This
paper focuses on the Rubberbandits, an Irish (musical) comedy duo from Limerick
city, and examines the linguistic and semiotic resources the Rubberbandits draw
on to voice ‘Limerick city’. We explore how the Rubberbandits’ performance of
an inner city accent and other linguistic resources of Limerick (Irish) English
serves to parody the indexical linking of this particular voice with the label
of knacker. The theoretical
foundations for the research lie in the sociolinguistics of performance, and its
potential in enabling hidden discourses to be traced back to their origin via
mediatised stylisations and representations is foregrounded. Data representing
aspects the humorous performances of the Rubberbandits is presented as part of
this paper, as is audience reaction to the performances. This paper contributes
to the growing body of work which critically examines high performance genres,
given that mass culture plays a significant role in shaping the sociolinguistic
reality of all speech communities. One of the most significant of these effects
is the role of media in reproducing normalised language ideologies, an issue of
critical significance for applied linguists. The Rubberbandits use salient
linguistic features to evoke a certain social image; in so doing, they
implicitly reframe notions of class and place, and the role of playful voice in
challenging dominant ideologies is crucial.