“Hola, my name is Carmen, who is this?”- Language ideologies and dialect stylization in prank calls

ABSTRACT

This study discusses the dialect stylization and language ideologies involved in a nationally broadcasted radio prank show, Carmen Calls. This national prank show permits a discussion on the language practices and hegemonic ideologies involved in the media representation of the show’s Latina protagonist; Carmen Santiago De la Hoya Ruiz Rivera Perez Tú Sabes. This exaggerated radio persona utilizes various linguistic and ideological mechanisms such as mock Spanish, code-switching, and other specific dialect features to create stylistic performances of Latinx stereotypes to harass unsuspecting victims. This study considers how the framing of the radio show draws upon the current socio-historical context of the U.S. in an era of escalading anti-immigrant and, therefore, anti-bilingual sentiment to create both the persona and the prank calls themselves. The analysis shows how the pranks draw from preexisting socio-cultural profiles and repertoires to reinforce monolingualism, nationalist ideologies, and dominant discourses regarding Latinx people. By bringing into the fold dominant semiotic and values associated with Latinxs, the show is able to employ them to project the vulgar, inappropriate, and hypothetical Carmen persona that upholds mainstream discourses through the same discriminatory practices that are part of U.S. Spanish-speakers’ lived experiences as minority language users.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Irvine’s (1989) foundational work calls attention to the way in which language ideologies are socially shared and institutionally (re)produced to reinforce power relationships and how such values and belief systems intertwine with broader social structures. Because of the mediational role of ideology between social structures and forms of talk, they “bridge” speakers’ sociocultural experiences with their “linguistic and discursive recourses by constituting those linguistic and discursive forms as indexically tied to features of their sociocultural experiences” (Kroskrity, 2004, p. 507). For instance, Spanish has been regarded as sometimes becoming an essentializing feature representative of its speakers through a process called iconization (Irvine & Gal, 2000). In this sense, a particular language, language variety or language practice not only indexes a group of speakers, but “is assumed to be representation of the group, sharing characteristics with it” (Fuller, 2013, p. 7). Another way in which ideologies can be mapped is by fractal recursivity. This process involves ideology operating at various levels. For instance, the same structures that differentiate Spanish can be further scaled down within that same group (Irvine & Gal, 2000).

2. See https://www.youtube.com/user/QUEENCARMENSCALLS/videos for full list of videos of Carmen’s prank calls.

3. See https://www.carmenscalls.com/carmen-story for visual representation of Carmen.

4. Coupland (2017) defines the “roving reporter” as a person who “is able to insinuate herself into circumstances where she can opportunistically conduct interviews” (p. 85). Carmen exemplifies this type of persona due to her ability to conduct interviews with the unsuspecting victims no matter the topic of the conversation.

5. Linguicism refers to “ideologies, structures and practices which are used to legitimate, effectuate, regulate and reproduce an unequal division of power and resources (both material and immaterial) between groups which are defined on the basis of language” (Skutnabb-Kangas, 1988, p. 13).

6. Lines 50-53 of the transcription were excluded because they discuss the male anatomy, which was not pertinent to this present discussion.