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ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
As a domain of inquiry, linguistic anthropology starts from the theoretical assumption that words matter and from the empirical finding that linguistic signs as representations of the world and connections to the world are never neutral (Duranti, (2002: 5).
Sociolinguistics and Linguistic AnthropologyConnected to sociology Quantitative methodsUrban environmentsDeveloped in the 1950s and 60s
Subfield of AnthropologyQualitative methodsSmall scale societiesDeveloped by Frank Boas (early 1900s)
Influenced by Ethnography of Communication
Dell Hymes (1960s and 1970s)
Linguistics in the widest possible way: folklore, international linguistics, cognitive anthropology, sociology, etc
Ethnography of communication: The study of communication in its widest cultural and social context, including rules of language, norms of appropriate language use in particular settings, and evaluations given by members of a culture to various speech styles
Concern with:Segmentation of a speech communities: class, gender, race, age, and ethnicityAlternative means utilised by speakers to obtain goalsThe roles of speakers as social actors; The function of speaking as a social activity
Speech event and Context
Would you be so kind as to pass me the salt?Gimme the salt!
Many ways to achieve several purposes
Communicative rules:Exist in all culturesDefine acceptable behaviorGive directivesshape behaviour and help in evaluating othersMay change from context to contextCultural specific
The most important aspects of a communicative interaction are:
SettingsParticipants topicsGoalsThey are interconnected
Two types of communicative interactions: formal and informal
Formal: University Class
Setting: a fixed arranged local, A university classroomParticipants: are defined: students and teachersTopics; fixed: math, history, anthropology, etc Goals: to teach and learn, etc.
Setting:
Arena for action
Define events
Culturally defined formalities
Universal Aspects of Formality (Irvine, 1979)Increased structuring: rules of etiquetteConsistency of co-occurrence choices: stylistic choicesEmphasis on positional identities of participants: play of multiple roles or identities Emergence of a central situational focus: constrains on choice of topic
ParticipantsSpeakers, addressees, and audiencesChoice of speakers:
--pronunciation --prosodic features --syntax --choice of words --nonverbal cues
Terms of addressFN, Title + Last name (TLN)Reciprocal FN and TLNNon-reciprocal: FN-TLN and TLN-FNPronouns: T and V from the French Tu and VousHonorifics: markers that signal respect
Nahuatl degrees of respectI. intimacy and subordination: prefixes between intimates of similar age and status to signify closenessII. Neutrality and distance; prefixes employ among strangersIII Honour: to address older woman and menIV Restricted to people who are in a compadrazgo relationship
TOPICS and GOALS TOPICSPreference of co-participantsDisapproval of violations of rules
GOALSIndividual and collectiveExpressed in a variety of formsFormal or informal language
Anthropological Approaches to Language as ActionBronislaw Malinowski (18841942)
the natives point of view the natives relations to lifethe natives vision of his world
Malinowskis Ethnographic Theory1. context of the situation2. language as a mode of action
Inadequacies of translationlimitations of traditional grammatical analysis
Ethnographic Theory of LanguageLiving among the nativesCoral Gardens and their Magic (1935) in Trobriand Islands Function of language: Pragmatic, activePragmatism typical of all languagesPragmatics: Verbal acts, Speech acts
Speech Acts as Units of ActionJ.L Austin (1940s) Speech ActsLimitations of declarative sentences or assertionsAll men are mortal.The snow is white.The king of France is Bald.
Types of Speech ActsLocutionary acts
Illocutionary acts
Perlocutionary acts
A locutionary actthe act of saying something:
You are fired, I will pay you back next week, What time is it?
An illocutionary Actthe act the speaker can accomplish in saying something by means of the conventional force of the locutionary act. You are fired: may be used to change someones status from employee to unemployed
A perlocutionary actthe actual act produced by the uttering of the particular locution
May or may not coincide with illocutionary acts
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