Dance as discourse: imperialism and linguistic diversity in the Spanish interlude Las lenguas (The Languages)

Abstract

This chapter will consider the inclusion of multilingual speakers in Las lenguas, a Spanish mojiganga (short burlesque play) written in the second half of the 17th century. There are at least three distinct versions of this text. In all of them, a Castilian rural mayor is planning to travel to a major Castilian city (Seville, Madrid, or Valladolid, respectively) in search of people to perform a dance for the festivities in his town. As he reaches his destination, he is told that he has not, in fact, arrived at the expected Castilian city, but rather to a “Babylonia.” There he encounters a cast of multilingual characters identified by their parodic accents who he cannot understand.

In this chapter we argue that Las lenguas establishes a parallel between the building of the Spanish Empire and the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. The Spanish Empire has grown so big that it can no longer be sustained. Although Castilian works as the lingua franca, subjects have difficulty communicating, which signals the impending Imperial downfall, mimicking the biblical story. Paradoxically, the Castilian mayor, as the representative of the hegemonic voice, comes across as the most ignorant of all characters. He is the one who cannot understand others, not only because they speak differently, but because he is a simple country bumpkin who cannot keep up with the ever-changing composition of the Imperial citizenry. Las lenguas is also an example of the perceived multiculturalism of early modern Spanish urban centers.