Language, race, and white public space

White public space is constructed through (1) intense monitoring of the spe ech of racialized populations such as Chicanos and Latinos and African Amer icans for signs of linguistic disorder and (2) the invisibility of almost i dentical signs in the speech of Whites, where language mixing, required for the expression of a highly valued type of colloquial persona, takes severa l forms. One such form, Mock Spanish, exhibits a complex semiotics. By dire ct indexicality, Mock Spanish presents speakers as possessing desirable per sonal qualities. By indirect indexicality, it reproduces highly negative ra cializing stereotypes of Chicanos and Latinos. In addition, it indirectly i ndexes "whiteness" as an unmarked normative order. Mock Spanish is compared to White "crossover" uses of African American English. Finally, the questi on of the potential for such usages to be reshaped to subvert the order of racial practices in discourse is briefly explored.