The Cibecue Apache community of speakers is a group of Western Apaches who live in a relatively isolated area of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. Although the modern Anglo-American world has increasingly encroached on the small settlement, much of the ancestral Apache culture, traditions, and beliefs remain a tangible part of daily life in Cibecue. Indeed, as Basso (1979) states, “most Western Apaches remain on the fringe of national American society, maintaining there with full awareness and quiet satisfaction a cultural system and a sense of tribal identity that are distinctively and resiliently their own” (p. 26). Evidence of the Cibecue Apaches’ tribal identity is apparent in their unwavering adherence to speaking the Western
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As such, Whitemen are an enigma to the Apaches and, according to Harold Cardinal (as cited in Basso, 1979),“their biggest problem” (p. 3). Various linguistic practices are employed by the Apaches to deal with and try to understand the problem and aid in defining an unbalanced relationship. The expressive nature of these practices acts not only as a relief valve for the ever present uncertainty and angst felt by the Apaches, but also as a diagnostic tool and gauge which becomes a catalyst for perpetually shaping and reflecting their thoughts and worldviews. One notable linguistic practice presented by Basso (1979) is to engage in joking imitations that “are intended to criticize the behavior of Anglo-Americans” (p. 31) and serve “as statements by Apaches that are about Apaches and the kinds of dealings they have with Anglo-Americans” (p. 16). Basso (1979) informs us that joking imitations implement the essential element of code switching, “a linguistic device for framing verbal messages” (p. 8) and the messages, delivered in English, “express the aims and sentiments of the persons who perform them” (p. 8). The content and context of the joking imitations are socially and situationally dictated, allowing for a spectrum of cloaked or “indirect social commentary” (Basso, 1979, p. 9). The use of English, in conjunction with special phrases and physical gestures and expressions, alerts the listeners that there is a deeper meaning hiding beneath the veil of
As such, Whitemen are an enigma to the Apaches and, according to Harold Cardinal (as cited in Basso, 1979),“their biggest problem” (p. 3). Various linguistic practices are employed by the Apaches to deal with and try to understand the problem and aid in defining an unbalanced relationship. The expressive nature of these practices acts not only as a relief valve for the ever present uncertainty and angst felt by the Apaches, but also as a diagnostic tool and gauge which becomes a catalyst for perpetually shaping and reflecting their thoughts and worldviews. One notable linguistic practice presented by Basso (1979) is to engage in joking imitations that “are intended to criticize the behavior of Anglo-Americans” (p. 31) and serve “as statements by Apaches that are about Apaches and the kinds of dealings they have with Anglo-Americans” (p. 16). Basso (1979) informs us that joking imitations implement the essential element of code switching, “a linguistic device for framing verbal messages” (p. 8) and the messages, delivered in English, “express the aims and sentiments of the persons who perform them” (p. 8). The content and context of the joking imitations are socially and situationally dictated, allowing for a spectrum of cloaked or “indirect social commentary” (Basso, 1979, p. 9). The use of English, in conjunction with special phrases and physical gestures and expressions, alerts the listeners that there is a deeper meaning hiding beneath the veil of