Indexicality and iconization in Mocking Spanish

When we speak Mock Spanish, the relevant aspects of this practice are usually activated and acknowledged in terms of indexical connections to specific stereotypes regarding the Spanish language and its speakers. However, when we speak about “Mock Spanish”, in order to deconstruct such an indexical ideological presupposition and entailment, it is important to focus on the iconic features of this language, or better, of this linguistic practice. The aim of this paper is to investigate the complex network of sign-relationships that inform the linguistic and ideological phenomenon of Mock Spanish. The work by Jane Hill (1998, 2005) will be the main reference used to highlight the indexical meanings of this language and their ideological presupposition. Exploring its entailments, additionally, requires integrating the indexical aspect with the semiotic process of ‘iconization’ (Irvine and Gal 2000). Iconization between Spanish speakers and language – ideologically naturalized through an intertextual series of Mock Spanish – is a key element in the construction (and deconstruction) of the negative racial stereotypes of Spanish speakers and, inversely, of the White ‘hegemony’ in the public space. In conclusion, an overall understanding of Mock Spanish as a ‘metapragmatics’ (Silverstein 1993) will be useful to further analyze the issue of language ideology.