On the sociolinguistics of popular films: Funny characters, funny voices

This paper illustrates the need for, as well as the benefits of, language-c entered approaches to Greek film studies. It focuses on the linguistic code s of popular comedy films of the 1960s, and it shows how these films index sociocultural processes. It is argued that, despite the diglossic situation of the period, the linguistic choices in these films are not register-base d but character-derived. In other words, the choices capitalize on variatio n that exists between speakers on the social dimension. The discussion fore grounds the patterned relationship between a set of social varieties (socio lects) and the representation of character types. This relationship is well -suited to genre requirements, forming a vehicle for the creation of humor. The interpretation of the choice of sociolects in these films is attempted within a Bakhtinian framework of analysis that acknowledges the conflictua l (heteroglossic) relations between the sociolects, as well as the ideologi cal and cultural standpoints that each of them encodes.