Sociolinguistic Capital and Fresa Identity Formations on the U.S.-Mexico Border

Abstract

This study analyzes sociolinguistic styles among Mexican women in the northern border cities of Juarez, Chihuahua and El Paso, Texas. These speakers’ grafting of sociolinguistic elements that resemble particular U.S. English styles ref lects what are understood in Mexico as fresa stereotypes. These linguistic innovations signal emblems of social prestige under the increasingly extensive influences of the neoliberal political economy. Through an examination of bilingual speech patterns in Spanish and in English, along with consideration of other sociolinguistic practices, I document how U.S.-centered ideologies of upper-class white feminine consumer culture are absorbed and rearticulated by women in the U.S.-Mexico border region.