The 2025-2026 Linguistics Colloquium series continues on Monday, November 17, with a talk by Aris Clemons (UT Knoxville). The talk will take place in Dwinelle 370 and synchronously via Zoom (password: lx-colloq) from 3:10-4:30pm. The title is "US Black Vernacular Spanish(es): Toward a Theory of Linguistic Solidarity through Blaxican Soundscapes in Southern California" and the abstract is as follows:
Drawing on the work of social, political, and linguistic theorists, this talk seeks to disrupt traditional approaches to mapping contact varieties of Spanish used by Black speakers in the United States. To do so, I first provide an overview of foundational concepts to underscore the ways that language and race are inextricably bound, such that language begets understandings of race and race becomes a lens by which we are able to analyze language. Anchored by a discussion of Blackness as a hemispheric concept, the talk considers how the Black Mexican soundscape of (Southern) California represents an unruly entrance into the possibility for a distinct methodological approach to mapping a Blaxican variety of Spanish. Positing an interdisciplinary incursion into sociolinguistic analysis, I contest colonial framed ontologies and argue for a human centered approach to Social and Anthropological Linguistics. Specifically, the talk provides a cultural and linguistic case-study analysis of four songs: (1) El Rey by D-Smoke; (2) Go Loko by YG featuring Tyga and Jonz; (3) Que Maldición by Banda Mas, Karol G, and Snoop Dog; and (4) Wacced out Murals by Kendrick Lamar. Using a combination of linguistic and anthropological methods, including critical conversation analysis and a descriptive sociophonetic analysis, I argue that community alignment shapes both the production and reception of Blaxican Spanish as a locally situated ethnolect. Moreover, I propose linguistic production as a space for ethnoracial solidarity while contesting identity regimes that ultimately sets the stage for future empirical research on Black Spanish varieties.
