Sociolinguistics Lecture 7.
Chapter 9.
Ethnographic Approches in Sociolinguistics.
( lecture 6 recap, but more in-depth)
- The scienti c process tries to establish a casual relationship between 2 types of
variables: the independent variable(s) and the dependent variable(s).( what are
the independent variables that cause the dependent variables)
* dependent variable(DV) is assumed to depend on the independent variable(IV)
You are trying to gure out what the cause of
relationships is between multiple variables.
- The goal of the process is to produce results which are valid and reliable:
Validity: The extent to which the data collected address the research question
appropriately.
Reliability: the extent to which the means of assessment of the variables produce
stable and consistent results.
Variation: the idea that there are a……( tutorial slide..)
Variationist sociolinguistic studies tend to be correlational studies; They
investigate whether the is a relationship between social variables like age,
gender, or social class and linguistic variables.
In sociolinguistics, social variables are often the IV’s that the linguistic variables
(the DVs) are assumed to depend on.
Complications: correlation is not causation.
*A relationship between DV and IV does not necessarily mean that the IVs are
the reason why the TVs are occurring.
*Dif culty in assessing the independent variables*
( e.g. social class, gender, ethnicity)
- Danger of ignoring individual differences among speakers.
* Category averages are arti cial numbers which do not predict any individual
speakers behavior.
- the directionality or in uence
* assumption that social variables exist independently of language and are
re ected in linguistic variation.
* But language use could also bring social categories into existence.
Frameworks that consider subjective aspects of speakers language use in
trying to account for language variation. ( e.g. social networks and communities of
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, practice which allow for more speakers self-determination, attempt to capture gradation
within social categories and individual motivations for variation.)
- These more qualitative, ethnographic, approaches can provide valuable
insights that cannot easily be gained from quantitative, variationist, approaches
Although generalization is an issue for these approaches.
Quantitative vs Qualitative approaches:
The two main approaches to analyzing social phenomena: quantitative and
qualitative;
Quantitative approaches( trying to nd general patterns, going beyond the particular
context, are talking about it in a more general sense) ; aim to establish general laws
across different setings/ contexts
methods: data with measurements that can be analyzed statistically ( e.g.
experiments, questionnaires)
Data is categorized to nd patterns; the phenomenon is accounted for based
on the observed patterns
Good for testing a hypothesis based on an existing theory and con rming or
discon rming it.
Qualitative approaches ( not trying to nd patterns, they want to understand a particular
phenomenon in a particular case study, or a particular individual in their particular context and
in their particular setting); Aim to understand the social reality of individuals, groups
and cultures
Method: participants studied in their natural setting, dated consist of
respondents own words ( interviews, participant observation, ethnography)
Data is focused on respondents own interpretations of what is going on and
how they categorize them: each context/ situation is assumed to be unique
and worthy of detailed study
Good for hypothesis generation (exploratory research) and understanding a
particular phenomenon in great detail.
Ethnographic sociolinguistic research( a type of qualitative research ) is used to
understand the rules, cultural norms, and values connected to language use….
Ethnography( its a long-term engagement, tis based on participant observation: rst-hand
observations of behavior, including talking notes, asking questions, and participating in group
activities) : a system study of people and cultures based on eldwork; a research
process used to provide an in-depth description of the everyday life, believes and
cultural practices of a group from an insiders point of view.
Participant observation: active participation in the daily life of a community that
allows knowledge and insight about their language and cultural practices
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,* in order to reduce the power asymmetry between observer ( researcher) and
observed ( participant), the researcher tries to blend in the community and is
both a participant and an observer.
- the role of the researcher cannot be ignored as they bring in their own biases,
and their presence can impact the language practices under study.
Ethnographic approaches are used in sociolinguistics to help us understand
linguistic norms and practices as well as cultural norms and values connected to
language use in different communities.
- Three approaches introduces in this chapter are:
* ethnography of communication
* Ethnomethodology
* Linguistic ethnography
Ethnography of communication (SPEAKING)( its the core part of ethnographic
communication)
Ethnography of communication( it takes a very speci c speech interaction in a particular
setting, and tries to investigate that in great detail and tries to understand what’s going on in
that particular situation and by understanding gaining a broader picture of the situation in a
more general sense) : aims to provide a complete description of all the relevant
factors involved in speaking and in how a particular communicative event
achieves its objectives
* it can help give us a holistic representation of a ‘ speech event’
* Using the SPEAK acronym
- S(situation): The setting( physical time and place) and scene( abstract
psychological setting or cultural description) of speech.
- P: the participants in terms of their social speci ed roles ( the professor is the
participant as the lecturer, and so on)
- E: the ends or expected outcomes of an exchange and the personal goals
participants seek to accomplish
- A: act sequence : ( what is it that was said) the precise words used, how
they’re used, and the relationship of what is said to the topic at hand
- K: Key: tone, (manner or spirit) in which a message is conveyed ( light-
hearted, serious, mocking etc). ( lecture is relatively formal, but with some jokes in
between etc)
- I: Instrumentalities: wether the speech is oral, written, signed, telegraphic etc.
and the speci c code(s) or register used.
- N: Norms of interaction and interpretation: verbal (e.g. loudness) and
nonverbal (e.g. touching, physical distance, eye contact) behaviors considered
appropriate during speaking.
- G: Genre: poems, proverbs, sermons, lectures, etc.
Example:
Puerto Rican Center ( PRC) board meeting experiment
fi fi fi
, Setting: 3rd oor of old Victorian-style building, rst Thursday of the month, early
in the morning.
Participants: 13 board members, staff, consultants, invited guests and public
Ends: to conduct the business of the PRC and to be part of the community.
Act: taking a vote, discussing, small talk, joking while waiting for quorum ( 8/13
members present)
Key: conversation in business ket ( of cial) and more light hardest joking
Intstumentalities: face tot face meeting + agenda, notes taking by recording
secretary.
Norms: norms regarding address terms, competing norms regarding time( being
on time vs ‘Puerto Rican time’).
Genre: relajo- a form of joking that plays with the idea of respect (e.g. calling the
president of the board “your highness”)
What you can do with this kind of analysis, is that it reveals
how to communicate appropriately in this cross-cultural
situation, so what is acceptable and what is not.
Ethnomethodology: the study of how people organize and make sense of the
social world around them, focussing on everyday activities, and therefore
revealing that in great detail.
* it examines how people interact, solve problems, maintain social contacts,
perform routine activities , and how that they know what is going on around
them and also how they communicate that knowledge to others.
* Not speci c to language, but it plays a ket role in the social world.
- It aims to study the ‘invisibility of everyday life’: making the familiar strange,
every thing that we would take for granted, that we would see as just the way it
has always been, that is what they study, why this happens and such.
Example Experiment:
Breaching experiment ( Gar nkel 1963);
People interact by taking for granted many ideas about how the world operated
* to understand these interactions, we have to identify the underlying assumptions
that are taken for granted.
Discover these underlying rules by breaking them:
[ guy waves this hand cheerily]
S: how are you?
E: how am I in regard to what? My health?, my nance? School work?……
( ( breaking underlying assumptions) show that when you give an answer that is not
expected that it gives a strange and weird feeling, and may upset the person
who is getting the answer).
* Gar nkel gets to ask students to :
fi fi fl fi fi fifi
