Chapter 8. “Boston Strong”
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Kristin Berberich
Abstract
Marathons connect both runners and onlookers to a space in unique ways and thus constitute a prime example of the reciprocal relation between language and space. This analysis draws on the Boston Marathon 2013/2014 to highlight the role of place-making practices and enregisterment connected to the world’s oldest marathon and the city it takes place in, both before and in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombings (BMB) in 2013. In line with recent sociolinguistic work on language in the urban space, this paper uses a corpus-based approach to analyse how the city is discursively created as the place of the event and, in the year after the BMB, reclaimed as a place of cheerful celebration and resilience in the wake of the incident. This study compares newspaper texts and then draws on selected semiotic artefacts that were utilized as place-making strategies in the two years analysed, thus highlighting the creative and meaning-making potential of social actors. Furthermore, the analysis discusses the role of local and supra-local social actors in the linguistic “placing of memory” (Cresswell 2004: 85) on the Boston cityscape through enregisterment before and after the BMB.
Abstract
Marathons connect both runners and onlookers to a space in unique ways and thus constitute a prime example of the reciprocal relation between language and space. This analysis draws on the Boston Marathon 2013/2014 to highlight the role of place-making practices and enregisterment connected to the world’s oldest marathon and the city it takes place in, both before and in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombings (BMB) in 2013. In line with recent sociolinguistic work on language in the urban space, this paper uses a corpus-based approach to analyse how the city is discursively created as the place of the event and, in the year after the BMB, reclaimed as a place of cheerful celebration and resilience in the wake of the incident. This study compares newspaper texts and then draws on selected semiotic artefacts that were utilized as place-making strategies in the two years analysed, thus highlighting the creative and meaning-making potential of social actors. Furthermore, the analysis discusses the role of local and supra-local social actors in the linguistic “placing of memory” (Cresswell 2004: 85) on the Boston cityscape through enregisterment before and after the BMB.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
- Chapter 2. Thematic adverbial adjuncts of place and direction and their relationship to conceptual metaphor in A. E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad 17
- Chapter 3. Death by nature in two poems by Alden Nowlan 45
- Chapter 4. Liminal islands 65
- Chapter 5. Urban metaphors 85
- Chapter 6. The Arabic of Dune 105
- Chapter 7. (Re)mapping “authentic” London 125
- Chapter 8. “Boston Strong” 147
- Chapter 9. Naming as styling 167
- Chapter 10. “She enjoys being stroked”, “They are affectionate, lively and interactive boys” 189
- Chapter 11. “Your planet needs you” 209
- Chapter 12. London past and present 229
- Name Index 253
- Subject Index 255
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
- Chapter 2. Thematic adverbial adjuncts of place and direction and their relationship to conceptual metaphor in A. E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad 17
- Chapter 3. Death by nature in two poems by Alden Nowlan 45
- Chapter 4. Liminal islands 65
- Chapter 5. Urban metaphors 85
- Chapter 6. The Arabic of Dune 105
- Chapter 7. (Re)mapping “authentic” London 125
- Chapter 8. “Boston Strong” 147
- Chapter 9. Naming as styling 167
- Chapter 10. “She enjoys being stroked”, “They are affectionate, lively and interactive boys” 189
- Chapter 11. “Your planet needs you” 209
- Chapter 12. London past and present 229
- Name Index 253
- Subject Index 255
