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 AnalysisSociolinguistics: concerned with spoken language

especially – form and (social) functionDiscourse 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 AnalysisWe 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) theoryAlready in Speech Act theory, language not only

reflects, it creates reality – cp. speech act theoryThus variation in language/texts = variation in

reality!A text is rarely true or false …… but may construct a different reality than

some other textThis notion is called Linguistic RelativityThe different discursive realities tend to be

politically or ideologically determinedrepresenting different power structures,

conflicts, inequalities, etc.

Early Foucaultidentities are constructed through the range of

discourses available to the individual(language controls consciousness – cp. Sapir/Whorf)

Later Foucaultidentities 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

TEXT

DISCOURSE PRACTICE

SOCIAL PRACTICE

1. 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. Economic2. Cultural (knowledge, skill, education)3. Social (connections, membership)4. Symbolic (prestige, honor, status) Interactions take place within Linguistic MarketplaceSymbolic capital symbolic dominationCapital coveted the most: that which is most unequally

distributedThe 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

dimensionUndervalues structure and function of working

class vernaculars

Discourse Analysis: Some key notions for discussion

 Power – solidarity (hierarchical><non-hierarch.)Tu/Vous distinction in your language(s)?

Hegemony /Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA)Power disguised, government with consent of the governed

- macro level, e.g. tacit language norm- micro level, e.g. tacit status & role

relationships Voices/polyphony (Bakhtin) –

- “decentered subjects” (Foucault) - intertextuality (e.g. Fairclough)

 

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 textFairclough’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 boostingkick-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)

Lopez cont.Language Functions (cp. Readings p. 45):

Reportive/directive (”Copy …)+ Commissive (”and you’ll have …)

= style of advertising

2nd & 3rd columns:Directive/reportive: style of instruction manual

Lopez cont.Conversational style (”interaction”): Often in ads!Here ?

Tabloid style (cp. ”Kate’s boobs”)Here?

Fairclough’s Social Practice (level three):

Does the text challenge or reinforce expected social roles?

PuristReports attitude:

”… instructed by my father to say ’It is I’”

”… dozens of rules of speech”

”… a question of being properly brought up”

”… class came into it”

Ex. of irony – the author speaking with two ”voices”?

”… And when we started writing, we were told never to begin a sentence with the word and”

”… nor to use a preposition to end a sentence up with”

Purist cont.Expressive of the author’s attitude:

”… Frankly, I don’t regret these injunctions”

”… they have taken on almost moral overtones”

”… I find it hard to trust someone who says …”

”… sense of superiority … scorn for the speaker …”

”… my disapproval is such that … I’m not going to give them any free advertising”

Implicit value judgments:”… bad grammar has a wider mass appeal than

normal grammar” [DISCUSS ”bad,” ”mass,” ”normal”! ]

[Identify the ”linguistic symbols of mass culture”

in the last paragraph]