Ideophone Humor

The Enregisterment of a Stereotype and Its Inversion

Bibliographic Data

ID2286286
AuthorsNatalie Bermudez (0000-0002-1452-2112, The University of Chicago Chicago United States)
Year2020
Volume30
Issue2
Pages258-272
Publication date2020-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Linguistic Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1055-1360 • E-ISSN: 1548-1395
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jola.12275
OpenAlexW3045171040
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited41

This case study shows how speech play and verbal art mediate the transformation of pejorative stereotypes into alternative representations of Indigenous (Naso) identities for sociopolitical commentary. Ideophones become emblematic of the rube character and are enregistered as such through colonial organs such as national public education. Public education and other systems of structural power instill the ideological contrast between nonrepresentational and representational: ideophones are placed in opposition to abstract, arbitrary symbols, just like "primitive" Naso identity is hegemonically placed in opposition to "civilized" Spanish identity. Colonial ideologization places the "rube" character in the past, incongruent with modern representation, and indexes this character through ideophonic signs. However, Naso individuals play on the ideophone stereotype through subversive inverted mockery; they create alternative interpretations of subjects in order to form social solidarity and alignment with other Nasos

Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Linguistic Variation and Morphology

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