Deutsches fest: shame and pride in a situation of symbolic and economic mobilizations

ABSTRACT In this article, we aim to approach language practices that circumscribe language commodification phenomena in a festive event - Deutsches Fest -, which takes place annually in a small town in the Brazilian state of Paraná. We argue that there has been a movement opposite to that suggested by Heller and Duchêne (2012, 2016): from the use of language at the festival initially as a resource or aded commercial value (profit) has resulted in its use as an identity mark (pride). Some residents who used to be ashamed of being “colonos” (settlers), have become, through the festival, proud of the practices that identity them as such. Held annually since 2002, the festival rewrites the history of the residents’ migration, as these descendants of German immigrants who left the state Rio Grande do Sul in the 1960s revise local/regional and national identities (“Germans” versus Brazilian citizens). Our focus is on written and oral language practices - which circulate in newspapers, media commercials, interviews, Facebook posts, TV programs -, and semiotic practices such as the colors of the German flag and clothing, as well as the Festival itself, a 3-day public and collective event celebrated through dance, dinners, barbecues, draft beer, sports competitions and other recreational activities. The results demonstrate that these practices are symbolic and economic mobilizations of language marked by tensions that have raised discourses of pride of belonging to a “local German culture” shared by the residents.

摘要 本研究旨在探讨巴西巴拉那州（Paraná）某小镇每年举办的德国节（Deutsches Fest）中，围绕语言商品化现象的语言实践。本研究认为，当前存在一股与赫勒（Heller）和杜谢内（Duchêne）2012、2016年提出的观点相悖的运动：该节庆中的语言使用最初仅作为附加商业价值（获取利润）的资源，如今却已转变为身份标识与身份自豪感的载体。部分曾因身为“定居者（colonos）”而感到羞愧的居民，通过该节日逐渐为彰显自身身份的相关实践感到自豪。该节日自2002年起每年举办，重新书写了当地居民的移民史——这些1960年代从南里奥格兰德州（Rio Grande do Sul）迁出的德国移民后裔，借此重新审视了地方、区域与国家身份，即“德国人”与巴西公民的身份博弈。本研究的分析对象涵盖书面与口头语言实践（见于报纸、媒体广告、访谈、Facebook帖子、电视节目等传播场景），以及德国国旗配色服饰等符号实践，同时也包括这场为期3天的公共集体节庆活动本身，其庆祝形式涵盖舞蹈、晚宴、烧烤、生啤供应、体育赛事及其他休闲活动。研究结果表明，上述实践属于语言的符号性与经济性动员，其间存在的张力催生了居民对共有的“本土德国文化”的归属感与身份自豪感话语。