Intros and openersIntros and openers

27 August 2008

8500, 6127, 4165

language culture society

Agenda, 27 August 2008Agenda, 27 August 2008

• Expectations: Go through the syllabus• Meet Nicenet www.nicenet.org• Preview of content via this powerpoint

• Power (Thomas & Wareing text)• levels/components of language• Hymes on SPEAKING (Kiesling-Paulston text)

• Introductions and interactions

Language society & power, Ch 1Language society & power, Ch 1

• Look at the nature of language to see• How our brains work (language acquisition;

language disorders) PSY• How we are influenced and how we influence

others by aware and unaware stylistic choices (regional variety or dialect, social variety or register; spoken and written genres) SOC ANTH

• How groups and institutions work (in/out-group formation, (non)accommodation, (dis)affiliation, ‘politeness’) SOC ANTH POL

Components of the language systemComponents of the language system

http://www.uni-duisburg-essen.de/SHE/REV_LevelsChart.htm

pragmatics includespragmatics includes

Kempler 2005. Neuroling

these all interact at the these all interact at the discourse leveldiscourse level

“Studies of discourse have roots in a range of theoretical traditions that investigate the relations between language, structure and agency. The notion of 'discourse' is the subject of heated debate. It has become one of the key critical terms in the vocabulary of the humanities and the social sciences, so it is not surprising that it is contentious. Discourse encompasses the use of spoken, written and signed language and multimodal/multimedia forms of communication, and is not restricted to 'non-fictional' (eg. stylistics) nor verbal (eg. gesture and visual) materials. Although early linguistic approaches judged the unit of discourse to be larger than the sentence, phenomena of interest can range from silence, to a single utterance (such as "ok"), to a novel, a set of newspaper articles or a conversation.”

http://diskurs.hum.aau.dk/english/discourse.htm Center for Discourse

Each level is involved in interactionEach level is involved in interaction

• We’re going to look closely at how language use is tied to issues of power and ideology, how it might perpetuate the status quo, and how it can be interrogated.

• For example, did the phrase “how it can be interrogated” – which is standard lit-crit talk – leave anybody out of the discussion? Language and power can be subtle in their interaction. Start with the word Shibboleth.

Suzanne Kemmer explains Suzanne Kemmer explains shibbolethshibboleth

• A shibboleth is a kind of linguistic password: A way of speaking (a pronunciation, or the use of a particular expression) that identifies one as a member of an 'in' group. The purpose of a shibboleth is exclusionary as much as inclusionary: A person whose way of speaking violates a shibboleth is identified as an outsider and thereby excluded by the group. (This phenomenon is part of the "Judge a book by its cover" tendency apparently embedded in human cognition, and the use of language to distinguish social groups).

The story behind The story behind shibbolethshibboleth• The story behind the word is recorded in the Biblical Book

of Judges 12: 1-15. The word shibboleth in ancient Hebrew dialects meant 'ear of grain' (or, some say, 'stream'). Some groups pronounced it with a sh sound, but speakers of related dialects pronounced it with an s.

• In the story, two Semitic tribes, the Ephraimites and the Gileadites, have a great battle. The Gileadites defeat the Ephraimites, and set up a blockade to catch the fleeing Ephraimites. The sentries asked each person to say the word shibboleth. The Ephraimites, who had no sh sound in their language, pronounced the word with an s and were thereby unmasked as the enemy and slaughtered.

Deborah Tannen talks about powerDeborah Tannen talks about power

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1473161

Communicative events have Communicative events have multiple componentsmultiple components

To analyze the cultural patterning behind this cartoon, we’ll use Dell Hymes’ SPEAKING rubric

Hymes: S P E A K I N G summaryHymes: S P E A K I N G summary

• S - Setting and Scene - time and place; situation. • P - Participants - who is involved in the speech act: speaker,

addressee, over-hearer, eavesdropper; and who is sanctioned to participate

• E - Ends - The purpose and goals of the speech along with any outcomes of the speech.

• A - Act Sequence - order of events during the interaction • K - Key - The overall tone or manner of the speech. • I - Instrumentalities - form and style of the interaction: casual?

Formal? Telephone? Texting? • N - Norms - Social rules governing the event and the participants'

actions and reaction.• G - Genre - The type of interaction. Prayer? Ritual apology?

Hymes: SPEAKINGHymes: SPEAKING

• Setting and Scene "Setting refers to the time and place of a speech act and, in general, to the physical circumstances" Scene is the "psychological setting" or "cultural definition" of a scene, including characteristics such as range of formality and sense of play or seriousness The family story may be told at a reunion celebrating the grandparents' anniversary. At times, the family would be festive and playful; at other times, serious and commemorative.

• Participants Speaker and audience. Linguists will make distinctions within these categories; for example, the audience can be distinguished as addressees and other hearers (Hymes 54 & 56). At the family reunion, an aunt might tell a story to the young female relatives, but males, although not addressed, might also hear the narrative.

Ends Purposes, goals, and outcomes (Hymes 56-57). The aunt may tell a story about the grandmother to entertain the audience, teach the young women, and honor the grandmother.

Act Sequence Form and order of the event. The aunt's story might begin as a response to a toast to the grandmother. The story's plot and development would have a sequence structured by the aunt. Possibly there would be a collaborative interruption during the telling. Finally, the group might applaud the tale and move onto another subject or activity.

S – P – E – A – K – I – N – G

Hymes: SPEAKINGHymes: SPEAKING• Key Cues that establish the "tone, manner, or spirit" of the speech act

(Hymes 57). The aunt might imitate the grandmother's voice and gestures in a playful way, or she might address the group in a serious voice emphasing the sincerity and respect of the praise the story expresses.

• Instrumentalities Forms and styles of speech (Hymes 58-60). The aunt might speak in a casual register with many dialect features or might use a more formal register and careful grammatical "standard" forms.Also for channels (phone x email x speech)

• Norms Social rules governing the event and the participants' actions and reaction. In a playful story by the aunt, the norms might allow many audience interruptions and collaboration, or possibly those interruptions might be limited to participation by older females. A serious, formal story by the aunt might call for attention to her and no interruptions as norms.

• Genre The kind of speech act or event. The aunt might tell a character anecdote about the grandmother for entertainment, but an exemplum as moral instruction. Different disciplines develop terms for kinds of speech acts, and speech communities sometimes have their own terms for types.

S – P – E – A – K – I – N – G

Expanded explanation by Tom McGowan, http://www1.appstate.edu/~mcgowant/

Using cultural patterning to Using cultural patterning to introduce ourselvesintroduce ourselves• ‘Houseplans’• Cognitive mapping• These are ethnographic techniques: "a

descriptive account of social life and culture in a particular social system based on detailed observations of what people actually do."

Quote from http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/PA765/ethno.htm

Cultural Introduction 1, Cognitive mapping L, CULTURE & S House Plan

LTCare sites ‘PleasantMeadows’

me

UNCC - Fretwell

MUSC-

CollNur Food Lion

Harris-Teeter

Simmons

YMCA

(water aerobics)

RWJ

VA

Dick’s back doctor/ therapist

libraries

Cultural Introduction, 2 cognitive mapping

L/C & SOCIETY

Best BuyCharleston

Kaohsiung