How does our president use the Spanish language to divide society and further his agenda?

By: Sev Kiroglu, Samantha Bartolo, and Nicolas Carranza
Course: Language & Politics (Ling 3800)
Advisor: Prof. Adam Hodges
LURA 2020

For our research project, we created a podcast in which we analyzed Trump’s use of mock Spanish along the campaign trail and during his time as president.  Previously, Trump has been both divisive and dismissive about the Spanish language and its speakers.  During a Republican Primary debate in late 2015, Trump criticized Jeb Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail:

“This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish.”

At a campaign rally in March 2016, Trump conveyed prejudice against languages other than English, and discussed language as a tool of forceful assimilation:

“... [W]e’re a nation that speaks English, and I think while we’re in this nation, we should be speaking English, and that’s how assimilation takes… that’s how we go onto that next stage and next phase.”

Furthermore, last fall, Trump seemed to express his view of Spanish-speaking persons as separate from the rest of the nation:

“Who do you like more, the country or Hispanics?”

Despite these attitudes, Trump does use some Spanish. Well, he uses mock Spanish, employing one or two-word phrases from the language in his speeches and statements.  Beyond his infamous “bad hombres” comment, Trump often attempts to incorporate Spanish words into his lexicon.  Past interview footage shows him using words such as silencio, loco, and adios amigo; often, he uses these words with a negative connotation or in a negative context.

Our project drew on the work of Jane Hill and her discussion of mock language, an ‘artificial’ linguistic variety that is produced through imitation or parody of an ‘actual’ variety.  In her work, Hill proposes four “strategies” of mock Spanish that index negative concepts like vulgarity and cheapness and work to reproduce negative stereotypes.  These strategies include phenomena such as substituting a Spanish word in place of an English word that’s deemed offensive (e.g. “caca” or “cojones”) or intentional mispronunciation of a Spanish word (e.g. “fleas navidad”).  Though covert, these linguistic mechanisms still convey racist attitudes and opinions.

We also considered how Trump’s use of mock language creates a divide within our country.  Based on his comments above, Trump clearly views language as an opportunity for assimilation.  For those who don’t assimilate, Trump creates an “Us” vs. “Them” binary, wherein Spanish speakers constitute an othered “Them” group. This also creates the dynamics of in-group and out-groups.  If Spanish speakers choose to assimilate to conform to Trump’s ideologies, they risk exclusion within their own community.  If they don’t assimilate, however, they face exclusion from society.  Trump’s dangerous language ideologies place Spanish speakers in front of a double-edged sword.

In conclusion, our project claims that while Trump holds prejudiced views against the Spanish language and its speakers, he has no problem utilizing the language for his own agenda.  The use of Mock Spanish by Trump on the campaign trail and during his time as president serves as a tool of covert racism that allows him to evade unmistakeable racist rhetoric while furthering his harmful and divisive ideology.

 Link to podcast: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1a0AhWQ-_JmgmsnB4Zbzygtj46uUpptSp 

Opening photo credit: time.com