This thesis explores the language use of bilinguals in the Southern Peruvian Andes. Sociolinguistic studies to date have suggested that the linguistic choices of bilingual speakers are maxbnising strategies which can be understood in terms of the social context in which the interaction is taking place. This thesis argues that the language choice of bilinguals cannot be understood in this way. Context is not a "given" entity to which speakers react and which analysts in their turn can identify and describe. Rather, it is a process of which the linguistic interaction is itself an integral part. People, in Ocongate, hold a dual notion of po~, the power of the animate landscape and autochthonous beings with which Quechua language is associated and the power of the State with which Spanish is associated. Detailed investigation of the oral tradition, and of social practice, reveals that people's vision of an acceptable and noral universe demands that these two forms of po~r are constructed as essentially co-existent without being able to be fused into one syncretic whole or existing independently of each other. Linguistic practice plays a part in constructing the social world in which speakers interact and also holds rreaning through reference to this world. By ~ning the situations in which people use Spanish and Quechua, the thesis docurrents the parallel histories and identities which bilingualism secures for the people of Ocongate. These possibilities are not only bnplicit in bilingualism, they are recognised by the actors themselves. These themes are illustrated through studies of linguistic practice in the areas of: oral history, education and migration, the discourse of race, local politics, ritual and drunkenness.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:361064 |
| Date | January 1987 |
| Creators | Harvey, Penelope M. |
| Publisher | London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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