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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1185

Part of Session 131: Latino Social networks and the city (Other abstracts in this session)

Language and identity among Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and “MexiRicans” in Chicago

Authors: Potowski, Kimberly
Submitted by: Potowski, Kimberly (University of Illinois at Chicago, United States of America)

Chicago, IL, is the fourth largest Latino city in the U.S. and the only one where Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, the two largest Latino groups in the U.S., have been sharing community space for generations.  One increasingly common result is the “MexiRican,” an “intralatino” individual with one Mexican parent and one Puerto Rican parent.  Important differences in Mexican and Puerto Rican immigrant histories, legal status, and workforce participation shape their experiences, and it is unfortunately the case that these groups, in addition to being negatively stereotyped by the hegemonic majority, engage in negatively stereotyping each other: Mexicans are accused by U.S. Puerto Ricans of being illegal immigrants, stealing “their” jobs, and being too docile, while Puerto Ricans are typically criticized by U.S. Mexicans for being on welfare despite having legal status, being too loud and brash, and not speaking “proper” Spanish.

The Spanish language, in fact, is “an especially salient object around which to produce difference” (DeGenova & Ramos-Zayas 2003:145). This presentation analyzes hour-long Spanish interviews produced by 125 Chicago Latinos – 39 Mexicans, 40 Puerto Ricans, and 46 MexiRicans, evenly spread across three sociolinguistic generations – exploring connections between language and identity through the following three questions:  (1) Are there differences in the ways in which these groups view the role of Spanish proficiency and dialect variety in the construction of U.S. Latino identity?  (2) Among individuals who exhibit accommodation to the lexicon and/or phonology of the other group (Potowski & Torres 2011), what do their narratives reveal about their motivations for doing so?  (3) How do MexiRicans fashion an ethnolinguistic identity, including navigating negative stereotypes (particularly from their own family members) and perceptions of their dialectally hybridized Spanish (Potowski 2008)? Although most MexiRicans say they have not experienced serious challenges to their steadfast claim that they are “equally Mexican and Puerto Rican,” the phonology of most of them marks them ethnolinguistically as one or the other.

This project aims to make contributions to conversations about shifts in Latino identity resulting from dialect contact and hybridized ethnolinguistic backgrounds, issues that are moving to center stage given the increasing heterogeneity of the U.S. Latino population in large cities across the U.S. and the dearth of scholarship on intralatino subjects.

References:

DeGenova, N. and Ramos-Zayas, A.  2003.  Latino crossings: Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and the politics of race and citizenship.  New York: Routledge.

Potowski, K. & Torres, L. (2011). Lexical familiarity of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Chicago. Presentation at the Spanish in the U.S. conference, Mach 2011, UC Davis.

Potowski, K.  (2008).  “I was raised talking like my mom”: The influence of mothers in the development of MexiRicans’ phonological and lexical features. In J. Rothman & M.             Niño-Murcia (Eds.), Linguistic Identity and Bilingualism in Different Hispanic Contexts (201-220).  New York:  John Benjamins.