Kaleidoscopes of indexicality: multiplex symbolic functions of language and unfocused social categories
Original data from an ethnographic study on the indexical meanings of language in a multilingual and ethnically highly diverse context in Belize, Central America, demonstrate that ascribing language to ethnic belonging does not necessarily work. The Belizean language Kriol, an English-lexified Creol...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Anthropological Society of Oxford
2017
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| _version_ | 1811140633566380032 |
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| author | Schneider, B |
| author_facet | Schneider, B |
| author_sort | Schneider, B |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Original data from an ethnographic study on the indexical meanings of language in a multilingual and
ethnically highly diverse context in Belize, Central America, demonstrate that ascribing language to
ethnic belonging does not necessarily work. The Belizean language Kriol, an English-lexified Creole
that is Belize's dominant oral lingua franca, is a vehicle for several indexes. On the basis of social
discourses on Kriol, which are interrelated with the culturally complex history of Belize – involving
transnational ties to the former coloniser, to surrounding countries and to the US – I argue that Kriol
has multiple indexical functions – as ‘the language' of Belizeans, as expressing ties to race and place,
and as creating a space of resistance towards Western ideologies of standardization. The case shows
that, where social categories are not focused and naturalized, we find multiplex orders of indexicality
and non-teleological processes of enregisterment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:25:05Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:0afd7796-d012-4248-9d66-022ba409e9be |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:25:05Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Anthropological Society of Oxford |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:0afd7796-d012-4248-9d66-022ba409e9be2024-08-23T17:43:31ZKaleidoscopes of indexicality: multiplex symbolic functions of language and unfocused social categoriesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:0afd7796-d012-4248-9d66-022ba409e9beEnglishJASO_articles_33BulkUploadAnthropological Society of Oxford2017Schneider, BOriginal data from an ethnographic study on the indexical meanings of language in a multilingual and ethnically highly diverse context in Belize, Central America, demonstrate that ascribing language to ethnic belonging does not necessarily work. The Belizean language Kriol, an English-lexified Creole that is Belize's dominant oral lingua franca, is a vehicle for several indexes. On the basis of social discourses on Kriol, which are interrelated with the culturally complex history of Belize – involving transnational ties to the former coloniser, to surrounding countries and to the US – I argue that Kriol has multiple indexical functions – as ‘the language' of Belizeans, as expressing ties to race and place, and as creating a space of resistance towards Western ideologies of standardization. The case shows that, where social categories are not focused and naturalized, we find multiplex orders of indexicality and non-teleological processes of enregisterment. |
| spellingShingle | Schneider, B Kaleidoscopes of indexicality: multiplex symbolic functions of language and unfocused social categories |
| title | Kaleidoscopes of indexicality: multiplex symbolic functions of language and unfocused social categories |
| title_full | Kaleidoscopes of indexicality: multiplex symbolic functions of language and unfocused social categories |
| title_fullStr | Kaleidoscopes of indexicality: multiplex symbolic functions of language and unfocused social categories |
| title_full_unstemmed | Kaleidoscopes of indexicality: multiplex symbolic functions of language and unfocused social categories |
| title_short | Kaleidoscopes of indexicality: multiplex symbolic functions of language and unfocused social categories |
| title_sort | kaleidoscopes of indexicality multiplex symbolic functions of language and unfocused social categories |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT schneiderb kaleidoscopesofindexicalitymultiplexsymbolicfunctionsoflanguageandunfocusedsocialcategories |