SPANISH-ENGLISH The University of Alabama BILINGUALISM IN - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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SPANISH-ENGLISH The University of Alabama BILINGUALISM IN - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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June 13, 2017 11 th International Symposium on Bilingualism University of Limerick, Ireland Bryan Koronkiewicz SPANISH-ENGLISH The University of Alabama BILINGUALISM IN Introduction Peak TV Coined in 2015 by FX Networks president John

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SPANISH-ENGLISH BILINGUALISM IN

June 13, 2017 11th International Symposium on Bilingualism University of Limerick, Ireland

Bryan Koronkiewicz

The University of Alabama

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SLIDE 2

Introduction

  • Peak TV
  • Coined in 2015 by FX Networks president John Landgraf
  • Rise in overall number of scripted television programs
  • More content, means more diversity of content
  • More Hispanic characters are shown speaking Spanish as the

Latino-oriented television industry continually expands in the US (Piñón & Rojas, 2011)

  • How to Get Away with Murder
  • Orange is the New Black
  • Modern Family
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SLIDE 3

Introduction

  • Question: What does bilingualism look like on TV?
  • Goal: Explore the language use of the bilingual Villanueva

family from Jane the Virgin

  • Why Jane the Virgin?
  • Spanish-English bilingualism in every episode
  • Built-in case of intergenerational (G1, G2 and G3) speakers
  • Prime-time show on a major broadcast network
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SLIDE 4

About the Show

  • Jane the Virgin is a contemporary series on the CW
  • Premiered in October 2014; Season 3 just finished in May 2017
  • Averages about 1.5 million viewers per episode (de Moraes, 2017)
  • Loosely based on the Venezuelan telenovela Juana la Virgen
  • American remake centers a young Latina woman living in Miami as

she balances her love life, family, and career

  • Spanish-English bilingualism plays a supporting role
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SLIDE 5

Framework

  • Milroy and Wei’s (1995) index for language choice
  • “[T]he general assumption underlying our approach is that

variation in the structure of different individuals’ personal social networks will, for a number of reasons, systematically affect the way they use the two languages in the community repertoire” (Milroy & Wei, 1995, p. 138)

  • Given the confines of TV show data, identifying who

individuals interact with and the types of relationships they have is feasible

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SLIDE 6

Social Networks

  • Web of connections that unite individuals in society
  • Different types of connections are delineated, i.e. weak vs. strong
  • Milroy and Wei (1995) adopt Milardo’s (1988) notion of

exchange vs. interactive

  • Exchange links include “direct aid, advice, criticism, and support”

(Milroy & Wei, 1995, p. 138)

  • Interactive links have no such personal reliance, even if there is

regular, prolonged interaction

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SLIDE 7

Disclaimer

  • Medium of TV is obviously inherently different than actual

communities of language use

  • Linguistic data is not natural in the sense it is scripted and

performed

  • Nonetheless, by analyzing it as if it were an actual

community, we can begin to ascertain as to how true-to-life the bilingualism is on screen

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SLIDE 8

Comparing the Communities

Tyneside Chinese Community Jane the Virgin English-Chinese (several languages) English-Spanish Migrants Migrants Family as primary unit of social organization (with abundant intergenerational interactions) Family as primary unit of social organization (with abundant intergenerational interactions) Multiple families Singular family REAL individuals NOT REAL individuals

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SLIDE 9

Characters

1. Gina Rodriguez as Jane Villanueva 2. Brett Dier as Michael Cordero, Jr. 3. Justin Baldoni as Rafael Solano 4. Ivonne Coll as Alba Villanueva 5. Andrea Navedo as Xiomara “Xo” Villanueva 6. Yael Grobglas as Petra Solano 7. Jaime Camil as

Rogelio de la Vega 1 5 6 3 4 2 7

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SLIDE 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46

S01E01: Language Use by Character

Other Billy Rose Alison Roman Magda Rogelio Lina Luisa Petra Rafael Michael Alba Xo Jane English Spanish SCENE CHARACTER

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SLIDE 11

Language Use in S01E01

  • Primarily English
  • Only 13.0% (N = 6) of scenes include some Spanish
  • Only 21.4% (N = 3) of named characters use Spanish
  • * Xiomara’s only use is when performing a song at a club
  • When Spanish is used, it is always a bilingual scene
  • Two-way conversation, where one interlocutor uses entirely Spanish

and the other interlocutor(s) use(s) English

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Alba Jane Xo

Alba

  • 64 years old
  • Venezuelan, G1
  • Retired Nurse
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SLIDE 14

Alba Jane Xo

Alba

  • Strong (or exchange) family links that are

bilingual

  • Unknown / Incomplete aspects of her social

network

  • Day-to-day interactions in Miami? Church?
  • Similar to the monolingualism found with

Milroy and Wei’s (1995) older, G3 speakers

  • However, (grand)children also used Chinese to

their (grand)parents

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SLIDE 15

Xo Jane Luisa Nurse

Coworker

Rogelio

Alba

Xiomara

  • 40 years old
  • Venezuelan, G2
  • Dance Instructor / Aspiring Singer
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SLIDE 16

Xo Jane Luisa Nurse

Coworker

Rogelio

Alba

Xiomara

  • Strong (or exchange) family links
  • Bilingual with her mother (G1)
  • But monolingual with her daughter (G2) and

former love interest

  • Other weak (or interactive) links that are

entirely English

  • More English-based than the G2 speakers

for Milroy and Wei (1995)

  • More optionality between English and Chinese

for parent-child communication

  • Nonetheless, speakers within the same

generation showed differing degrees of bilingual use

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SLIDE 17

Jane

Xo

Michael

Rafael

Luisa

Nurse

Lina

Roman

Coworker

Rogelio

Alba

Jane

  • 23 years old
  • Venezuelan-Mexican, G3
  • Lounge Manager / Aspiring Writer

*

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SLIDE 18

Jane

Xo

Michael

Rafael

Luisa

Nurse

Lina

Roman

Coworker

Rogelio

Alba

Jane

*

  • Strong (or exchange) family links
  • Bilingual with her abuela (G1)
  • But monolingual with her mother (G2)
  • Other strong (or exchange) links that are

entirely English

  • Romantic and platonic links
  • Other weak (or interactive) links that are

entirely English

  • Somewhat similar to the G3 behavior found

by Milroy and Wei (1995)

  • More likely to use English with each other
  • However, more English-based with family
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Xiomara & Jane

  • Is it realistic that Xiomara and Jane are so English-heavy?
  • Yes, based on the social network data available
  • Both have heavily English-based social networks, which leads to more English

use even in bilingual links

  • Recall:
  • “[T]he general assumption underlying our approach is that variation in the

structure of different individuals’ personal social networks will, for a number of reasons, systematically affect the way they use the two languages in the community repertoire” (Milroy & Wei, 1995, p. 138)

  • It is also realistic to assume that the rest of Alba’s social network is

quite distinct from Xiomara’s and Jane’s (i.e., more Spanish-based)

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SLIDE 20

Alba

Jane Xo ? ? ? ? ?

Xo

Jane Luisa Nurse Cowork er Rogelio Alba Jane

Xo Michael Rafael Luisa Nurse Lina Roman

Coworker

Rogelio Alba

Alba, Xiomara & Jane

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Summary

  • Bilingualism represented on the show does mirror linguistic

research

  • Age, generation, and network all play a role in language choice

for the three women

  • Particularly salient depiction of G1 differences
  • However, G2 and G3 do not seem differentiated
  • As Milroy and Wei (1995) argue, network influences more than generation
  • Unique in that its depiction is almost entirely done through

passive bilingualism

  • Inter-sentential code-switching between different speakers
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Final Thoughts

  • Glosses over other bilingual realities
  • Intra-sentential code-switching
  • Language choice based situational variables (cf. Sankoff, 1980)
  • Departure from other uses of bilingualism on TV
  • I Love Lucy used bilingualism sporadically as a mere source of comedy

(Kirschen, 2013)

  • Bilingualism (or Spanish) on Jane the Virgin is never the joke
  • Future directions
  • Exploring bilingual viewers’ perceptions
  • Pedagogical uses
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¡Gracias!

  • References
  • de Moraes, L. (May 25, 2017). “Final 2016-17 TV Rankings: ‘Sunday Night Football’

Winning Streak Continues”. Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 31, 2017.

  • Kirschen, B. (2013). Multilingual manipulation and humor in “I Love Lucy.”

Hispania, 96(4), 735-747.

  • Milroy, L., & Wei, L. (1995). A social network approach to code-switching: The

example of a bilingual community in Britain. In L. Milroy & P. Muysken (Eds.), One speaker, two languages: Cross-disciplinary perspectives on code-switching (pp. 136- 157). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Piñón, J., & Rojas, V. (2011). Language and cultural identity in the new configuration
  • f the US Latino TV industry. Global Media and Communication, 7(2), 129-147.
  • Sankoff, G. (1980). The social life of language. Philadelphia: University of

Pennsylvania Press.