English and Bivalent Class Indexicality in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

Research on the relationship between language use and class has typically focused on how one feature, or a set of features, indexes a single, specific class identity or positionality. This chapter expands sociolinguistic understandings of language and class through a focus on the use and avoidance of English among young adults in Argentina. Despite the status of Spanish as the national language of Argentina, the long-standing political and cultural relationship between Argentina and Great Britain has historically linked English to social types and positions seen as elitist, privileged, and snobbish. In more recent years, the spread of "English as a/the global language" discourse has led to a revalorization of English as a marker of education and positively valued upward social mobility. Young adults in Argentina must contend with the implications of both of these discourses in their own linguistic negotiation of class identity. While they may at times use English in their everyday speech to index an upwardly mobile, globally oriented positionality, they also modulate when and where they use English to avoid being labeled as snobbish or elitist. The data of this chapter illustrate how elements of English use can simultaneously index contrasting class identities. More broadly,

Semiotic Disruption and Negotiations of Authenticity among Argentine Fans of Anglophone Media

“…Given Argentina’s precarious position in the global economy, as well as its historical ties to English‐speaking Europe, many Argentines seek to achieve Euro‐normative lifestyle practices (Sherouse 2015, 224). Yet the long‐standing link between English and elite class positionalities in Argentina means that a perceived over ‐investment in Anglophone products or “Euro‐normative” lifestyles may risk a person being viewed as snobbish or elitist (Valentinsson 2020).…”

“…That said, the colonial history of English in Argentina—and its resulting stratification of access to language‐learning resources—also links English to elitism. Fans openly discussed their choices to modulate when, where, and with whom they used English—generally avoiding doing so outside of fandom contexts—to avoid being perceived as snobbish (Valentinsson 2020, cf. Nakassis 2016).…”