Language and Institutional Encounters

1
Language and Institutional Encounters

• in addition to the words spoken messages often
  contain subtexts of human interaction
• Reveal motivations values, attitudes and so on
  about rights and worthiness of others

2

• Every culture has systems of beliefs about the
  world including ideas about human beings, their
  abilities and rights, and the ways they interact
  with each other
• Belief systems not only explain but also
  legitimate social orders and constructions of
  reality

• in stratified societies beliefs about the
  inherent superiority of some groups and inherent
  inferiority of others e.g. class , age race, are
  maintained through linguistic messages

3

• What is Standard Canadian English?
• Who speaks it?
• what is the appropriate language in schools ,
  the media, church, politics religious life

Non standard Canadian english

• How do we evaluate the speech of these two guys
  relative to the standard?

4
Received Pronunciation
Received pronunciation
What can we say about the speaker based on his
manner of speaking? What Class?

• Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent
  considered to be the spoken form of the Standard
  langauge.
• in Great Britain the standard now usually
  referred to as a Received Pronunciation RP was a
  dialect originally associated with upper class
  speakers regionally centred round London
• others were stigmatized because of their language
  and its class associations
• Stigmatization of AAVE

5

• What struck explorers most forcefully were
  differences in physical appearance particularly
  skin colour
• An early distinction emerged between those who
  had black skin as opposed to those who had white
  skin.

• This characterisation was important because of
  the way in which the colours black and white were
  emotionally loaded concepts in European languages
  especially English
• The contrasts denoted polar opposites
• white represented good, purity and virginity
• black symbolized death, evil and debasement

6
Cultural elites establish the ideology and the
meanings
BLACK
Black Power 1968 Olympics

• Opposing meanings of domination by elite segments
  may offer group solidarity and be a form of
  resistance
• black is beautiful

7
Authoritative Speech
authoritative speech

• What makes the speech authoritative
• What makes Academic papers authoritative
• Whose purposes does this serve?
• source credibility

8

• THE SOURCE
• Who is delivering the message can have a big
  impact on whether it will be accepted.
• a credible source can be particularly persuasive

Expertise
Trustworthiness
Objectivity
Attractiveness
source credibility
9
Expertise
Source Credibility Credibility can be enhanced if
the sources qualifications are perceived as
relevant to the product being endorsed. If they
are seen as experts.
10
Trustworthiness
11
The Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch Hammer)
Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger first
published in 1486 gt 20 editions next 200 years
Pope Innocent VIII issued a Papal Bull in 1484.
Its inclusion made it appear that the whole book
enjoyed papal sanction
12
Who were the witches?
What else is a woman but a foe to friendship,
an unescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a
natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a
domestic danger, a delectable detriment, and an
evil of nature painted with fair colors she is,
furthermore by her nature quicker to waiver in
her faith which is the root of witchcraft.
Kramer and Sprenger, the Malleus Maleficarum
13
Do you not believe that you are (each) an Eve?
The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives on
even in our times and so it is necessary that the
guilt should live on, also. You are the one who
opened the door to the Devil, you are the one who
first plucked the fruit of the forbidden tree,
you are the first who deserted the divine law
you are the one who persuaded him whom the Devil
was not strong enough to attack. All too easily
you destroyed the image of God, man. Because of
your desert, that is, death, even the Son of God
had to die.
(Tertullian (c. 155/160-220 CE) The Apparel of
Women, Book I, Chapt. 1)
14

• Differences in rights and values given to
  categories of people are manifested in several
  features of language
• e.g. ability to name and classify things
• the ability to name things acts and ideas is a
  source of power
• control of communication allows the managers of
  ideology to lay down the categories through which
  reality is to be perceived
• also ability to deny alternative categories
• In stratified societies elites or majorities
  control the ability to name things
• also rights to select topics
• Low status people use mitigating language

15

• institutions affect our lives and through their
  hierarchical structure elicit characteristic
  kinds of behaviours within them
• How is the authority of teachers maintained?

• institutional position
• status of age
• Class
• Uniform
• Question answer structure - children are called
  upon or have to raise their hand to have the
  right to speak
• Chaining and arching

16
chaining asking another question after a response
to regain control of the communicative
interaction Arching when the other person
initiate a communicative interaction series
responding with questions to make a countermove
and take control children use chaining but
seldom arching with adults status then gives
rights
17
How are parents constrained in their interactions
with school professionals What rights do they
have? How do teachers maintain control?

• using inclusive language e.g. We
• presenting conclusions
• Requesting or assuming compliance of parents

18
Medical Encounters

• doctors routinely exert authority and control and
  patients acquiesce to their authority
• What is the usual sequence of events and
  discussion when you visit the doctor?

• The doctor establishes relevant topics and their
  development by asking questions
• He or she validates responses and thereby assert
  control
• They dismiss or ignore or redirect patients talk
  if it is not consistent with the scientific
  medical model
• doctors influence decisions that patients
  ostensibly have a right to make for themselves
• Even though patient decides to go to see the
  patient the doctor decides when to see them.
• The doctor asserts interactional primacy

19
1.) The Judge - ensures the trial is conducted in
an orderly manner according to the prescribed
rules and laws.2.) The Clerk is in charge of
the jury during the trial and deliberations. The
Clerk is also responsible for maintaining
accurate permanent records of all court
proceedings and exhibits.3.) The Witness a
person who gives testimony concerning the issue
being tried. 4.) The Interpreter - a qualified
person who interprets the entire court proceeding
for defendants and witnesses who do not speak
English.
20
5.) The Defendant - in a criminal case, the
person charged with an offense.6.) The Defense
Attorney - represents the defendant. 7.) The
Prosecuting Attorney presents the state's case
against the defendant.8.) The Prosecutor's
Investigating Officer - The judge may allow the
prosecutor's investigator on the case to sit with
the prosecutor.9.) The Jury - The Jury is
composed of 6-12 individuals selected to decide
the defendant's guilt or innocence based on the
facts presented.
21

• Legal Settings
• Formalized
• Physical environment and spatial participants are
  predetermined
• Rights and obligations to speak are given
  according to role
• Relevance of topics narrowly denfed
• Each type of participant has different speaking
  styles

22
legalese

• characterized by
• long sentences,
• many modifying clauses,
• complex vocabulary,
• specialized vocabulary or jargon
• high abstraction
• insensitivity to the layman's need to understand
• over formality
• reliance on and citation to authority
• importance of precedent

A form of language used for legal writing that is
difficult for laymen to read and understand the
implication is that it enhances the authority of
attorneys and judges and to justify high fees.
Legalese is mystifying producing an aura of
distance and secrecy contributing to the prestige
of speakers
How is academic writing similar
23

• attorneys representing inherently conflicting
  positions argue their
• cases in front of a neutral judge in order to
  persuade members of the jury to render a verdict
  favouring their side
• witnesses are assessed by both what they say and
  how they say it

Powerful speech Used by high status witnesses
(e.g. parole officers, doctors, experts,
professionals) Tends to be free of these markers
and to result in a more straightforward manner
powerless speech used by low status witnesses is
characterized by frequent use of intensifiers
(so, very) hedges (I think, guess) hesitation
forms (uh, well, you know), questioning forms
(rising intonations in declarative contexts) and
polite forms (please thank you)  
24

• witnesses who use more powerful speech seen to
  be more credible and attractive
• important when attempting to persuade a jury
• hearers attribute positive characteristics to
  speakers of powerful speech because it is
  generally associated with high status people,
• who by their position receive deference and
  respect
• that powerful witnesses are often professionals
  with scientific or other technical expertise adds
  to their credibility
• powerful speech implies the speakers certainty
  and self-assurance
• qualifiers, hesitations, hedges, unconsciously
  transmit messages of uncertainty
• and thus are less likely to be believed

25

• we tend to accept what we hear or see in the
  media
• come in an objective format
• they operate on the basis of shared cultural myth
  central of which is the myth of neutrality
• enhanced by manner in which they are offered
• print media gives aura of impartiality
• linguistic devices are used to create and sustain
  points of view

Lloyd Robertson
Do you believe this man? If so Why?
26

• linguistic devices are used to create and sustain
  points of view
• Systematic but perhaps not conscious
• Transmit subtle messages about social groups and
  social ideologies
• Strategies marginalize minorities

His Presidency will have a seismic impact on
history and forever changing the perception of
what black folk can be in America. philly on
Barack Obamas run for the presidency
This Tuesday, June 4, 2008, history was made
when Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton to become
the first black American candidate to do so.
27
On April 20th, 1999 two gun-toting students
entered Columbine High School in Littleton,
Colo., killing 12 students and a teacher
What if they had been black?
28
Source ______ Liberal Leader's plan to be
unveiled Thursday is very simple 'The more you
pollute, the more you pay (Globe and Mil June 18,
2008)
Says Claims Affirms Declares Pronounces Remarks Co
mments States
Observes Swears Argues Asserts alleges Certifies A
dmits Confesses avows
Our selection of nouns, adjectives, adverbs and
verbs can influence the way we perceive events
29
June 18, 2008
Syntactic elements can also influence the way we
perceive events
Globe and mail Move against Taliban
begins Canadian and Afghan troops push into
Arghandab region just outside of Kandahar
city   National Post Anti-Taliban offensive
begins Helicopter gunships and troops with small
and heavy arms lead a huge attack against
hundreds of Taliban insurgents Toronto
Star Afghan operation underway Afghan and
Canadian forces attempted to cross a river and
take out a contingent of Taliban fighters who
were entrenched Wednesday just outside
Afghanistan's second-largest city.

• Who are the agents and recipients of action
• How do the different versions of the same event
  influence our perceptions

30
The ethnographic present
The representation of other cultures in the
present tense
31
Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952)

• 1st studio - Seattle 1893
• official photographer of scientific expedition
  in Alaska
• decided to make "a photographic history of the
  disapearing American Indian"

32
The North American Indian

• visited 80 tribes, took 40,000 photographs, made
  10,000 tapes, wrote reams
• 20 vol
• Completed 1930

33
Ethnographic impulse

• To preserve a Native culture that had begun a
  radical transformation
• At same time, helped to shape Native culture
• freezing his vision of the past - textual
  photographic memories
• Curtis worked very hard to construct such an
  ethnographic present in his photographs.
• oral memories of tribal elders and others

34

• Curtis began his photographic project during the
  height of U.S. government efforts to assimilate
  the Indian population.
• Most Indians were restricted to reservations and
  made dependent on government agents for food,
  clothing, and other essentials.
• Tribal governments and native languages were
  suppressed and religious ceremonies were banned
• Indian children were taken away to boarding
  schools, taught English, and trained to fit into
  white mainstream society.

35

• Underlying his work was the assumption that
  native life was doomed,
• In order to portray traditional customs and
  dress, Curtisusing techniques accepted by many
  anthropologists of his dayremoved modern clothes
  and other signs of contemporary life from his
  pictures.

• Other Indian people protested that the pictures
  are romantic images that stereotype and
  dehumanize the people in them.
• A few pointed out that if Curtis had shown the
  real plight of people on reservations, his images
  might have led to government reforms that could
  have helped their ancestors.

36
The same Navajo woman
guess which one made it into Curtiss book?
37
Terms and Concepts
Received Pronunciation Authoritative
Speech source credibility Chaining Arching
Legalese powerless speech Powerful speech The
ethnographic present