Chapter 5. Tell me Pastor
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Susanne Mühleisen
Abstract
In any society, advice-giving and -receiving are everyday practices of knowledge transmission between people in private, public and in institutional contexts. Advice is part of a complex speech activity in which the speaker typically gives a directive which they believe to be beneficial to the hearer. Depending on the situation (solicited or unsolicited) and the relationship between hearer and speaker (familiar, hierarchical, expert or user, etc.), this speech act might also be seen as face-threatening. In face-to-face contexts, Sidnell (2005a, 2005b) has shown the complexity of interactional organization of advice-seeking, advice-giving and -receiving.
For many sensitive areas in social life concerning sex, relationship and health matters, advice is sought from experts (doctors, counsellors, etc.) in the anonymity of written exchange. Dear Dolly (Mutongi 2000) or Dear Dr. Springer (Springer 2013) as types of advice columns have existed in many newspapers and magazines around the world, including many postcolonial anglophone countries, ever since the early 1960s. This chapter looks at the construction of expert and user roles in the display of certainty, directness and evaluation in advice-giving in contemporary Jamaican newspaper advice columns (Doctor’s Advice, Tell me Pastor). Particular emphasis will be placed on the advice-seeker’s request as a form of confession and the assertion of moral attitudes and norms in the advice column Tell me Pastor. An outlook to user-user advice in online forums will also be given.
Abstract
In any society, advice-giving and -receiving are everyday practices of knowledge transmission between people in private, public and in institutional contexts. Advice is part of a complex speech activity in which the speaker typically gives a directive which they believe to be beneficial to the hearer. Depending on the situation (solicited or unsolicited) and the relationship between hearer and speaker (familiar, hierarchical, expert or user, etc.), this speech act might also be seen as face-threatening. In face-to-face contexts, Sidnell (2005a, 2005b) has shown the complexity of interactional organization of advice-seeking, advice-giving and -receiving.
For many sensitive areas in social life concerning sex, relationship and health matters, advice is sought from experts (doctors, counsellors, etc.) in the anonymity of written exchange. Dear Dolly (Mutongi 2000) or Dear Dr. Springer (Springer 2013) as types of advice columns have existed in many newspapers and magazines around the world, including many postcolonial anglophone countries, ever since the early 1960s. This chapter looks at the construction of expert and user roles in the display of certainty, directness and evaluation in advice-giving in contemporary Jamaican newspaper advice columns (Doctor’s Advice, Tell me Pastor). Particular emphasis will be placed on the advice-seeker’s request as a form of confession and the assertion of moral attitudes and norms in the advice column Tell me Pastor. An outlook to user-user advice in online forums will also be given.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Genre in World Englishes 1
- Chapter 2. Callaloo, stewed manicou and doubles 17
- Chapter 3. Personhood, genealogy and remembrance in death notices and obituaries 43
- Chapter 4. Metathesiophobia, nutty professors and Patois 77
- Chapter 5. Tell me Pastor 105
- Chapter 6. Mornin Caller 133
- Chapter 7. “… allyuh know how to parteeeeeeeeeeee. lawd!” 159
- Chapter 8. Picong and puns, boasting and complaining 183
- References 211
- Index 227
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Genre in World Englishes 1
- Chapter 2. Callaloo, stewed manicou and doubles 17
- Chapter 3. Personhood, genealogy and remembrance in death notices and obituaries 43
- Chapter 4. Metathesiophobia, nutty professors and Patois 77
- Chapter 5. Tell me Pastor 105
- Chapter 6. Mornin Caller 133
- Chapter 7. “… allyuh know how to parteeeeeeeeeeee. lawd!” 159
- Chapter 8. Picong and puns, boasting and complaining 183
- References 211
- Index 227
