Language play and social positioning in L2 narrative retells

Research on language play in a second or foreign language (L2) has focused on the immediately relevant social context and setting, showing how speakers manipulate elements of their language(s) for sarcasm, irony, or personal amusement (e.g., Broner and Tarone 2001; Forman 2011; LaScotte and Tarone 2019). This chapter expands upon this work by demonstrating the need to take into account not just the immediate social context as a frame of reference, but also the broader community and network of persons (Hymes 1994). Grounded in Bakhtinian sociocultural theory, this chapter takes up the construct of social positioning (Davies and Harré 1990) to analyze L2 narrative retells and to demonstrate the importance of the broader cultural and historical context in everyday L2 talk. In positioning theory, identity is constantly (re)produced and negotiated in and throughout discourse and emerges at different levels - in the storyworld (Level 1), vis-à-vis one's interlocutor during the speech event (Level 2), and in relation to dominant discourses in society (Level 3) (see Bamberg 1997; De Fina 2013). Applying this theoretical lens to interview data collected with L2 speakers of English, we analyze how speakers use language play to position themselves in relation to other characters in the storyworld and to their interlocutor, and how such positioning reflects and simultaneously constructs larger social ideologies and discourses (De Fina and King 2011). This work demonstrates the value of close analysis of L2 language play in broader social and political contexts. Theoretical and practical implications for L2 teaching and learning are discussed.