Language in action

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Language in action

• Chapter 6

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Part I
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Using language

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

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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

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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

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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?

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Using language
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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

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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

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Using Language

• Malinowski studied the culture of the Trobriand
  Islands during WWI

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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

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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

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Language Competence

• Linguistic Competence defined in 1965 by Noam
  Chomsky
• Read the handout on Noam Chomsky and Dell Hymes

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Language Competence

• Linguistic Competence defined in 1965 by Noam
  Chomsky
• This term describes a speakers 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

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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

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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

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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

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Communicative Competence

• Communicative competence defined in 1966 by Dell
  Hymes

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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

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Communicative Competence

• So Chomsky would be a prescriptivist
• And Hymes is a descriptivist

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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

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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

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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

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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?

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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

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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

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Part II
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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

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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

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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, its hot! said outside may just be
  conversation, but said inside may be a passive
  way of asking to turn on AC

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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

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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)

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(No Transcript)
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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

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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 maam
• Sometimes orders are friendly and
• sometimes they are bossy

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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

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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

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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

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I (Instrumentalities)

• Multilingual people can swap words from the
  languages they speak
• Famous example of instrumentality is Navajo Code
  Talkers during WWII

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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)."

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I (Instrumentalities)
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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
  persons name once they are dead, so use
  nicknames
• whisker of howler monkey
• toenail of sloth

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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?

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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 others sentences?

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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

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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

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Fieldwork

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

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Ethnography Group Project

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