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