Language in actionLanguage in actionChapter 6

Part I

Using language• Using language consists of different elements:• Culture• Ethnicity• Gender• Status• Style

Using language• Learning a new language does not just mean learning vocabulary

and grammar

• You must learn how to use the language properly in different situations

• You must understand intended meanings and symbolism

• You must be able to negotiate issues as you speak

Using language• Example is from story on pg 150

• The man was indirectly asking for a ride to NY by using indirection, or making a request without directly asking for it

• This is used to avoid embarrassing situations, but not everyone understands this and misunderstandings occur

Using language• Another example from Comoro Islands:

• By complimenting someone on something (e.g., jewelry), that means you are asking to have it and that person must give it to you.

• To really compliment someone without wanting to take the item, you have to ask how much it costs.

• How is this different from the way we do things in America?

Using language

Using Language

• In addition to an indirect ‘no,’ there is also an indirect ‘yes’

• Example: In Czech if you are asked for seconds or for dessert, you first say no and then wait to be asked again

Using Language

• These examples show how you have to understand language beyond vocabulary and grammar

• You have to know how to use it

• (pg 155): “words mean very different things from what they seem to mean…, their interpretation depends on the people who use them, the situations in which they are used, and the ideas that speakers and hearers have about the language”

Using Language

• Malinowski studied the culture of the Trobriand Islands during WWI

Using Language

• He focused on social relationships but also wrote extensively about their language

• He realized that translation was not just substituting words, but rather understanding the language in context, or the cultural/social setting in which it is being used

Using Language

• Clues for understanding requests are embedded inside this context

• These vary from culture to culture, therefore there are many miscommunications between people of different backgrounds

Language Competence

• Linguistic Competence: defined in 1965 by Noam Chomsky

• Read the handout on Noam Chomsky and Dell Hymes

Language Competence

• Linguistic Competence: defined in 1965 by Noam Chomsky

• This term describes a speaker’s ability to produce and recognize grammatically correct phrases

• This stresses grammatically correct phrases, and not context

• Many anthropologists do not like this idea because it is so narrow

Language Competence

• Language varies from speaker to speaker and from situation to situation

• Words can mean different things, or their meanings can change over time

• Slang: “bad” can mean good or bad; same thing with “sick”

• Example: “odd”

• http://ed.ted.com/lessons/mysteries-of-vernacular-odd-jessica-oreck-and-rachael-teel

Language Competence

• Someone who is linguistically competent should know how to put verbs with pronouns correctly, but does just knowing this grammar mean you really know the language?

• What about in languages that have formal and informal options?• Tu versus Usted

Language Competence

• Someone who is linguistically competent should know how to put verbs with pronouns correctly, but does just knowing this grammar mean you really know the language?

• What about in languages that have formal and informal options?• Tu versus Usted

• This connects to the concepts of prescriptivists/descriptivists from your homework

• Therefore, you need more than just linguistic competence…

Communicative Competence

• Communicative competence: defined in 1966 by Dell Hymes

Communicative Competence

• Communicative competence: defined in 1966 by Dell Hymes

• This term refers to the way people use language in real situations

• It does beyond definitions and grammar to see how well a person can speak a language in a variety of social situations• Includes understanding of:• Status• Power• Ideologies

Communicative Competence

• So Chomsky would be a prescriptivist

• And Hymes is a descriptivist

CC and Symbolic Capital

• An idea related to communicative competence is symbolic capital

• CC is a type of symbolic capital

• It is like earning capital with money

• You can accumulate symbolic capital and spend it as you wish

CC and Symbolic Capital

• Symbolic capital “buys” position and power

• Your accent, word choice, grammar, writing style, etc. reflects how much power and position you have in society

• BUT, this depends on context

CC and Symbolic Capital

• In school, your capital can come from correct grammar, proper writing style, formality, etc.

• But with a group of friends, it may come from slang, put downs, curse words, etc.

• These may not cross over

CC and Symbolic Capital

• This may be what is behind the different view of Black English or Ebonics

• Some teachers do not want it spoken in class because it does not conform to the language they expect

• What are your thoughts on this?

Linguistic Communities

• A linguistic community is a group of people who share one specific language variety and the rules for using the language properly

• A speech community is a group of people who share one or more varieties of a language and rules to use it• This can also mean dialects• People who do this can switch back and forth between variations

Communities of Practice

• A community of practice is a group of people who interact regularly and do unique things together• Family members• Sports club• Facebook friends• Classmates

• The main point is that you have to analyze language in all these contexts before drawing any conclusions

Part II

Ethnography in Action

• Dell Hymes created the ethnography of speaking, which focuses on describing the ways people use language in the real world

• You must understand its use in different contexts and situations to really understand how the language works

S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G• There are eight areas that are focused on, spelled out by the S-P-E-A-K-I-N-

G acronym

• Setting

• Participants

• Ends

• Act sequences

• Keys

• Instrumentalities

• Norms

• Genres

S (Setting)

• The place in which the conversation is occurring

• Focus on finding out what is appropriate in each setting

• What kinds of interactions and reactions should people expect?

• Example:

• “Man, it’s hot!” said outside may just be conversation, but said inside may be a passive way of asking to turn on AC

P (Participants)

• Who can or should be involved in speech events or conversations

• What is expected of these individuals?

• Can nonhumans have conversations (ghosts, spirit animals)?

• Is there a difference expected between men and women?

• Example:

• In North America, children should be “seen and not heard” but in Yanomamo tribes they should be loud and fierce

E (Ends)

• The reasons for which the speech is taking place

• The goals people have for participating in a conversation

• To what end are they using language? This is an important skill

• Example:

• “Rapport-Style” and “Report-Style” speaking

• How does this relate to power? (Will be focus of ICA)

A (Act Sequence)

• The actual sequence of events

• What words were used? Who said them? In what order? Who spoke first?

• Speech acts describe specific utterances that people make• Commands• Excuses• Apologies, etc.

• Includes speech events and speech situations

A (Act Sequence)

• These depend on the situation and the culture

• How formal is your language with different people?

• In some languages there is a formal and informal wording

• US: “yeah” vs. “yes ma’am”

• Sometimes orders are friendly and

sometimes they are bossy

K (Key)

• The mood or spirit in which communication takes place

• Example: a funeral• Appropriate behavior is

different in different cultures• Silence, wailing, hired

mourners, etc. • Is joking or laughing

appropriate?

• dd

I (Instrumentalities)

• The channels used (speaking, writing, signing, etc.) and the varieties of language

• How can you tell a language from a dialect?

• If two people cannot understand each other, they speak different languages.

• If two people say things differently but can understand each other they are speaking dialects of the same language. This is called mutual intelligibility

I (Instrumentalities)

• Registers are varieties of language that are appropriate in a specific situation

• They are variations and not different languages

• Example: formal speech, telling jokes, scientific jargon• These are used for a specific situation

• Can also include different pronunciations of words• New York: drops r (floor sounds like flaw)• Southern drawl: drops g from -ing• Upper class vs. Lower class dialects

I (Instrumentalities)

• Multilingual people can swap words from the languages they speak

• Famous example of instrumentality is Navajo Code Talkers during WWII

I (Instrumentalities)

•When a Navajo code talker received a message, what he heard was a string of seemingly unrelated Navajo words. The code talker first had to translate each Navajo word into its English equivalent. Then he used only the first letter of the English equivalent in spelling an English word. Thus, the Navajo words "wol-la-chee" (ant), "be-la-sana" (apple) and "tse-nill" (axe) all stood for the letter "a." One way to say the word "Navy" in Navajo code would be "tsah (needle) wol-la-chee (ant) ah-keh-di- glini (victor) tsah-ah-dzoh (yucca)."

I (Instrumentalities)

N (Norms)

• Expectations that speakers have about appropriateness of speech

• You use norms and ideologies to interpret and judge behavior to see if it is correctly used in a situation

• There can be words you do not use (cursing)

• Or word taboos• Example: Yanomamo Indians (Brazil) cannot say a person’s name once

they are dead, so use nicknames• “whisker of howler monkey”• “toenail of sloth”

G (Genres)

• Different kinds of speech acts or events

• Lectures, riddles, lies, gossip, sermons, etc.

• Are used for different purposes

• What is the difference between a sermon and a lecture? Or between a riddle and a lie?

Other Approaches

• A different approach to studying language is conversation analysis

• The focus is actual conversations

• Turn-taking

• Power relationships

• What does it mean when someone interrupts?

• What if people talk over each other?

• What if they finish each other’s sentences?

Other Approaches

• Discourse analysis is broader and looks at all communication

• Looks at how real language is used in real situations and focuses on power and authority are distributed

Fieldwork

• When things go wrong you can always learn from them, especially in the field.

• These are called “rich points”

• Different cultures and languages will result in cultural miscommunications

• Use them to learn:• M-A-R• Mistake• Awareness• Repair

Fieldwork

• Also remember that different people have different ideologies and notions of what is correct or incorrect

Ethnography Group Project

• Read through the handout on the group project and meet who is in your group