Chapter 6 Language in Action The Anthropology of Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology Chapter 6 Language in Action

Language in Action Beyond language to speech Language in context Ethnography of Communication Communicating across cultures

Language in Context Context = cultural and social situation How does context affect language? Malinowski (1884-1942) Translation requires knowledge of context Context can shift meanings Recognizing indirection: Asking for a ride Ukrainian no

Communicative Competence Ability to speak a language “well” Ability to use your language “correctly” In a variety of social situations Compare with Linguistic Competence Ability to produce (and recognize) grammatically correct expressions Chomsky’s “ideal speaker” Not distracted by environment

Some Environmental “Distractions” When ‘bad’ means ‘good’ When two positives make a negative Greetings and address terms Ty and vy, du and Sie ‘Hello’ / ‘Hi’ / ‘Sup!’ How do you learn these “rules?” Ethnography of Speaking

Ethnography of Speaking Developed in 1960s by Dell Hymes Focus on language in total cultural context How people use language in real situations Communicative competence… S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G… Speech communities… The importance of fieldwork What are the rules for speaking? For not speaking? How do children learn the rules?

Ethnography of SPEAKING Setting/Situation/Scene Where? Participants Who are the speakers? Who can speak? Who should speak? Ends: What are the goals? Bargaining Asking for (and giving) directions Report-talk vs. rapport-talk

Ethnography of SPEAKING Act Sequence Exactly what gets said? Speech Acts Promises, commands, apologies Speech Events Exchanging greetings, telling jokes, giving speeches Status and type or order of greetings Speech Situations Classrooms, conferences, parties, ceremonies Key Tone of voice, manner of delivery Mourning, joking, irony, teasing

Ethnography of SPEAKING Instrumentalities Languages & dialects Mutual intelligibility Politics and attitudes: languages and their speakers Ideas about “Standard” and “Non-standard” Cousin Joe and the performance of identity thru dialect ‘warsh’ ‘fouath flouah’ ‘pahking the cah’ “A language is a dialect with an army and navy.”

Ethnography of SPEAKING Instrumentalities (cont.) Registers Situation-specific Prestigious, formal, scientific, academic, colloquial Politics and attitudes about registers and their use Speech levels in Java Implicit speech levels in the US epic vs. splendid

Ethnography of SPEAKING Norms Expectations Speaking vs. silence Directness vs. indirectness Lying vs. politeness Taking turns and interrupting Taboos and avoidances Genres Kinds of speech acts or events Lectures, Poetry Readings, Joking, Gossip

Speech Communities Linguistic Communities A speech community is A group of people who share One or more varieties of language And the rules for using them in interaction A linguistic community is A single language variety And who identify with that language variety A community of practice is ???

Rules in Speech/Linguistic Communities Are a part of the community’s culture Are different in different communities Can be learned/studied in the field

Language Across Cultures Different communities = different rules Easy for misunderstandings to occur Rich Points Moments of misunderstanding Corn pudding Interviewing for a job Asking for a ride Signal differences in rules Ways to say ‘no’ Ways to take turns Indirectness

Cross Cultural Repairs Michael Agar’s ‘MAR’ Recognize/acknowledge ‘Mistake’ in using rules Can also think of ‘Mistake’ as ‘Miscue’ Develop Awareness of different rules Ethnography of Communication as a method Repair understanding of rules Finding appropriate ways to say ‘no’ Learning to take turns without ‘interrupting’ ‘Hearing’ and responding to a request for a ride

Creating a Language: Difference in Action Identify some different linguistic situations formal/informal, teasing/serious Or identify a ‘difference’ in identity male/female, Senior/Junior, major/non-major Choose a way for your language to index (mark, indicate, signal) these differences Degrees of loudness? Specific words only used by one group? Specific words only used in certain situations?

Creating a Language: Politeness Create a greeting Create a farewell Taboo one of the words in your lexicon Why did you taboo this word? Create a euphemism for it Why did you choose this euphemism?

Next: Writing and Literacy Read: Prepare to do: Textbook Chapter 7 Workbook/Reader: Ottenheimer (pp. 137-146) Prepare to do: Writing/Discussion Exercises (W/R pp. 147-148) Practice with Languages (W/R pp. 149-150) Language Creating (W/R p. 155) Conversation partnering (W/R p. 156)