Chapter 3. Bogan as a keyword of contemporary Australia
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Roslyn Rowen
Abstract
This chapter studies the word bogan as a cultural keyword of contemporary Australian public discourse. The word bogan is specific to Australian English, with its closest counterpart in other Englishes being chav in British English and white trash or redneck in American English. Through a semantic analysis of the word, this chapter demonstrates that the social category of “bogans” remains a negative concept, denoting a certain group of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who are car-loving, prone to violence and have a certain bogan outlook on life. However, the chapter also shows that in contemporary Australian discourse this originally negative concept can be transformed into a way of self-identification, and as a way of positively embracing Australian nationalism. This analysis is supported by studies in the ethnopragmatics and historical pragmatics of Australian English, which show a general tendency to value the “shared ordinariness” of people and to discursively “heroise” the little man, and the semi-criminal person. Applying the NSM approach to linguistic and cultural analysis, this chapter provides new analyses of the meaning of bogan, and cultural scripts related to the concept. It also opens up the study of the emergence of new cultural keywords, and on the semantic and discursive diversity within Anglo Englishes.
Abstract
This chapter studies the word bogan as a cultural keyword of contemporary Australian public discourse. The word bogan is specific to Australian English, with its closest counterpart in other Englishes being chav in British English and white trash or redneck in American English. Through a semantic analysis of the word, this chapter demonstrates that the social category of “bogans” remains a negative concept, denoting a certain group of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who are car-loving, prone to violence and have a certain bogan outlook on life. However, the chapter also shows that in contemporary Australian discourse this originally negative concept can be transformed into a way of self-identification, and as a way of positively embracing Australian nationalism. This analysis is supported by studies in the ethnopragmatics and historical pragmatics of Australian English, which show a general tendency to value the “shared ordinariness” of people and to discursively “heroise” the little man, and the semi-criminal person. Applying the NSM approach to linguistic and cultural analysis, this chapter provides new analyses of the meaning of bogan, and cultural scripts related to the concept. It also opens up the study of the emergence of new cultural keywords, and on the semantic and discursive diversity within Anglo Englishes.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Typographical conventions and symbols ix
- Chapter 1. How words do things with people 1
- Chapter 2. Nice as a cultural keyword 25
- Chapter 3. Bogan as a keyword of contemporary Australia 55
- Chapter 4. Social keywords in postcolonial Melanesian discourse 83
- Chapter 5. Talking about Livet ‘life’ in Golden Age Danish 107
- Chapter 6. Visuality, identity and emotion 131
- Chapter 7. Subúrbio and suburbanos 157
- Chapter 8. Cantonese ‘ mong4 ’ 183
- Chapter 9. Kawaii discourse 211
- Chapter 10. An invitation to keyword studies 235
- Index 243
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Typographical conventions and symbols ix
- Chapter 1. How words do things with people 1
- Chapter 2. Nice as a cultural keyword 25
- Chapter 3. Bogan as a keyword of contemporary Australia 55
- Chapter 4. Social keywords in postcolonial Melanesian discourse 83
- Chapter 5. Talking about Livet ‘life’ in Golden Age Danish 107
- Chapter 6. Visuality, identity and emotion 131
- Chapter 7. Subúrbio and suburbanos 157
- Chapter 8. Cantonese ‘ mong4 ’ 183
- Chapter 9. Kawaii discourse 211
- Chapter 10. An invitation to keyword studies 235
- Index 243
