On the Sociolinguistics of Popular Films: Funny Characters, Funny Voices

This paper illustrates the need for, as well as the benefits of, language-centered approaches to Greek film studies. It focuses on the linguistic codes 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-based but character-derived. In other words, the choices capitalize on variation that exists between speakers on the social dimension. The discussion foregrounds the patterned relationship between a set of social varieties (sociolects) 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 conflictual (heteroglossic) relations between the sociolects, as well as the ideological and cultural standpoints that each of them encodes.