What is language used for in the Media?

In the media, as we have seen in print media, language is used for effect of some sort:

• Language is used for flavor or spice:
  • It attracts our attention as we leaf through a magazine,

  • It gives a taste of something more sophisticated, different, exotic.

  • In fashion ads it tries to associate the language sample with our stereotypical notions of that particular fashion (designer, country, whatever) usually French or Italian;

  • In food ads, it tries to convey an authentic flavor of the food tradition in question.

  • British accents may have a particular use in the media and in advertising; for some comments on the use of British accents see this document from the Phila. Enquirer 4/15/98. See also this site that deals with the issue of authenticity, or lack of it, in Scottish accents found in films etc. And finally, see also this movie review that claims that American popular culture tends to equate British accents with 'questionable moral stature.'

• Emotion: Language is used to express emotion , perhaps metaphorically. Any display of emotion through the voice is often accompanied by register shift or even dialect shift, so that if anger or sadness or happiness is carried by the voice, we recognize this through various characteristics, even if the facial expression, body language etc. don't show this. The ability to show emotion is usually considered to be a human (or humanoid) ability, so emotion will not be shown if the character/creature is not supposed to be represented as possessing human characteristics. Indeed, the character 'Data' in StarTrek can't understand emotion(s), and many other 'android' characters lack this ability as well, even lacking the ability to convey expression in their voices.

• Language use or shift is used to capture our attention in some other way, perhaps by a register shift (starts in one register, shifts to another). See this document a Microsoft ad for a CD on Schubert.

• "Foreign language" use in these ads is often lacking in authenticity, i.e. it is not what the French or Italians or the Biker guy, or whatever would actually say or do. Sometimes the expectation is that we will believe it is authentic; sometimes it plays on our knowledge that it is not.

Language and Communication

Language and Physiology

1. If there is to be any communication between the alien/foreigner and non-alien/non-foreigner in a movie, it will be in English, usually with an accent of some sort. This may not be authentic; the alien/foreigner may not actually speak English, or would not in "real life".

2. Benign or friendly creatures (such as Yoda in Star Wars) speak English with not so much an accent, as a different way of speaking (scrambled syntax). But we also have voices that are thought to be:
   • cruel,

   • heartless,

   • evil

   • hateful

     or

   • malevolent creatures.

   • Some, of course are portrayed as cute such as the Ewoks in Star Wars, or Chewbacca, the Wookie and therefore benign, or the Swedish chef on the Muppets Show.

   • And then there's C3PO, who is a droid but a polite (Protocol) one (at least usually; sometimes not so polite .

   • We also have the voice of James Earl Jones, which can convey many shades of emotion, such as dark power or seductive persuasiveness. In Lion King he voices the father of Simba, and conveys power and dignity.

3. The physiology of human speech is replicated more or less with the alien, i.e. they have a vocal tract, one mouth, one tongue, etc. If they are not expected to speak (vocalize) they will communicate by some other method, i.e. send messages via mental telepathy, or via computers, or whatever. To make them appear more alien, they are given elaborate spiky, bony structures projecting from their foreheads etc. but since real human actors have to play these parts, their vocal tracts are not tampered with. Or, their vocal production is electronically altered , represented as nothing but electronic beeps, or they speak a weird geeky register (`negative!' `compliance!' `affirmative!' `request maneuvers').

4. Demonization

   The more evil and despicable the creature, the less humanoid will their speech be. Truly revolting aliens don't speak English; they speak their own revolting, hard, guttural-sounding "language' and it may not even be translated. If they are human, such as in terrorist movies ("airplane disaster movies") their "real" language (usu. Arabic, German, Russian, Japanese, Klingon, i.e. enemy language) is not translated, and they scream and shout wildly like animals. Their language is not depicted as "communicating" anything, or being like human language use, at least not to us. The depiction of their language is used to demonize them.

5. The above (use of Arabic, German, enemy lgs. etc.) is contradicted when, for the sake of the plot, we are expected to understand something. The terrorists decide to negotiate; or they negotiate with each other and we need to know what they are saying. Suddenly they speak English! This is not what would happen authentically, but we need to know what they're saying, and subtitles (though authentic) might slow down the action, or confuse our understanding .

6. Summary : 'foreign' language is typically not used to communicate information or meaning, but for some other effect. It is a depiction or representation of language, not an authentic sample of it. It is the director's version of what the s/he imagines language use to be like in the 'real world', a Hollywood view of the linguistic world. Since directors and producers and writers are immersed in the 'soup' of popular culture, their ideas about language may come straight from there. Or, they represent a version of language use that they themselves have imbibed from other Hollywood representations of it. Or, they may know what we are expecting, and just give it to us the way it's "always done."

   ---

   haroldfs@ccat.sas.upenn.edu, last modified 8/31/2004