Engaging the stuff of words: language materiality and symbolic power
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Crispin Thurlow
Abstract
A contribution from multimodality studies, this paper offers a practice- and teaching-oriented approach to the stuff of words. I start by introducing language materiality, a heuristic framework proposed by linguistic anthropologists, but grounding it in four allied precedents: cultural studies, dispositif analysis, mediated discourse, and social semiotics. Then, drawing on illustrative case studies from my own work, I demonstrate a two-part framework for working with students. In Part 1, the focus is on little “m” materialities and the transmodal interplay between words and things. In Part 2, the focus is on big “M” materialities and the more structural effects of language – specifically, symbolic violence. By using banal, everyday examples students can be helped to pinpoint the multimodality of words; how words function as material artefacts in their own right; and the way words materialize societal structures. In this way, students also learn to engage the stuff of words as more than just an analytical curiosity, but rather as an explicitly political-critical consideration.
Award Identifier / Grant number: CRSK-1_190183
Acknowledgments
This study emerges in the context of a research projected funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (100015_215102) titled, “Articulating Rubbish: A Sociolinguistic Approach to the ‘Crisis of Waste’”.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Informed consent: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: The author has accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Conflict of interest: The author states no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: Swiss National Science Foundation (CRSK-1_190183).
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Data availability: Not applicable.
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