Cocoliche: Una tradición teatral y lingüística argentina | |
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Abstract
Cocoliche is both a theatrical character based on a stereotypical nineteenth century Italian immigrant and a hybrid Italian and Spanish sociolect based on the language of Italian immigrants in Argentina. Stereotypical theatrical characters are a legacy of classical and medieval dramatic traditions. Popular carnivals employed these personalities both to ridicule the official institutions of society and to temporarily suspend formal behaviors through laughter. The cocoliche served this purpose in Argentina’s popular theaters during turn of the century carnivals. The use of both the personality and the language of the cocoliche was one of the strategies of marginalized Italian immigrants to assimilate into Argentine society. Some assert that the end of the Argentine carnivals early in the twentieth century also led to the end of the cocoliche. However, there is evidence that the cocoliche endured beyond popular street carnivals and appeared in subsequent dramas in Argentine theatre houses. The cocoliche, no longer a simple clown, evolved into a grotesque personality who protested social injustice. We analyze evidence of this evolved cocoliche through language and the personality of the main character Piccione in Armando Discépolo’s play Babilonia (1925).
In this thesis I compare the language of Piccione to the linguistic description of cocoliche by Giovanni Meo Zilio. Piccione’s language is also analyzed from a sociolinguistic perspective leading to the determination that the character’s language adheres to the traits of cocoliche as described by Meo Zilio and that his motivation for a range of speech behaviors is determined by his desire to achieve specific social goals. The cocoliche Piccione maintains the characteristics of the earlier carnival cocoliche while acquiring a grotesque aspect to critique Argentine xenophobia. The strategy of the cocoliche was one of transculturation rather than assimilation. Today Argentine culture and language has been “Italianized” due in part to the cocoliche legacy.
Cocoliche is both a theatrical character based on a stereotypical nineteenth century Italian immigrant and a hybrid Italian and Spanish sociolect based on the language of Italian immigrants in Argentina. Stereotypical theatrical characters are a legacy of classical and medieval dramatic traditions. Popular carnivals employed these personalities both to ridicule the official institutions of society and to temporarily suspend formal behaviors through laughter. The cocoliche served this purpose in Argentina’s popular theaters during turn of the century carnivals. The use of both the personality and the language of the cocoliche was one of the strategies of marginalized Italian immigrants to assimilate into Argentine society. Some assert that the end of the Argentine carnivals early in the twentieth century also led to the end of the cocoliche. However, there is evidence that the cocoliche endured beyond popular street carnivals and appeared in subsequent dramas in Argentine theatre houses. The cocoliche, no longer a simple clown, evolved into a grotesque personality who protested social injustice. We analyze evidence of this evolved cocoliche through language and the personality of the main character Piccione in Armando Discépolo’s play Babilonia (1925).
In this thesis I compare the language of Piccione to the linguistic description of cocoliche by Giovanni Meo Zilio. Piccione’s language is also analyzed from a sociolinguistic perspective leading to the determination that the character’s language adheres to the traits of cocoliche as described by Meo Zilio and that his motivation for a range of speech behaviors is determined by his desire to achieve specific social goals. The cocoliche Piccione maintains the characteristics of the earlier carnival cocoliche while acquiring a grotesque aspect to critique Argentine xenophobia. The strategy of the cocoliche was one of transculturation rather than assimilation. Today Argentine culture and language has been “Italianized” due in part to the cocoliche legacy.