Codeswitching, speech community membership, and the construction of ethnic identity

Bibliographic Data

ID3613626
AuthorsAdrienne Lo (0000-0002-7941-4876, University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume3
Issue4
Pages461-479
Publication date1999-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Sociolinguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1360-6441 • E-ISSN: 1467-9841
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9481.00091
OpenAlexW1995053097
LanguageEN
Citations received58
References cited8

The relationship between codeswitching, speech community membership and the discursive construction of ethnic identity is examined through a discourse analysis of a conversation between two Asian American men in Los Angeles. In unraveling the ethnicity of a non-present third party, the speakers take moral stances towards the desirability of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean women. Through codeswitching, these stances are constructed as characteristic of a given ethnic category, simultaneously projecting category memberships for speakers and recipients through the assignment of participant roles. These ethnic identities are contingent, as codeswitching which is not reciprocated rejects proposed claims to membership in a speech community. Speakers' ideologies about appropriate outgroup talk and the histories they attribute to a particular derogatory term are also shown to influence the local construction of ethnic identity

Speech community · Vietnamese · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Multilingual Education and Policy

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub