masculinity – Kathryn A. Remlinger, PhD

Adam Sandler’s character, Cajun Man, a feature of Saturday Night Live skits in 2003, is defined as ‘Cajun Man’ by his mock Cajun French accent, particularly its stress on the nasalization of the final syllable –tion: “onION,” “vacaTION” “hallucinaTION,” “deficaTION”. But Cajun Man is also ‘Cajun’ and ‘man’ because his talk centers a stereotype of a Cajun man: spicy food, drunkenness, and scatological humor. The accent and content of his talk, in conjunction with his appearance—straw hat, suspenders, a plaid flannel shirt with cut off sleeves over a dingy white longjohn shirt—interdiscursively combine to index ‘Cajun man.’ Meaning is communicated semiotically—through recognizable linguistic features and cultural values attached to the visual image. Similarly, we recognize the authenticity of Boston Harbor Tea in the label’s index of a Boston pronunciation: “’Bawstonaba’ Registered” (‘Boston Harbor Registered’). Its authenticity is further reinforced with the intertextuality of the claim that the tea is “blended and packed for…the firm which supplied tea 1772-1774 for the historic Boston Tea Parties”. The enregistered pronunciations of aw in Bawston and the (r)-less and (h)-less pronunciations of aba (harbor) along with the claim to historic events semiotically mediate meanings linking language, place, and authenticity. Likewise, no one doubts the authenticity of Pauly D as a real north shore New Jerseyan on MTV’s reality show Jersey Shore. As a prototypical Italian-American East Coast male, his character’s validity depends on what he says, how he says it (in particular his use of –in for –ing and the lack of (r) after vowels), as well as within a particular context (sitting on a tricked-out motorcycle in a working class neighborhood): “I was bon (‘born’) and raised a guido. It’s just a lifestyle, it’s bein Italian, it’s representin, family, friends, tannin, heya (hair) gel, everything” (Jersey Shore, Episode 1). The combined linguistic features and images index ‘Italian American,’ ‘white,’ ‘working class,’ and ‘heterosexual masculinity.’ The semiotic mediation of regional dialect and speaker are recognizable in these examples through the use of specific linguistic features in given contexts, features and contexts that combine to evoke certain and specific meanings that yoke language, place, and people. Because these contextualized features are considered exemplar, their use effects the perception that best speakers are the most authentic locals. Similarly, the most authentic products, such as Boston Harbor Tea, are the best representations of localness through the use of enregistered features and intertextual links with a historic event. Moreover, used within specific contexts and juxtaposed with stereotypical images that evoke authenticity, dialect is often discursively constructed as gender-, sexuality-, race-, and class-based. Social meanings are as much a part of the semiotic mediation of ‘dialect’ as are pronunciation and word use and cultural categories: speaker authenticity relies on recognizable discursive practices, where language use is the determining factor, and indexicality, where the ‘best’ speakers of a regional variety are recognized as the most authentic locals. In these ways, the practice of masculinity—what it means to be heterosexual male, specifically, is tied to the practice of dialect—dialect-making.

The following is an excerpt from a chapter that I’m working on about the relationship between the media and ideas about dialects.

Media representations are key in shaping perceptions of regional dialects and speakers, and these perceptions are significant in reinforcing and maintaining language attitudes. Language attitudes typically include the belief that the best speakers are the most authentic locals, working class or rural males, and that standard speakers are middle class females and males who do not fit traditional notions of masculinity. Thus authenticity depends on meanings related to class, gender, and sexuality, specifically a kind of working class masculinity. Perceptions of gendered language use help to maintain these stereotypes. Sociolinguist Natalie Schilling-Estes explains that language attitudes and gender identity are linked by the notion that the authentic local is ‘authentic’ because he is the ‘best’ speaker of the local variety. The best speaker is identified by his use of recognizable linguistic features and their use in particular discursive contexts. Because these contexts and features are typically linked with heterosexual, working class masculinity and ‘masculine’ language, they not only carry meanings such as ruggedness, toughness, strength, and bravado, which are associated with meanings tied to being an authentic local, but also to heterosexual, male, and working class. For example, Pauly D of Jersey Shore fame describes himself as a “guido” as he’s riding a tricked-out motorcycle through a working class neighborhood, which combined, reflect meanings tied to Italian American ethnicity, heterosexual masculinity, working class, and a Jersey shore dialect. Used within specific contexts and juxtaposed with stereotypical images that evoke authenticity, dialect is discursively constructed as gender-, sexuality-, race-, and class-based. Social meanings are as much a part of the semiotic mediation of ‘dialect’ as are pronunciation and word use: speaker authenticity relies on recognizable discursive practices, where language use is the determining factor and where the best speakers of a regional variety are recognized as the most authentic locals[i]. In these ways, the practice of masculinity and heteronormativity—what it means to be heterosexual male, specifically, is tied to the practice of dialect—dialect-making.

[i] Similarly, the most authentic products are the best representations of localness through the use of enregistered features and intertextual links with a historic event.