Borrowed words, mock language and nationalism in Canada

Abstract

This study explores ‘mock language’ by examining borrowed words in Canadian newspaper data. Mock language refers to the (usually negative) connotations that emerge as a result of the dual indexicality of borrowed words. Dual indexicality functions by allowing speakers to draw on stereotypes about other languages and speakers, thus reinforcing the role of languages as boundary marking devices. Using the methodological approach ‘cross-linguistic corpus-assisted discourse studies’, this paper draws on English and French examples from a corpus of Canadian newspapers. In Canada, languages serve not only as boundary markers, but also as icons of national groups; thus, borrowed words have implications for understandings of belonging in Canada and other multilingual and multicultural nations.