Language and Institutional Encounters
in addition to the words spoken messages often contain subtexts of human
interaction
Reveal 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
What can we say about the speaker
based on his manner of speaking?
What Class?
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 London
others were stigmatized because of their language
and its class associations
Stigmatization of AAVE
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.
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
Cultural elites establish the ideology and the meanings
BLACK
black day,
black sheep,
black mood
black market
black hole
black death
black and blue
blackball
black art
back belt
black book
black box
black cap
back cat
black cloud
black comedy
black diamond
black economy
blacked
blacken
black guard
black hearted
black humour
black ice
black look
black magic
black light
black list
blackmail
black mark
Black Mass
black mood
blackout
Black panther
blackshirts
black spot
black tie
black watch
Opposing meanings of domination by elite segments
may offer group solidarity and be a form of resistance
 black is beautiful
Black Power
1968 Olympics
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
Expertise
Attractiveness
Trustworthiness
Objectivity
source credibility
Expertise
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.
Trustworthiness
The Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch Hammer)
Heinrich Kramer and James
Sprenger
first published in 1486
> 20 editions next 200 years
Pope Innocent VIII issued a Papal
Bull in 1484. It’s inclusion made it
appear that the whole book
enjoyed papal sanction
Who were the witches?
“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
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 language
e.g. ability to name and classify things
the ability to name things acts and ideas is a source of
power
control of communication allows the managers of
ideology to lay down the categories through which
reality is to be perceived
also ability to deny alternative categories
In stratified societies elites or majorities control the
ability to name things
 also rights to select topics
Low status people use mitigating language
institutions affect our lives and through their hierarchical structure
elicit characteristic kinds of behaviours within them
How is the authority of teachers maintained?
institutional position
status of age
Class
Uniform
Question answer structure - children are called upon or have to raise their
hand to have the right to speak
Chaining and arching
chaining
asking another question after a response to regain
control of the communicative interaction
Arching
when 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 adults
status then gives rights
How are parents constrained in their interactions with
school professionals
What rights do they have?
How do teachers maintain control?
using inclusive
language e.g. We
presenting
conclusions
Requesting or
assuming
compliance of
parents
Medical Encounters
doctors routinely exert authority and
control and patients acquiesce to their
authority
What is the usual sequence of events and
discussion when you visit the doctor?
The doctor establishes relevant topics and
their development by asking questions
He or she validates responses and thereby
assert control
They dismiss or ignore or redirect patient`s
talk if it is not consistent with the scientific
medical model
doctors influence decisions that patients
ostensibly have a right to make for themselves
Even 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 Settings
Formalized
Physical environment and spatial participants
are predetermined
Rights and obligations to speak are given
according to role
Relevance of topics narrowly denfed
Each type of participant has different speaking
styles
legalese
characterized by:
•long sentences,
•many modifying clauses,
the implication is that it enhances the authority of
•complex vocabulary,
attorneys and judges and to justify high fees.
•specialized vocabulary or
Legalese is mystifying producing an aura of distance jargon
and secrecy contributing to the prestige of speakers •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
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 speech
used 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 speech
Used 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 attractive
important when attempting to persuade a
jury
hearers attribute positive characteristics to
speakers of powerful speech because it is
generally associated with high status people,
who by their position receive deference and
respect
that powerful witnesses are often
professionals with scientific or other
technical expertise adds to their credibility
powerful speech implies the speakers
certainty and self-assurance
qualifiers, hesitations, hedges,
unconsciously transmit messages of
uncertainty
and thus are less likely to be believed”
we tend to accept what we
hear or see in the media
come in an objective format
they operate on the basis of
shared cultural myth central of
which is the myth of neutrality
enhanced by manner in which
they are offered
print media gives aura of
impartiality
Lloyd Robertson
Do you believe this man?
If so Why?
linguistic devices are used to
create and sustain points of
view
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
“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
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)
Says
Claims
Affirms
Declares
Pronounces
Remarks
Comments
States
Observes
Swears
Argues
Asserts
alleges
Certifies
Admits
Confesses
avows
Our selection of nouns,
adjectives, adverbs and
verbs can influence the way
we perceive events
June 18, 2008
Syntactic elements can also influence
the way we perceive events
Globe and mail :
Move against Taliban begins
Canadian and Afghan troops push into Arghandab region just outside
of Kandahar city
National Post
Anti-Taliban offensive begins
Helicopter gunships and troops with small and heavy arms lead a huge
attack against hundreds of Taliban insurgents
Toronto Star
Afghan operation underway
Afghan 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.
Who are the agents and recipients of action
How do the different versions of the same event influence our perceptions
The ethnographic present
The 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 impulse
To preserve a Native culture that
had begun a radical transformation
At same time, helped to shape
Native culture
freezing his vision of the past textual & photographic memories
Curtis 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 banned
Indian children were taken away to
boarding schools, taught English,
and trained to fit into white
mainstream society.
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.
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.
The same Navajo woman
guess which one made it into Curtis’s book?
Terms and Concepts
Received Pronunciation
Authoritative Speech
source credibility
Chaining
Arching
Legalese
powerless speech
Powerful speech
The ethnographic present