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Department
Visual and Media Arts
Creation Date
2026
Brief Description
This monograph explores three main strategies of vocal exotification in Anglophone film: representations of accented speech, inclusion of constructed languages, and non-subtitling of snippets of other languages. Using Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding framework, I approach these practices as rhetorical devices that both construct and are constructed by the complexity of our social landscapes. Portrayals of accented speech, constructed languages, and subtitling practices form a gradient of abstraction, where the denotative meaning of words gradually loses importance to the sonic characteristics of the voice. Combining broader cultural scholarship from Edward Said, sound studies writings on power and language from Nina Sun Eidsheim and Ana María Ochoa Gautier, and linguistics theory from Gala Rebane, I argue these vocal performances draw on previous associations between sonic elements and cultural traits while creating new layers of rhetoric. By analyzing vocal practices in Bird of Paradise (1934), West Side Story (1961 and 2021), and Atlantis (2001), I trace patterns of rigidity and homogenization across depictions of linguistic diversity. These practices of vocal exotification are not innocuous, but an extension of culturally flattened depictions of non-English speakers in Anglophone visual media.
Subject Topics
Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics | Audio Arts and Acoustics | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Film and Media Studies | Indigenous Studies | Language Interpretation and Translation | Latin American Languages and Societies | Latina/o Studies | Other Linguistics | Other Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature | Pacific Islands Languages and Societies | Philosophy of Language | Puerto Rican Studies | Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies | Reading and Language | Television | Translation Studies
Recommended Citation
Alonso Limongi, Alice, "From Voice to Noise: Accented Speech, Constructed Languages, and Subtitling Practices as Markers of Difference" (2026). Course Work. 1.
https://digitalcommons.emerson.edu/coursework/1
Included in
Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons, Audio Arts and Acoustics Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Language Interpretation and Translation Commons, Latin American Languages and Societies Commons, Latina/o Studies Commons, Other Linguistics Commons, Other Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons, Pacific Islands Languages and Societies Commons, Philosophy of Language Commons, Puerto Rican Studies Commons, Reading and Language Commons, Television Commons, Translation Studies Commons
Related Information
This monograph is the result of two interconnected Directed Study sessions, one held in Fall 25 and the second in Spring 26. The Fall 25 session was advised by Prof. Leah Vonderheide and focused on a comprehensive review of the literature on Latin American cinema. The Spring 26 session was advised by Prof. Amber Vistein and focused on sound studies literature, as well as on the completion of this capstone.