Session 4, Text & Sign II RECAP: Social meaning of language variationE.g. a play (drama):
1. Use dimension:
Register: fictional literature – not e.g. natural conversation
(cp. interactional features)
Genre: stage dialog – not e.g. poem, novel, short story, etc.
2. User dimension:
The characters within the “reality” of the fiction:
What does their use of language show about …
who they are (social stereotypes)?
their social relationship to other characters?
their social attitudes and value
Session 4, Text & Sign II RECAP: Social meaning of language variation
E.g. a play (drama):
1. Use dimension:
Register: fictional literature – not e.g. natural conversation
(cp. interactional features)
Genre: stage dialog – not e.g. poem, novel, short story, etc.
2. User dimension:
The characters within the “reality” of the fiction:
What does their use of language show about …
who they are (social stereotypes)?
their social relationship to other characters?
their social attitudes and values?
”Language and Power” - Discourse Analysis
Sociolinguistics: concerned with spoken language especially – form and (social) function
Discourse analysis: Concerned with written language especially – form and content
Definitions of Discourse:
A. Text across sentences, spoken or written (structural cohesion/coherence)
B. Conversational interaction (the “management” of the conversation)
C. Particular ways of structuring areas of knowledge and social practices
Critical Discourse Analysis
We can see (A), (B) and (C) as different levels of social practice, but –
– regardless of the level analyzed:
Discourse Analysis = analysis of the discourse
by any or all methods!
i.e. it may involve any number or type of linguistic, pragmatic and/or social theories or methods
(including e.g. Sign Theory and Speech Act Theory)
Critical Discourse Analysis
is based on a ”conflict” model of society: language creates, sustains and replicates fundamental social inequalities
Sociolinguistics is more often based on a consensus model of society– according to some analysts
Discourse (Analysis) theory
Already in Speech Act theory, language not only reflects, it creates reality – cp. speech act theory
Thus variation in language/texts = variation in reality!
A text is rarely true or false …
… but may construct a different reality than some other text
This notion is called Linguistic Relativity
The different discursive realities tend to be politically or ideologically determined
representing different power structures, conflicts, inequalities, etc.
Early Foucault
identities are constructed through the range of discourses available to the individual
(language controls consciousness – cp. Sapir/Whorf)
Later Foucault
identities are constructed by relations of power
= “the internalization of the norms and values implied by the prevailing discourses”
= “what seems attractive and desirable” – “socially useful” Fairclough
Fairclough’s model (Readings pp.77-78)
– adds a more linguistic dimension
A concrete text (written, spoken or signed)
2. Discourse practice (of text production or interpretation
3. Sociocultural Practice (wider social and political relations)
Fairclough cont.
Orders of Discourse
(cp. Bourdieu’s Linguistic Markets)
Discourse practices within, e.g., education system, labor market, government, everyday interactions
The particular order of discourse of an institution comprises a hierarchy of more or less acceptable discourse types
Some have an on-stage role – others an off-stage role – in the practices of the institution
Pierre Bourdieu: Four types of capital
1. Economic
2. Cultural (knowledge, skill, education)
3. Social (connections, membership)
4. Symbolic (prestige, honor, status)
Interactions take place within Linguistic Marketplace
Symbolic capital symbolic domination
Capital coveted the most: that which is most unequally distributed
The powerless believe in the legitimacy of the powerful
Bourdieu cont.
Habitus – euphemization: durable, transposable
(class) dispositions influencing individual practices
cp. Basil Bernstein’s ”particularistic vs. universalistic” orders of meaning (1973)
Critique of Bourdieu:
Focuses on power at the expense of the solidarity dimension
Undervalues structure and function of working class vernaculars
Discourse Analysis: Some key notions for discussion
Power – solidarity (hierarchical>
Key concepts, cont.
The ideological nature of the sign
Voloshinov (1973)/ Bakhtin (1981): linguistic signs open to different social orientations (i.e. not ”neutral”)
Heteroglossia / polyphony: coexistence and interplay between several ”voices” in an utterance
Bakhtin: dominant classes try to downplay polyphony of the sign, to make the sign uniaccentual
Construction of self via language = entering into dialogue with, and adopting, many social ”voices”
- cp. ”acts of identity” in later sociolinguistics
Related concepts:
(Positive) connotations (Barthes) of some words preferable to (negative) connotations of alternatives
Euphemization (Bourdieu): discarding the disagreeable word for the sake of appropriateness (”market accommodation”)
Relexicalization (Halliday): replacement of old words for new in the “anti-language”
The Lopez text Fairclough’s ”text” level: Purpose?
– what kind of social act does it constitute?
Ad-like features: ”code play” – intended effect?
Puns: Fanny-tastic (caption)
Copy her moves (metaphor/literal) 1st par.
Kick-ass caboose, 1st par.
Behind the seams (cp. scenes) picture, below
Cosmo Buff, top left
Lopez, cont. Alliteration: Caption –
dug up the dish
her well-rounded rear ranked
best backside
1st par. –
shapely star
butt boosting
kick-ass caboose
Sub-headings –
rump running
tush toning
Lopez, cont. Cohesion: Different words for one item (!) is
the main principle of cohesion throughout
– Find all these different ”synonyms”
– Group them according to type
i.e. Synonyms for buttocks in Lopez:
FORMAL INFORMAL SLANG
rear euph. backside euph. fanny AE! – cp. BE: taboo!
rump humor euph tush AE
butt ”end” cp. cigarette butt
caboose = last train wagon
(kick)ass rude, taboo!
NOT USED
behind euph.
bum euph.
bottom euph.
i.e. 8 words for ”buttocks” used in Lopez
– all of them with obvious connotations –
only word not used is the ”neutral” one: buttocks!
Relexicalization (Halliday)
Euphemization (Bourdieu)
”anti-language” ”market accommodation”
What commodity is being put on the market, in Lopez?
”keeps her well-rounded rear ranked Hollywood’s best backside”
”Copy … and you’ll have a kick-ass caboose in three weeks”
Implication: Women will compete for beauty / see this as a matter for competition
”kick-ass” intertextuality: games / fighting
Picture: Icon and Symbol (of beauty, metonymically represented in language and picture emphasis by ”tush”!
Lopez cont.
Fairclough’s Discourse Practice (level two)
Divide text into sections and label them
according to (main) language function (Readings, p. 45)
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