The Effective and the Controversial Uses of Code-Switching: Edwidge Danticat’s Claire of the Sea Light as Case Study

  1. Aitor 1
  1. 1 Ibarrola-Armendariz
Revista:
Complutense Journal of English Studies

ISSN: 2386-3935

Año de publicación: 2020

Número: 28

Páginas: 35-43

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.5209/CJES.61429 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: Complutense Journal of English Studies

Resumen

El presente artículo indaga en los distintos usos que la escritora haitiana-americana Edwidge Danticat hace del cambio de idioma (code-switching) en su última novela Claire of the Sea Light (2013). También considera los efectos que intenta producir en sus lectores en base al uso de términos y expresiones en criollo (Creole). Aunque la utilización de su lengua materna ha sido una constante en la obra de Danticat, hasta ahora se ha prestado poca atención a las diversas funciones que desempeña en sus novelas y a las respuestas que suele generar entre sus lectores. Su uso del cambio de idioma responde a varias razones: algunas puramente miméticas, otras más estrechamente ligadas a sus aspiraciones estilísticas y otras que se podrían considerar más controvertidas al contribuir a cierta “exotización” de su tierra natal. En último término, la utilización del cambio de idioma en Claire of the Sea Lightdebe entenderse como una estrategia de ficción importante que los escritores diaspóricos emplean tanto para satisfacer una serie de funciones socio-pragmáticas y retóricas típicas de las literaturas étnicas como para guiar las respuestas afectivas de los lectores de acuerdo a sus objetivos éticos y estéticos.

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