Bridging Gaps across Cultures. The Case of Glosses in Caramelo, a Chicana Novel

MARÍA MARTA GARCÍA NEGRONI Y MARÍA LAURA SPOTURNO

Intercultural (Mis)Communication, Past and Present

John Benjamins Publishers

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2010;

  This paper explores the function of certain metadiscursive elements in Caramelo, a Chicana novel by Sandra Cisneros. More specifically, it focuses on the use of glosses as metadiscursive devices in the construction of an intercultural discourse. According to Authier-Revuz (1984, 1995), glosses can be defined as forms of discourse, which, signalling a point of alterity, account for the presence of a constitutive Other. We will argue that the glosses in Caramelo must be included within the domain of interlingual heterogeneity (Spoturno, 2010). Cisneros’s writing, built mainly upon the appeal to two different languages, evidences a double function of glosses. On the one hand, glosses are used to build a bridge over to the other who does not know the enunciative subject’s culture and language, i.e., for communicative purposes; on the other hand, glosses present the difficulty inherent to communication within this narrative universe; i.e., miscommunication.