Chapter 10. Formality and informality in cooking shows
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Susanne Mühleisen
Abstract
Televised cooking shows have emerged as a genre with an established format in the entertainment industry. This chapter will look at cooking shows as a communicative event with a predictable sequence of acts and a set overt (instruction) and covert (entertainment) goal. This highly focussed and potentially formal communicative event (Irvine 1979) typically relies on strategies of informality, that by now have become a convention of the genre, in order to distract from its directive ‘lesson’ character. In a comparison of several cooking shows by US Southern celebrity chef Paula Deen, I will pay attention to changes in conventions of formality and informality which can be observed over time. Particular emphasis will also be placed on the linguistic features which are indexical to Paula Deen’s US Southern persona.
Abstract
Televised cooking shows have emerged as a genre with an established format in the entertainment industry. This chapter will look at cooking shows as a communicative event with a predictable sequence of acts and a set overt (instruction) and covert (entertainment) goal. This highly focussed and potentially formal communicative event (Irvine 1979) typically relies on strategies of informality, that by now have become a convention of the genre, in order to distract from its directive ‘lesson’ character. In a comparison of several cooking shows by US Southern celebrity chef Paula Deen, I will pay attention to changes in conventions of formality and informality which can be observed over time. Particular emphasis will also be placed on the linguistic features which are indexical to Paula Deen’s US Southern persona.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
-
Lifestylization and the global
- Chapter 2. How less means more in the comments section of vegan food blogs 15
- Chapter 3. The moral taste of food 35
- Chapter 4. The local and the global in airline food 57
- Chapter 5. Language in transnational communities of consumption 79
- Chapter 6. Craft beer and linguistic lifestyle emblematization 99
-
Mediatization and identity
- Chapter 7. (Un)healthy food discourses 125
- Chapter 8. Dinner for One 145
- Chapter 9. “Tell me about food and I tell you who you are” 167
- Chapter 10. Formality and informality in cooking shows 189
-
Enculturation and localization
- Chapter 11. A rich sauce of comedy 211
- Chapter 12. Naming practices in Singapore’s hawker centres 235
- Chapter 13. Naming food in English in multilingual Cameroon 257
- Index food and food names 277
- Index 281
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
-
Lifestylization and the global
- Chapter 2. How less means more in the comments section of vegan food blogs 15
- Chapter 3. The moral taste of food 35
- Chapter 4. The local and the global in airline food 57
- Chapter 5. Language in transnational communities of consumption 79
- Chapter 6. Craft beer and linguistic lifestyle emblematization 99
-
Mediatization and identity
- Chapter 7. (Un)healthy food discourses 125
- Chapter 8. Dinner for One 145
- Chapter 9. “Tell me about food and I tell you who you are” 167
- Chapter 10. Formality and informality in cooking shows 189
-
Enculturation and localization
- Chapter 11. A rich sauce of comedy 211
- Chapter 12. Naming practices in Singapore’s hawker centres 235
- Chapter 13. Naming food in English in multilingual Cameroon 257
- Index food and food names 277
- Index 281
