Studying Language Like

an Anthropologist Pt. 2 Plan for 9/9 1. Review

2. The Research Question

3. The form of linguistic data

4. Analyzing Linguistic Data

5. Reading Thursday

6. Extra Credit

Duranti (2009) Review

• Differences between Linguistic Anth and

Sociolinguistics

• Linguistic relativism

• 4 fields of Anthropology

The Elements of a LA Question

Effect on an aspect of social life

Inequality Cultural values Power relations Gender

Asks of: Specific context, particular speakers

Apache Native English speakers African American hair

care professionals Bilingual Puerto Ricans in

NYC

Asks about: a particular linguistic feature, phenomenon, practice

Place names Storytelling English/Spanish

usage Grammar

Language Ideologies

“Mock Spanish”

Go-go Music in D.C.

Constructing a Research Question

Initial Question: How and when did this commonly used phrase: “go-go is violent” become entrenched in the social

imagination of local D.C. residents?

• Vague

• “Commonly” according to whom

• Speakers are not clearly defined

• Speech act, “go-go is violent” too specific

• What is meant by “social imagination”?

• Local D.C. residents

• Parameters?

• How many?

• Too big a question for a semester long project

Constructing a Research Question

Final Question: How does the Washington Post’s framing

of go-go music in the 1990s and 2000s create and/or

contribute to a “moral panic” about Black youth culture

in Washington, D.C.?

Moral Panic

“When ‘experts’, in the form of police chiefs, the

judiciary, politicians, and editors perceive the threat in all

but identical terms…when the media representations

universally stress ‘sudden and dramatic’ increases…

above and beyond that which a sober, realistic

appraisal could sustain, then we believe it is appropriate

to speak of the beginnings of a moral panic”

Stuart Hall et. al, 1978

Constructing a Research Question

Effect

Moral panic about D.C. Black youth culture

Specific speakers, context

Washington Post writers

Linguistic Feature

Discursive framing of go-go

Methods Participant Observation

Interviews

Surveys and questionnaires

Naturally occurring conversation

Written texts

Collecting Data

Written Data

“Violent death was becoming so common in many

neighborhoods, often around popular go-go nightclubs,

that it was creating what Prince George’s police Capt.

Jimmy White called “a mentality of murder.” Triggers

were pulled over the pettiest of insults or a disrespectful

look, acts known on the streets as “dissin’”.”

Washington Post Staff writers, Horwitz and Duggan

1991

Forms of Analysis

• Critical discourse analysis

• Conversational analysis

• Narrative analysis

• Corpus analysis

Washington Post

001 Violent death was becoming

002 so common

003 in many neighborhoods,

004 often around popular go-go nightclubs,

005 that it

006 was creating what

007 Prince George’s police Capt. Jimmy White called

008 “a mentality of murder.”

009 Triggers were pulled over the pettiest of insults or

010 a disrespectful look,

011 acts known on the streets as “dissin’”.

001 Violent death was becoming

002 so common

003 in many neighborhoods

004 often around popular go-go nightclubs,

005 that it

006 was creating what

007 Prince George’s police Capt. Jimmy White called

008 “a mentality of murder.”

009 Triggers were pulled over the pettiest of insults or

010 a disrespectful look,

011 acts known on the streets as “dissin’”.

Analysis

Real acts of violence mediated

through hegemonic discourses. …real acts [of violence by and against black youths] are

not accessible to us without critical mediation by

hegemonic discourses. Consequently, this “real” violence

is always/already positioned as a part of images of black

violence and within the larger discourse on the urban black

threat (Rose 1994: 136).

It's this go-go. If you have a black-tie event, you don't

have any problem. But if you bring go-go in, you're going

to have problems

- DC Commander, Larry D. McCoy

THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPING A LA

INQUIRY AND PROJECT

Reading for Thursday 9/12

Annotation of an article of your choice. NO BOOK

REVIEWS.

1. Choose an article from the Journal of Linguistic

Anthropology to review.

2. Annotate the article. Annotation should be between

200 and 250 words.

3. Be prepared to speak intelligently about the article in

class with your colleagues.

4. Send the citation and annotation in an email (no

attachments) to profnlane@gmail.com.

Extra Credit

“Extra Credit Opportunities”