scholarly journals Streetwise, Active and Cool: How Do Vilnius Adolescents Perceive Their Peers’ Linguistic Identity?

2015 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Aurelija Čekuolytė
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Linguistic Identity ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Linguistic Resource ◽  
Global Meaning ◽  
Local Meaning ◽  
Derived Data

The current sociolinguistic enterprise is preoccupied with the local meaning of the linguistic resources, however, the global meaning is equally important, because any linguistic resource becomes socially meaningful only when it is recognized as such by the others. Therefore, the main objectives of this article are (1) to advocate for the need to investigate not only the local meaning, discovered through the in-depth ethnographic fieldwork, but also the global meaning of the linguistic resources, (2) to demonstrate how by inclusion of other methodologies, in this case, the verbal guise technique, we can investigate the global meaning of the ethnographically derived data, and (3) to present results of the study of Vilnius adolescents’ perception of their peers’ linguistic identity which encompassed these two methodologies. During the course of the fieldwork in a school in Vilnius, five main social categories of Vilnius adolescents were distinguished: active schoolwise girls, cool girls, cool boys, streetwise girls, and streetwise boys. Different linguistic resources are incorporated in construction of different adolescents’ social categories. But are those linguistic differences local or could they be recognized as having this particular social meaning in other communities of practice? In order to answer this question, the verbal guise experiment was conducted in 3 other schools. Most of the adolescents’ identities were recognized by theadolescents in the verbal guise experiment. This implies that the linguistic variation, involved in the identity construction, has the same meaning in Vilnius dormitory neighborhoods.

scholarly journals Intersectionality and the social meanings of variation: Class, ethnicity, and social practice

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 629-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Kirkham
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Class Relations ◽  
Phonetic Variation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings

AbstractThis article examines how the social meanings of phonetic variation in a British adolescent community are influenced by a complex relationship between ethnicity, social class, and social practice. I focus on the realisation of the happy vowel in Sheffield English, which is reported to be a lax variant [ε̈] amongst working-class speakers but is undergoing change towards a tense variant [i] amongst middle-class speakers. I analyse the acoustic realisation of this vowel across four female communities of practice in a multiethnic secondary school and find that the variable's community-wide associations of social class are projected onto the ethnographic category of school orientation, which I suggest is a more local interpretation of class relations. Ethnographic evidence and discourse analysis reveal that local meanings of the happy vowel vary further within distinctive community of practice styles, which is the result of how ethnicity and social class intersect in structuring local social practices. (Intersectionality, indexicality, social meaning, identity, ethnicity, social class)*

French-language COVID-19 terminology

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Lynne Bowker
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Formal Language ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
French Language ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Public Health Information

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic situation developed very quickly, driving an urgent and global need to communicate public health information that left relatively little time for traditional and formal language planning activities. This article investigates and compares French-language COVID-19-related terms appearing in linguistic resources developed in Canada and Europe to determine whether this terminology appears to be international or localized. Findings reveal that regional variation exists and that one contributing factor is that de-terminologization is being accelerated by the popular media. Another key factor leading to linguistic differences is the language situation (i.e., majority vs minority situation). Overall, while there is considerable overlap in the terminology used in the two resources, there are enough differences to warrant underlining the importance of localizing terminological content in a situation such as a pandemic in order to ensure that communication of critical information is as effective as possible.

scholarly journals Polymedia repertoires of networked individuals

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 725-755
Author(s):  
Caroline Tagg ◽  
Agnieszka Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Digital Communications ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Communicative Practices ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Identification Processes ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract This article introduces the concept of the polymedia repertoire to explore how social meaning is indexed through the interplay of communicative resources at different levels of expression (from choice of media to individual signs) in digitally mediated interactions. The multi-layered polymedia repertoire highlights how people move fluidly between media platforms, semiotic modes and linguistic resources in the course of their everyday interactions, and enables us to locate digital communications within individuals’ wider practices. The potential of our theoretical contribution is illustrated through analysis of mobile phone messaging between participants in a large multi-sited ethnography of the communicative practices of multilingual migrants working in linguistically diverse UK city neighbourhoods. Our analysis of mobile messaging exchanges in a day-in-the-life of these networked individuals reveals the importance of device attention in shaping interpersonal interactions, as well as the complex ways in which choices at different levels of a polymedia repertoire are structured by social relationships, communicative purpose and (dis)identification processes.

Morning Sir!

Matatu ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-224
Author(s):  
Akinmade Timothy Akande
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Linguistic Identity ◽  
Personal Names ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Rich Domain ◽  
Local Languages

Nigerian military army barracks are a rich domain in which soldiers and officers display different strands of their identity. A typical army barracks in Nigeria often accommodates many ethnic groups owing to the federal policy governing the recruitment of both soldiers and officers. Thus, it is common in the barracks for military men to be aware of their ethnic, linguistic, religious, and regional affiliations and to relate to one another based on these various affiliations. It is against this backdrop that the present study seeks to investigate how soldiers and officers make use of linguistic resources available to them to convey religious, occupational, ethnic, and linguistic identity in the barracks. Data for the study were collected from 46 military men, soldiers and officers, in four military barracks. The locationss are Akure, Enugu, Saki, and Zaria Barracks. The instruments used in gathering the data were questionnaire, face-to-face interviews, and participant observation. The study revealed that both soldiers and officers represent their occupational identity through the specific use of certain lexical items and slang, while their ethnic identity is signified through the use of ethnic and other local languages. Their personal names were also observed to be symptomatic of their religious identity.

‘Don’t even [θ/f/h]ink aboot it’

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Lexical Effects ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Using Data

As a relatively new phenomenon in the phonology of Scottish English, TH-fronting has surprised sociolinguists by its rapid spread in the urban heartlands of Scotland. While attempts have been made to understand and model the influence of lexical effects, media effects and frequency effects, far less understood is the role of social identity. Using data collected as part of an ethnographic study of a high school in the south side of Glasgow, Scotland, this article addresses this gap in the literature by considering how TH-fronting is patterned across three all-male, working-class, adolescent Communities of Practice, and how this innovative variant is integrated within a system of the more established variants [θ] and [h]. Drawing on recent work on linguistic variation and social meaning, the article also explores some of the social meanings of (θ), particularly those variants which previous research has reported as being associated with ‘toughness’, and suggests how these meanings are utilised in speakers’ construction of social identity.

scholarly journals Linguistic (il)legitimacy in Migration Encounters

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
Petros Karatsareas
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Greek Cypriot ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Greek Migrants

Linguistic differences between groups of co-ethnic and/or co-national migrants in diasporic contexts can become grounds for constructing and displaying identities that distinguish (groups of) migrants on the basis of differences in the sociohistorical circumstances of migration (provenance, time of migration) and/or social factors such as class, socioeconomic status, or level of education. In this article, I explore how language became a source of ideological conflict between Greek Cypriot and Greek migrants in the context of a complementary school in north London. Analysing a set of semi-structured interviews with teachers, which were undertaken in 2018 as part of an ethnographically oriented project on language ideologies in Greek complementary schools, I show that Greek pupils and parents, who had migrated to the UK after 2010 pushed by the government-debt crisis in Greece, positioned themselves as linguistic authorities and developed discourses that delegitimised the multilingual and multidialectal practices of Greek Cypriot migrants. Their interventions centred around the use of Cypriot Greek and English features, drawn from the linguistic resources that did not conform with the expectations that “new” Greek migrants held about complementary schools and which were based on strictly monolingual and monodialectal language ideologies. To these, teachers responded with counter-discourses that re-valued contested practices as products of different linguistic repertoires that were shaped by different life courses and trajectories of linguistic resources acquisition.

scholarly journals FRAMING PEACE: AN IDEOLOGICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF OBAMA’S SPEECH IN CAIRO

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Semino Semino ◽  
Edi Pujo Basuki
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Ideological Discourse ◽  
Global Meaning ◽  
Propositional Structures ◽  
Local Meaning ◽  
Different Levels

Language is not always neutrally utilized by a politician. It is framed to persuade people to think and act in line with the intention of the orator or the ideology of the group he represents. This study dealt with ideological discourse analysis of Obama speech in Cairo. It focused on the cognitive processes showing the link of the ideology structure and discourse structures. This study was (1) to identify the underpinning ideology of the speech, (2) how the ideology structure link withthe discourse structures employed, covering (a) how the ideology was expressed at global meaning level and at local meaning level, (b) how propositional structures were employed as ideology controlled strategy, (c) how sentence syntax was employed as ideology –controlled strategy, (d) how discourse forms or genres were employed as an ideology-controlled strategy, and (e) how styles were employed as persuasive ideology-controlled strategy in his efforts to frame peace. The framework of the research was Critical Discourse Analysis in general and Ideological Discourse Analysis in particular. So Ideological Discourse Analysis in this study was employed as Theory and Method. The data were the text of Obama’s speech in Cairo 2009. The data in the form of quotes were analyzed, and interpreted by employing Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 1995) to uncover the underpinning ideology of the speech, and Ideological Discourse Analysis to show the link of the ideology structure and the discourse structures employed in the speech. The results were in the form of the description of the cognitive processes showing how the underpinning ideology was expressed at different levels of discourse structures for the purpose of framing peace.

scholarly journals Internet-mediated Phonetics

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Chariatte
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Electronic Medium ◽  
Linguistic Identity ◽  
Local Variety ◽  
Phonetic Features

Facebook is a medium of social interaction producing its own style. The present study analyses how users from Malaga create this style through phonetic features of the local Spanish variety and how they reflect on the use of these features. Moreover, the use of non-standard variants by users from Malaga is examined and compared to an oral corpus. Results demonstrate that social factors work differently in real and virtual speech. Thus, the electronic medium constrains the phonetics of the local variety employed on Facebook. Facebook communication is seen as a style serving to create social meaning and to express linguistic identity. Facebook es un medio de interacción social que produce su propio estilo. Este estudio analiza cómo los usuarios malagueños crean dicho estilo a través de rasgos fonéticos de la variedad local de español y cómo reflexionan sobre el uso de estos rasgos. Además, el uso de las variantes no estándares por parte de los usuarios malagueños se examina y se compara con un corpus oral. Los resultados muestran que los factores sociales funcionan de manera diferente en el habla real y virtual. Así, el medio electrónico influye en la fonética de la variedad local empleada en Facebook. La comunicación en Facebook se considera un estilo que sirva para crear significado social y para expresar identidad lingüística.

Categories We Live By

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ásta
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Single Mothers ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Life Options

We are women, we are men. We are refugees, single mothers, people with disabilities, and queers. We belong to social categories that frame their action, self-understanding, and life options. But what are social categories? How are they created and sustained? How does one come to belong to them? To answer these questions is to offer a metaphysics of social categories, and that is the project of Categories We Live By. The key component in the story offered is a theory of what it is for a feature of an individual to be socially meaningful in a context. People have a myriad of features, but only some of them make a difference socially in the contexts people travel. The author gives an account of what it is for a feature of an individual to matter socially in a given context. This the author does by introducing a conferralist framework to carve out a theory of social meaning, and then uses the framework to offer a theory of social construction, and of the construction of sex, gender, race, disability, and other social categories. Accompanying is also a theory of social identity that brings out the role of individual agency in the formation and maintenance of social categories.

Intelligent Semantic Search Engines for Opinion and Sentiment Mining

2012 ◽  
pp. 191-215
Author(s):  
Mona Sleem-Amer ◽  
Ivan Bigorgne ◽  
Stéphanie Brizard ◽  
Leeley Daio Pires Dos Santos ◽  
Yacine El Bouhairi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Search Engine ◽  
Search Engines ◽  
Visual Analytics ◽  
Intermediate Phase ◽  
Relation Extraction ◽  
Semantic Search ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Linguistic Resource ◽  
Sentiment Mining

Over the last years, research and industry players have become increasingly interested in analyzing opinions and sentiments expressed on the social media web for product marketing and business intelligence. In order to adapt to this need search engines not only have to be able to retrieve lists of documents but to directly access, analyze, and interpret topics and opinions. This article covers an intermediate phase of the ongoing industrial research project ’DoXa’ aiming at developing a semantic opinion and sentiment mining search engine for the French language. The DoXa search engine enables topic related opinion and sentiment extraction beyond positive and negative polarity using rich linguistic resources. Centering the work on two distinct business use cases, the authors analyze both unstructured Web 2.0 contents (e.g., blogs and forums) and structured questionnaire data sets. The focus is on discovering hidden patterns in the data. To this end, the authors present work in progress on opinion topic relation extraction and visual analytics, linguistic resource construction as well as the combination of OLAP technology with semantic search.

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