Language and Institutional Encounters

in addition to the words spoken messages often contain subtexts of human interactionReveal motivations values, attitudes and so on about rights and worthiness of others

Every culture has systems of beliefs about the world including ideas about human beings, their abilities and rights, and the ways they interact with each other

Belief systems not only explain but also legitimate social orders and constructions of reality

in stratified societies beliefs about the inherent superiority of some groups and inherent inferiority of others e.g. class , age race, are maintained through linguistic messages

What is Standard Canadian English? Who speaks it? what is the appropriate language in schools , the media, church, politics religious life

Non standard Canadian english

How do we evaluate the speech of these two guys relative to the standard?

Received pronunciation

Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent considered to be the spoken form of the Standard langauge.in Great Britain the standard now usually referred to as a Received Pronunciation RP was a dialect originally associated with upper class speakers regionally centred round Londonothers were stigmatized because of their language and its class associationsStigmatization of AAVE

What can we say about the speaker based on his manner of speaking?What Class?

This characterisation was important because of the way in which the colours black and white were emotionally loaded concepts in European languages especially English

The contrasts denoted polar opposites white represented good, purity and virginity black symbolized death, evil and debasement

What struck explorers most forcefully were differences in physical appearance particularly skin colour

An early distinction emerged between those who had black skin as opposed to those who had white skin.

Cultural elites establish the ideology and the meanings

Black Power1968 OlympicsOpposing meanings of domination by elite segments

may offer group solidarity and be a form of resistance black is beautiful

BLACKblack day,black sheep, black moodblack marketblack holeblack deathblack and blueblackballblack artback beltblack bookblack boxblack cap

back catblack cloudblack comedyblack diamondblack economyblackedblackenblack guardblack heartedblack humourblack iceblack lookblack magic

black lightblack listblackmailblack markBlack Massblack moodblackoutBlack pantherblackshirtsblack spotblack tieblack watch

Authoritative Speech

authoritative speech

What makes the speech authoritative

What makes Academic papers authoritative

Whose purposes does this serve?

source credibility

THE SOURCE

Who is delivering the message can have a big impact on whether it will be accepted.

a credible source can be particularly persuasive

ExpertiseExpertise TrustworthinessTrustworthiness

ObjectivityObjectivityAttractivenessAttractiveness

source credibility

Source Credibility

Credibility can be enhanced if the source’s qualifications are perceived as relevant to the product being endorsed. If they are seen as experts.

Expertise

Trustworthiness

Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger

first published in 1486

> 20 editions next 200 years

The Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch Hammer)

Pope Innocent VIII issued a Papal Bull in 1484. It’s inclusion made it appear that the whole book enjoyed papal sanction

“What else is a woman …but a foe to friendship, an unescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic danger, a delectable detriment, and an evil of nature painted with fair colors [she is, furthermore ]by her nature quicker to waiver in her faith which is the root of witchcraft.”

Kramer and Sprenger, the Malleus Maleficarum

Who were the witches?

Do you not believe that you are (each) an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives on even in our times and so it is necessary that the guilt should live on, also. You are the one who opened the door to the Devil, you are the one who first plucked the fruit of the forbidden tree, you are the first who deserted the divine law; you are the one who persuaded him whom the Devil was not strong enough to attack. All too easily you destroyed the image of God, man. Because of your desert, that is, death, even the Son of God had to die.

(Tertullian (c. 155/160-220 CE) : The Apparel of Women, Book I, Chapt. 1)

Differences in rights and values given to categories of people are manifested in several features of languagee.g. ability to name and classify thingsthe ability to name things acts and ideas is a source of powercontrol of communication allows the managers of ideology to lay down the categories through which reality is to be perceivedalso ability to deny alternative categoriesIn stratified societies elites or majorities control the ability to name things also rights to select topicsLow status people use mitigating language

institutions affect our lives and through their hierarchical structure elicit characteristic kinds of behaviours within themHow is the authority of teachers maintained?

institutional position status of ageClassUniformQuestion answer structure - children are called upon or have to raise their hand to have the right to speakChaining and arching

chainingasking another question after a response to regain control of the communicative interaction

Archingwhen the other person initiate a communicative interaction series responding with questions to make a countermove and take control

children use chaining but seldom arching with adultsstatus then gives rights

How are parents constrained in their interactions with school professionalsWhat rights do they have?How do teachers maintain control?

using inclusive language e.g. Wepresenting conclusionsRequesting or assuming compliance of parents

doctors routinely exert authority and control and patients acquiesce to their authorityWhat is the usual sequence of events and discussion when you visit the doctor?

Medical Encounters

The doctor establishes relevant topics and their development by asking questionsHe or she validates responses and thereby assert controlThey dismiss or ignore or redirect patient`s talk if it is not consistent with the scientific medical modeldoctors influence decisions that patients ostensibly have a right to make for themselvesEven though patient decides to go to see the patient the doctor decides when to see them.The doctor asserts interactional primacy

1.) The Judge - ensures the trial is conducted in an orderly manner according to the prescribed rules and laws.

2.) The Clerk is in charge of the jury during the trial and deliberations. The Clerk is also responsible for maintaining accurate permanent records of all court proceedings and exhibits.

3.) The Witness a person who gives testimony concerning the issue being tried.

4.) The Interpreter - a qualified person who interprets the entire court proceeding for defendants and witnesses who do not speak English.

5.) The Defendant - in a criminal case, the person charged with an offense.

6.) The Defense Attorney - represents the defendant.

7.) The Prosecuting Attorney presents the state's case against the defendant.

8.) The Prosecutor's Investigating Officer - The judge may allow the prosecutor's investigator on the case to sit with the prosecutor.

9.) The Jury - The Jury is composed of 6-12 individuals selected to decide the defendant's guilt or innocence based on the facts presented.

Legal SettingsFormalizedPhysical environment and spatial participants are predeterminedRights and obligations to speak are given according to roleRelevance of topics narrowly denfedEach type of participant has different speaking styles

legalesecharacterized by:•long sentences,•many modifying clauses,•complex vocabulary,•specialized vocabulary or jargon•high abstraction•insensitivity to the layman's need to understand• over formality•reliance on and citation to authority•importance of precedent

A form of language used for legal writing that is difficult for laymen to read and understand

the implication is that it enhances the authority of attorneys and judges and to justify high fees.

Legalese is mystifying producing an aura of distance and secrecy contributing to the prestige of speakers

How is academic writing similar

attorneys representing inherently conflicting positions argue their cases in front of a neutral judge in order to persuade members of the jury to render a verdict favouring their side

witnesses are assessed by both what they say and how they say it

powerless speechused by low status witnesses is characterized by frequent use of intensifiers (so, very) hedges (I think, guess) hesitation forms (uh, well, you know), questioning forms (rising intonations in declarative contexts) and polite forms (please thank you)

Powerful speechUsed by high status witnesses (e.g. parole officers, doctors, experts, professionals)Tends to be free of these markers and to result in a more straightforward manner

“witnesses who use more powerful speech seen to be more credible and attractiveimportant when attempting to persuade a juryhearers attribute positive characteristics to speakers of powerful speech because it is generally associated with high status people,who by their position receive deference and respectthat powerful witnesses are often professionals with scientific or other technical expertise adds to their credibilitypowerful speech implies the speakers certainty and self-assurancequalifiers, hesitations, hedges, unconsciously transmit messages of uncertaintyand thus are less likely to be believed”

Do you believe this man?If so Why?

Lloyd Robertson

we tend to accept what we hear or see in the mediacome in an objective formatthey operate on the basis of shared cultural myth central of which is the myth of neutralityenhanced by manner in which they are offeredprint media gives aura of impartiality

linguistic devices are used to create and sustain points of view

“This Tuesday, June 4, 2008, history was made when Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton to become the first black American candidate to do so.”

“[H]is Presidency will have a seismic impact on history and forever changing the perception of what black folk can be in America.” – philly on Barack Obama’s run for the presidency

linguistic devices are used to create and sustain points of view

Systematic but perhaps not conscious

Transmit subtle messages about social groups and social ideologies

Strategies marginalize minorities

On April 20th, 1999 two gun-toting students entered Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killing 12 students and a teacher

What if they had been black?

Source ______ Liberal Leader's plan to be unveiled Thursday is very simple: 'The more you pollute, the more you pay (Globe and Mil June 18, 2008)

SaysClaimsAffirmsDeclaresPronouncesRemarksCommentsStates

ObservesSwearsArguesAssertsallegesCertifiesAdmitsConfessesavows

Our selection of nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs can influence the way we perceive events

Globe and mail :Move against Taliban beginsCanadian and Afghan troops push into Arghandab region just outside of Kandahar city National PostAnti-Taliban offensive begins Helicopter gunships and troops with small and heavy arms lead a huge attack against hundreds of Taliban insurgents

Toronto StarAfghan operation underwayAfghan and Canadian forces attempted to cross a river and take out a contingent of Taliban fighters who were entrenched Wednesday just outside Afghanistan's second-largest city.

June 18, 2008

Who are the agents and recipients of actionHow do the different versions of the same event influence our perceptions

Syntactic elements can also influence the way we perceive events

The ethnographic presentThe representation of other cultures in the present tense

Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952)

• 1st studio - Seattle 1893 • official photographer of

scientific expedition in Alaska • decided to make "a

photographic history of the disapearing American Indian"

The North American Indian

• visited 80 tribes, took 40,000 photographs, made 10,000 tapes, & wrote reams

• 20 vol• Completed 1930

Ethnographic impulseTo preserve a Native culture that had begun a radical transformationAt same time, helped to shape Native culture freezing his vision of the past - textual & photographic memoriesCurtis worked very hard to construct such an ethnographic present in his photographs.oral memories of tribal elders and others

Curtis began his photographic project during the height of U.S. government efforts to assimilate the Indian population.Most Indians were restricted to reservations and made dependent on government agents for food, clothing, and other essentials.Tribal governments and native languages were suppressed and religious ceremonies were bannedIndian children were taken away to boarding schools, taught English, and trained to fit into white mainstream society.

Other Indian people protested that the pictures are romantic images that stereotype and dehumanize the people in them.A few pointed out that if Curtis had shown the real plight of people on reservations, his images might have led to government reforms that could have helped their ancestors.

Underlying his work was the assumption that native life was doomed,In order to portray traditional customs and dress, Curtis—using techniques accepted by many anthropologists of his day—removed modern clothes and other signs of contemporary life from his pictures.

guess which one made it into Curtis’s book?

The same Navajo woman

Received PronunciationAuthoritative Speechsource credibilityChainingArching Legalesepowerless speechPowerful speechThe ethnographic present

Terms and Concepts