This article involves an analysis of a television commercial set in rural Newfoundland, Canada in which the main actor’s performance of Vernacular Newfoundland English is accompanied by subtitles consisting of ostensibly humorous nonparallelisms rendered in Standard English. The discursive strategy employed by the ad’s creators, of highlighting difference, “others” the character and by extension actual speakers of the local variety. The appearance of the commercial on national television resulted in intense debate, particularly in Newfoundland and to some extent in mainland Canada. A video parody responding to the original commercial and an online discussion of the issues on a variety of Web sites are also analyzed. The debate focuses on (in)authenticity (in particular, on who has the right to perform the vernacular) and on the commodification of regional language and culture in media representations.
Beal, Joan.2009. "You’re not from New York City, you’re from Rotherham": Dialect and identity in British indie music. Journal of English Linguistics, 37(3). 223-240.
2.
Bucholtz, Mary.1999. You da man: Narrating the racial other in the production of white masculinity. Journal of Sociolinguistics3(4). 443-60.
3.
Bucholtz, Mary.2003. Sociolinguistic nostalgia and the authentication of identity . Journal of Sociolinguistics7(4). 399-416.
4.
Byrne, Pat.1997. Booze, ritual and the invention of tradition: The phenomenon of the Screech-in. In Tad Tuleja (ed.), Usable pasts: Traditions and group expressions in North America, 232-48. Logan: Utah State University Press.
5.
Byrne, Pat.1999. Blason populaire as tourist commodity: The "Newfie" stereotype in Newfoundland popular culture. Memphis, TN: Paper presented at the American Folklore Society.
6.
Chafe, Paul.2007. Rockin’ the rock: the Newfoundland folk/pop "revolution ." Newfoundland and Labrador Studies22(1). 345-60.
7.
Clarke, Sandra.1981. Dialect stereotyping in rural Newfoundland. In T. K. Pratt (ed.), Proceedings from the fifth annual meeting of the Atlantic Provinces Association, 17. Charlottetown, Canada: University of Prince Edward Island.
8.
Clarke, Sandra.1997. English verbal -s revisited: The evidence from Newfoundland . American Speech72(3). 227-59.
9.
Clarke, Sandra.1998. Language in Newfoundland and Labrador: past, present and future. Journal of the Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics19(1-2). 11-34.
10.
Clarke, Sandra.2004a. Newfoundland English: Morphology and syntax. In Bernd Kortmann, Kate Burridge, Rajend Mesthrie, Edgar W. Schneider & Clive Upton (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, vol. 2, 308-18. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
11.
Clarke, Sandra.2004b. Newfoundland English: Phonology. In Bernd Kortmann, Kate Burridge , Rajend Mesthrie, Edgar W. Schneider & Clive Upton (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, vol. 1, 366-82. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
12.
Clarke, Sandra. Forthcoming. Newfoundland and Labrador English. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press.
13.
Clarke, Sandra & Philip Hiscock.2008. Introducing DANL: The online dialect atlas of Newfoundland and Labrador. Leeds, UK: Paper presented at the 13th International Conference on Methods in Dialectology , University of Leeds.
14.
Clarke, Sandra & Philip Hiscock.2009. Hip-hop in a post-insular community: Hybridity, local language and authenticity in an online Newfoundland rap group. Journal of English Linguistics, 37(3). 241-261.
15.
Coihoun, John H.1970. The national identity of Newfoundlanders. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh.
16.
Coupland, Nikolas.2003. Sociolinguistic authenticities. Journal of Sociolinguistics7(4). 417-31.
17.
Cutler, Cecilia.1999. Yorkville crossing: White teens, hip hop, and AfricanAmerican English. Journal of Sociolinguistics13(2). 428-42.
18.
Giles, Howard & Nikolas Coupland.1991. Language, contexts and consequences. Bristol, PA: Open University Press.
19.
Government of Newfoundland & Labrador.2008. Newfoundland & Labrador sees first annual population increase in 16 years. http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2008/fin/1001n03.htm (1 October 2008).
20.
Heller, Monica.2003. Globalization, the new economy, and the commodification of language and identity. Journal of Sociolinguistics7(4). 473-92.
21.
Jaffe, Alexandra.2007. Corsican on the airwaves: Media discourse in the context in a context of minority language shift. In Sally Johnson & Astrid Ensslin (eds.), Language in the media, 149-172. London: Continuum.
22.
Jaworski, Adam.2007. Language in the media: Authenticity and othering. In Sally Johnson (ed.), Language in the media: Representations, identities and ideologies, 271-78. London: Continuum.
23.
Johnstone, Barbara & Dan Baumgardt.2004. "Pittsburghese" online: Vernacular norming in conversation . American Speech79(2). 115-45.
24.
King, Ruth & Sandra Clarke.2002. Contesting meaning: Newfie and the politics of ethnic labeling. Journal of Sociolinguistics6(4). 527-56.
25.
McKinnie, Megan & Jennifer Dailey-O’Cain.2002. A perceptual dialectology of Anglophone Canada from the perspective of young Albertans and Ontarians. In Dennis Preston & Danny Long (eds.), Handbook of perceptual dialectology, vol. 2, 277-94. Amsterdam: John Benjamins .
26.
MichaelMcKinlay.com.2007. http://www.michaelmckinlay.com/2007/02/21/nissan-bonavista-suvcommercial/ (28 February 2008).
27.
Morgan, Bernice.1994. Waiting for time. St. John’s, NL: Breakwater.
28.
Murphy, Rex.2008. Danny boy has gone too far. Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080912.wcomurph13/BNStory/politics/rexMurphy (6 October 2008).
29.
Overton, James.1996. Making a world of difference. Essays on tourism, culture and the development of Newfoundland. St. John’s, Canada: ISER Books.
30.
Paddock, Harold.1982. Newfoundland dialects of English. In Harold Paddock (ed.), Languages in Newfoundland and Labrador, 2nd edn., 71-89. St. John’s, Canada: Memorial University of Newfoundland.
31.
Pringle, Ian.1985. Attitudes to Canadian English. In Sidney Greenbaum (ed.), The English language today, 183-205 . Oxford, UK: Pergamon.
32.
Rampton, Ben.1995. Crossing: Language and ethnicity among adolescents. London: Longman.
33.
Rampton, Ben.2001. Crossing. In Alessandro Duranti (ed.), Key terms in language and culture, 49-51 . Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
34.
Ryan Research & Communications.2003. Provincial opinion study.In A report for the Royal commission on renewing and strengthening our place in Canada, 389-463. http://www.gov.nl.ca/publicat/royalcomm/research/ryan.pdf (2 February 2007).
35.
Statistics Canada.2008. Report on the demographic situation in Canada: 2005 and 2006. http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/91-209-XIE/91-209-XIE2004000.htm (20 September 2008).
36.
Story, George M., W.J. Kirwin & John David A. Widdowson.1982. Dictionary of Newfoundland English. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
37.
Van Herk, Gerard & Becky Childs.2008. Work that -S! Drag queens, identity and traditional Newfoundland English. Houston, TX: Paper presented at New Ways of Analyzing Variation 37.
38.
Wagner, Susanne.2003. Gender in English pronouns: Myth and reality. Freiburg, Germany: University of Freiburg dissertation .
39.
Whalen, Tracy.1998. Imagine that! A social semiotic analysis of a Newfoundland tourism campaign. Canadian Issues20. 111-124. CBCA Reference database Document ID: 390994931. (9 October, 2008)
40.
Yinger, J. Milton.1994. Ethnicity. Albany: State University of New York Press.
41.
Young, Ron.2006. Dictionary of Newfoundland and Labrador. St. John’s, Canada: Downhome.
