Español de Estados Unidos, Mock Spanish e injusticia epistémica

In this article I analyze the relationship between linguistic ideologies about US Spanish, Mock Spanish, and epistemic injustice (Fricker 2007). Epistemic injustice is a form of discrimination that specifically undermines the agency of the “other” as a subject of knowledge. Mock Spanish is a register of American English that contains distorted or parodied elements of Spanish and is used for superficially expressive and humorous purposes but is covertly racist (Hill 1995a, 1995b, 1998 and 2008). I argue that the conceptualization of Spanish arising from linguistic prejudice, which Mock Spanish comes from and reinforces, reflects the underlying logic of words such as barbarian, the stuttering stranger who speaks an incomprehensible and uncivilized language, a sign of ignorance and cognitive deficit, traits that are incompatible with epistemic practices. The mocking of language, the raw material of discourse - including epistemic discourse -, becomes by indexical relationship a covert form of devaluation of its speakers, represented as collectively lacking the adequate communication (and possibly by extension intellectual) tools to make sense of their experience (hermeneutical injustice, Fricker 2007). On the other hand, as a result of this lack of comprehension or of the lack of credibility associated with the Spanish language, regarded as unfit for public usage, even when individuals will have the opportunity to express themselves in a testimonial exchange, their word will be questioned (testimonial injustice, Fricker 2007).