examine the complex ways that languages dynamically interact with one another to construct complex, kaleidoscopic selves.
The International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology, 2021
Cursing and swearing constitute a special genre of linguistic and cultural performance that may f... more Cursing and swearing constitute a special genre of linguistic and cultural performance that may fall under the general heading of maledictive language. Key theoretical observations drawing from scholarly historical, cultural, and linguistic treatments of cursing and swearing are explored, including an outline of some common types and themes, the role of power and taboo, some strategies for avoidance, swearing as it relates to emotion and the brain, and swearing in multilingual contexts.
This analysis examines the ways in which a single speaker, Ana, born in mid-century East Los Ange... more This analysis examines the ways in which a single speaker, Ana, born in mid-century East Los Angeles, organizes and reflects upon her experiences of the city through language. Ana’s story is one that sheds light on the experiences of many Mexican Americans who came of age at a critical time in a transitioning L.A., and the slow move of people who had been up until mid-century relegated largely in and around racially and socioeconomically segregated parts of L.A. These formative experiences are demonstrated to have informed the ways that speakers parse the social and geographical landscape along several dimensions, and this analysis interrogates the symbolic value of a special category of everyday language, deixis, to reveal the intersection between language and social experience in the cityscape of L.A. In this way, it is analytically possible to not only approach the habituation and reproduction of specific deictic fields as indexical of the ways that speakers parse the city, but also to demonstrate the ways in which key moments in the history of the city have shaped the emergence and meaning of those fields.
After the honeymoon period of fieldwork had officially passed,
the realization that living and w... more After the honeymoon period of fieldwork had officially passed, the realization that living and working in the Philippines would not all be nasamit (sweet) finally set in. Fieldwork would be filled with ambiguities and swings in sentiment: contradictory feelings of alienation and kinship, of emotional disassociation and engagement, of strength and vulnerability, and of being a perpetual other.
Despite the fact that bi-/multilingualism is the most common linguistic condition of societies, a... more Despite the fact that bi-/multilingualism is the most common linguistic condition of societies, and although no state is exclusively monolingual, academic accounts of bi-/multilingualism have struggled with monolingualist biases. We argue for a hybridized approach to the study and understanding of bi-/multilingualism across contexts.
This research identifies the practice of carrilla, a socially recognizable kind of joking used am... more This research identifies the practice of carrilla, a socially recognizable kind of joking used among a group of second generation Mexican-Americans from East Los Angeles. Using DuBois’ (2007) concept of the stance triangle, this research finds that carrilla is sustained as subjects take up by divergent stance positions in relation to objects that are considered to be of high sociocultural and intersubjective value. Radcliffe-Brown’s (1940) idea of the joking relationship is used as a foundation for showing how joking can simultaneously appear hostile and friendly, and for demonstrating the social role of joking in general. In taking up divergent stance positions, actors engaged in echando carrilla (doing carrilla) can regulate behaviors and ideas that are considered to be socioculturally important (such as gender, race, class and assimilation, among others) by invoking specific values within a shared epistemic framework. Carrilla as it is practiced among the participants in this study is hypothesized to be adapted from similar interactional practices present in Northern Mexico.
<<Link to Paper Here: https://rdcu.be/dstyR>>
This analysis examines an archaeology of statal ... more <<Link to Paper Here: https://rdcu.be/dstyR>>
This analysis examines an archaeology of statal narratives as they relate to the multilingual linguistic milieu of the Philippines since independence at mid-20th century. Critical transformations to statal narratives linked to language over the last century have been shaped by interacting, sometimes competing discourses, deriving from a paradoxical mix of influences: on one hand, contemporary narratives of language have been shaped by modernist discourses focused on the unification of the nation through language, but more recently, these discourses have shifted to focus also on the possibilities of figuring local and regional languages in pragmatic terms that index an increasing orientation to preoccupations inherent in discourses of late modernity. In late modern contexts, discourses of multilingualism and multiculturalism in the Philippines have been intertwined with ideological orientations that promote regional peace, cooperation, and economic growth in part informed by the country’s involvement in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), where the recognition and maintenance of the multilingual and multicultural character of participating nations are framed as key mandates. By examining the emergence and transformation of discourses from modern to late modern ones at the level of the statal narrative, this analysis sheds light on emergent forms of nationalist narratives focused on both the instrumental value of global languages such as English, but also the valuation and figuration of local and regional languages in new ways and the contentious processes in history though which these discourses have taken hold.
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Philippine archipelago transitioned from nearly 400 yea... more At the turn of the twentieth century, the Philippine archipelago transitioned from nearly 400 years of colonial occupation under the Spanish to imperial occupation under the Americans. This analysis interrogates the dynamics through which the heterogeneous languages of the Philippine archipelago were maintained alongside state-sanctioned languages that over time came to create and sustain various forms of consciousness potentiated around the nexus of language. Using a theoretical foundation that intertwines Gramsci and Bakhtin's understanding of the heteroglossic nature of language, the ways in which the interanimation of languages emerges as a potential site for the realization of certain forms of political consciousness is explored. This analysis interrogates the tensions emergent in forms of discourse linked to the question of language that gave rise to the contemporary linguistic situation in the Philippines today, both "from above" as well as "from below" at the fin de siècle.
This analysis interrogates one of the most highly recognizable, but little understood metalinguis... more This analysis interrogates one of the most highly recognizable, but little understood metalinguistic descriptors of language in the contemporary Philippine linguistic scene: the concept of "deep language. " Here, "deep language" is explored as a complex, polysemous term generally used to describe homegrown conceptualizations of "pure" forms of Philippine-type languages and speakers. The contemporary understanding of "deep language" in the Philippines is theorized to have been informed by a complex combination of folk and academic discourses that have percolated throughout shared ideologies and conceptualizations of language since national independence at mid-20th century. The metric of "depth" in the analysis of language is shown to function centrally as a conceptual metaphor that enables everyday speakers to theorize person-types and the passage of time in a folk chronotope reckoned through the sign of language.
Everyday speakers of the minority language of Ilocano in the Philippines often hold many ideologi... more Everyday speakers of the minority language of Ilocano in the Philippines often hold many ideological projects in their minds simultaneously; these become particularly productive and apparent in the linguistically regimented space of the classroom. Here, students and teachers work together to mutually construct a distinct sense of ethnolinguistic identity through critical codeswitching practices from "other tongues" to the "mother tongue." The central frame of doing school is primarily constructed linguistically through the use of the licensed codes of English and/or Filipino. The frame of the classroom space may undergo temporary transformation through the invocation of the keys of discipline and play, dialogically marked through the switch into the mother tongue of Ilocano. In the highly regimented space of the classroom, salient possibilities for the bracketing of distinct ethnolinguistic identities are engendered by the discursive and structural effects brought about by codeswitching.
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2020
The present analysis interrogates the ways that American educators and bureaucrats at the turn of... more The present analysis interrogates the ways that American educators and bureaucrats at the turn of the twentieth century conceptualised the project of nationalism and modernity in the newly annexed nation of the Philippines through the trope of 'linguistic unification'. These robust ideologies of language arose from the perception that national progress and democracy were centrally achievable through a shared linguistic code, arising from Enlightenment concepts of nationhood imported from Europe and subsequently figured in the uniquely American framework of exceptionalism, expansionism, and economic logics framed in the political and religious concept of 'benevolent assimilation'. Focusing attention on a series of documents written by American teachers and administrators during the transitional time of the Insular Government from 1900 to 1916, the details of the ideological foundations of the role of English in the Philippines is explored.
This article describes and analyzes the form and function of the term 'nosebleed' as it is used b... more This article describes and analyzes the form and function of the term 'nosebleed' as it is used by speakers in the contemporary Philippine linguistic scene. 'Nosebleed' operates as a metapragmatic, semiotic stance marking device used to bracket various kinds language/s in relation to concepts of high sociocultural value in the archipelago: local concepts of the commensurability of language-and person-types, and culturally-enregistered joking styles that mitigate hiya, or 'shame' in interaction. This analysis draws from popular discourses to outline the ideological foundations of the term and goes on to examine its social and linguistic effects to theorize the ways that homegrown metapragmatic tools such as 'nosebleed' can shape varieties of language over time.
The Social Dynamics of Pronominal Systems: A Comparative Approach, 2019
This analysis explores the complex existential relationship that multilingual speakers in the Phi... more This analysis explores the complex existential relationship that multilingual speakers in the Philippines forge between sign (language) and object (ego) when referring to themselves in Taglish using both the first-person pronouns, I (English) and ako (Tagalog) in single tweets. Bringing together complementary analytical approaches on pronouns, codeswitching/mixing, and voice, this analysis explores the ways in which the self can be dynamically constituted in the dialogic interplay of first-person pronouns in English and Tagalog on the social media platform of Twitter. Data explored in this chapter help to investigate the philosophical question of whether I and ako operate in a one-to-one existential relationship with the ego and to examine the complex ways that languages dynamically interact with one another to construct complex, kaleidoscopic selves.
The International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology, 2021
Cursing and swearing constitute a special genre of linguistic and cultural performance that may f... more Cursing and swearing constitute a special genre of linguistic and cultural performance that may fall under the general heading of maledictive language. Key theoretical observations drawing from scholarly historical, cultural, and linguistic treatments of cursing and swearing are explored, including an outline of some common types and themes, the role of power and taboo, some strategies for avoidance, swearing as it relates to emotion and the brain, and swearing in multilingual contexts.
This analysis examines the ways in which a single speaker, Ana, born in mid-century East Los Ange... more This analysis examines the ways in which a single speaker, Ana, born in mid-century East Los Angeles, organizes and reflects upon her experiences of the city through language. Ana’s story is one that sheds light on the experiences of many Mexican Americans who came of age at a critical time in a transitioning L.A., and the slow move of people who had been up until mid-century relegated largely in and around racially and socioeconomically segregated parts of L.A. These formative experiences are demonstrated to have informed the ways that speakers parse the social and geographical landscape along several dimensions, and this analysis interrogates the symbolic value of a special category of everyday language, deixis, to reveal the intersection between language and social experience in the cityscape of L.A. In this way, it is analytically possible to not only approach the habituation and reproduction of specific deictic fields as indexical of the ways that speakers parse the city, but also to demonstrate the ways in which key moments in the history of the city have shaped the emergence and meaning of those fields.
After the honeymoon period of fieldwork had officially passed,
the realization that living and w... more After the honeymoon period of fieldwork had officially passed, the realization that living and working in the Philippines would not all be nasamit (sweet) finally set in. Fieldwork would be filled with ambiguities and swings in sentiment: contradictory feelings of alienation and kinship, of emotional disassociation and engagement, of strength and vulnerability, and of being a perpetual other.
Despite the fact that bi-/multilingualism is the most common linguistic condition of societies, a... more Despite the fact that bi-/multilingualism is the most common linguistic condition of societies, and although no state is exclusively monolingual, academic accounts of bi-/multilingualism have struggled with monolingualist biases. We argue for a hybridized approach to the study and understanding of bi-/multilingualism across contexts.
This research identifies the practice of carrilla, a socially recognizable kind of joking used am... more This research identifies the practice of carrilla, a socially recognizable kind of joking used among a group of second generation Mexican-Americans from East Los Angeles. Using DuBois’ (2007) concept of the stance triangle, this research finds that carrilla is sustained as subjects take up by divergent stance positions in relation to objects that are considered to be of high sociocultural and intersubjective value. Radcliffe-Brown’s (1940) idea of the joking relationship is used as a foundation for showing how joking can simultaneously appear hostile and friendly, and for demonstrating the social role of joking in general. In taking up divergent stance positions, actors engaged in echando carrilla (doing carrilla) can regulate behaviors and ideas that are considered to be socioculturally important (such as gender, race, class and assimilation, among others) by invoking specific values within a shared epistemic framework. Carrilla as it is practiced among the participants in this study is hypothesized to be adapted from similar interactional practices present in Northern Mexico.
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This analysis examines an archaeology of statal narratives as they relate to the multilingual linguistic milieu of the Philippines since independence at mid-20th century. Critical transformations to statal narratives linked to language over the last century have been shaped by interacting, sometimes competing discourses, deriving from a paradoxical mix of influences: on one hand, contemporary narratives of language have been shaped by modernist discourses focused on the unification of the nation through language, but more recently, these discourses have shifted to focus also on the possibilities of figuring local and regional languages in pragmatic terms that index an increasing orientation to preoccupations inherent in discourses of late modernity. In late modern contexts, discourses of multilingualism and multiculturalism in the Philippines have been intertwined with ideological orientations that promote regional peace, cooperation, and economic growth in part informed by the country’s involvement in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), where the recognition and maintenance of the multilingual and multicultural character of participating nations are framed as key mandates. By examining the emergence and transformation of discourses from modern to late modern ones at the level of the statal narrative, this analysis sheds light on emergent forms of nationalist narratives focused on both the instrumental value of global languages such as English, but also the valuation and figuration of local and regional languages in new ways and the contentious processes in history though which these discourses have taken hold.
the realization that living and working in the Philippines would
not all be nasamit (sweet) finally set in. Fieldwork would be
filled with ambiguities and swings in sentiment: contradictory
feelings of alienation and kinship, of emotional disassociation
and engagement, of strength and vulnerability, and of being a
perpetual other.
DuBois’ (2007) concept of the stance triangle, this research finds that carrilla is sustained as subjects take up by divergent stance positions in relation to objects that are considered
to be of high sociocultural and intersubjective value. Radcliffe-Brown’s (1940) idea of the joking relationship is used as a foundation for showing how joking can simultaneously appear
hostile and friendly, and for demonstrating the social role of joking in general. In taking up divergent stance positions, actors engaged in echando carrilla (doing carrilla) can regulate
behaviors and ideas that are considered to be socioculturally important (such as gender, race, class and assimilation, among others) by invoking specific values within a shared epistemic
framework. Carrilla as it is practiced among the participants in this study is hypothesized to be adapted from similar interactional practices present in Northern Mexico.
This analysis examines an archaeology of statal narratives as they relate to the multilingual linguistic milieu of the Philippines since independence at mid-20th century. Critical transformations to statal narratives linked to language over the last century have been shaped by interacting, sometimes competing discourses, deriving from a paradoxical mix of influences: on one hand, contemporary narratives of language have been shaped by modernist discourses focused on the unification of the nation through language, but more recently, these discourses have shifted to focus also on the possibilities of figuring local and regional languages in pragmatic terms that index an increasing orientation to preoccupations inherent in discourses of late modernity. In late modern contexts, discourses of multilingualism and multiculturalism in the Philippines have been intertwined with ideological orientations that promote regional peace, cooperation, and economic growth in part informed by the country’s involvement in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), where the recognition and maintenance of the multilingual and multicultural character of participating nations are framed as key mandates. By examining the emergence and transformation of discourses from modern to late modern ones at the level of the statal narrative, this analysis sheds light on emergent forms of nationalist narratives focused on both the instrumental value of global languages such as English, but also the valuation and figuration of local and regional languages in new ways and the contentious processes in history though which these discourses have taken hold.
the realization that living and working in the Philippines would
not all be nasamit (sweet) finally set in. Fieldwork would be
filled with ambiguities and swings in sentiment: contradictory
feelings of alienation and kinship, of emotional disassociation
and engagement, of strength and vulnerability, and of being a
perpetual other.
DuBois’ (2007) concept of the stance triangle, this research finds that carrilla is sustained as subjects take up by divergent stance positions in relation to objects that are considered
to be of high sociocultural and intersubjective value. Radcliffe-Brown’s (1940) idea of the joking relationship is used as a foundation for showing how joking can simultaneously appear
hostile and friendly, and for demonstrating the social role of joking in general. In taking up divergent stance positions, actors engaged in echando carrilla (doing carrilla) can regulate
behaviors and ideas that are considered to be socioculturally important (such as gender, race, class and assimilation, among others) by invoking specific values within a shared epistemic
framework. Carrilla as it is practiced among the participants in this study is hypothesized to be adapted from similar interactional practices present in Northern Mexico.