Chapter 10. “Proper is whatever people make it”
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Mary-Caitlyn Valentinsson
Abstract
This study analyzes a family dinnertime conversation in order to understand how language ideologies are created through everyday talk. Drawing on Conversation/Discourse Analysis and linguistic anthropology, this study address three questions central to this volume: (1) What and how do linguistic forms convey a speaker’s subjectivity and identity in the local context of interaction and to what level of language do they belong? (2) Which forms position individual speakers or groups of speakers socially and culturally (because of their association with particular situations or situational dimensions)? And (3), what are the socio-cultural norms for language usage, which enable speakers to represent their identities? I argue that a range of linguistic stance-taking strategies, and the way these strategies create positionalities for interlocutors, illustrate the relationship between ideology and everyday interaction. This paper also argues for the importance of understanding the sociocultural context of talk in order to interpret interactional data.
Abstract
This study analyzes a family dinnertime conversation in order to understand how language ideologies are created through everyday talk. Drawing on Conversation/Discourse Analysis and linguistic anthropology, this study address three questions central to this volume: (1) What and how do linguistic forms convey a speaker’s subjectivity and identity in the local context of interaction and to what level of language do they belong? (2) Which forms position individual speakers or groups of speakers socially and culturally (because of their association with particular situations or situational dimensions)? And (3), what are the socio-cultural norms for language usage, which enable speakers to represent their identities? I argue that a range of linguistic stance-taking strategies, and the way these strategies create positionalities for interlocutors, illustrate the relationship between ideology and everyday interaction. This paper also argues for the importance of understanding the sociocultural context of talk in order to interpret interactional data.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
- Chapter 2. Positioning through address practice in Finland-Swedish and Sweden-Swedish service encounters 19
- Chapter 3. Sociocultural and linguistic constraints in address choice from Latin to Italian 51
- Chapter 4. Closeness at a distance 81
- Chapter 5. Beyond the notion of periphery 105
- Chapter 6. Metacommenting in English and French 127
- Chapter 7. Direct speech, subjectivity and speaker positioning in London English and Paris French 155
- Chapter 8. Positioning of self in interaction 177
- Chapter 9. Constellation of indexicalities and social meaning 197
- Chapter 10. “Proper is whatever people make it” 219
- Chapter 11. Representations of self and other in narratives of return migration 241
- Chapter 12. Orthography as an identity marker 263
- Chapter 13. Positioning the self in talk about groups 285
- Author index 307
- Subject index 313
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
- Chapter 2. Positioning through address practice in Finland-Swedish and Sweden-Swedish service encounters 19
- Chapter 3. Sociocultural and linguistic constraints in address choice from Latin to Italian 51
- Chapter 4. Closeness at a distance 81
- Chapter 5. Beyond the notion of periphery 105
- Chapter 6. Metacommenting in English and French 127
- Chapter 7. Direct speech, subjectivity and speaker positioning in London English and Paris French 155
- Chapter 8. Positioning of self in interaction 177
- Chapter 9. Constellation of indexicalities and social meaning 197
- Chapter 10. “Proper is whatever people make it” 219
- Chapter 11. Representations of self and other in narratives of return migration 241
- Chapter 12. Orthography as an identity marker 263
- Chapter 13. Positioning the self in talk about groups 285
- Author index 307
- Subject index 313
