Research Lecture Series in Linguistics, Language and Discourse
25 January 2012: Tourism and the Commodification of Language
Professor Joan Beal, University of Sheffield
In this paper Professor Beal will discuss the ways in which language and dialect have been commodified by the tourist industry in various locations in the UK and the USA.
Heller (2003) discusses the commodification of language and identity in the ‘new economy’ with reference to call centre workers. For post-industrial cities such as Newcastle-Gateshead in the UK and Pittsburgh in the USA, tourism plays an important part in the ‘new economy’ and the distinctive dialects of these places have been commodified in order to present a sense of ‘otherness’ which is vital to the tourist offer. The marketing of these cities as tourist destinations builds on this sense of ‘otherness’, projecting the idea that these places have distinct culture, heritage and language. The dialects are literally commodified in the form of phrase-books and souvenirs such as mugs and t-shirts with slogans in dialect. Drawing on the language ideological theories of Agha (2003), and the application of these ideas to local dialect and identity in Beal (2009) and Johnstone (2009), I discuss the extent to which these commodities both draw on and perpetuate the indexicality of a small number of linguistic variants. I also consider whether the ideologies evoked by such commodities are those of the local community or of outsiders, and the extent to which they invoke positive or negative stereotypes.
15 February 2012: Compliments and Refusals in Poland and England: A Case Study
Dr Vladimir Zegarac, Reader in Language and Communication, University of Bedfordshire
In this talk we present the findings of a pilot study on the production and reception of compliments and refusals in the relatively proximate cultures of England and Poland. The findings reveal significant and systematic cross-cultural differences relating to refusals, while the differences relating to compliments are fewer and more subtle. The data suggests that the cross-cultural similarities and differences observed can be explained in terms of (a) a universalist view of institutional speech acts and face concerns in rapport management; (b) the Relevance-theoretic view of communication and cognition as oriented towards maximizing informativeness; and (c) some culture-specific values. These tentative point to some useful directions for future research.
7 March 2012: “All that dark material”: A corpus-based analysis of representations of Muslim women in the British press
Dr Paul Baker, Reader in Corpus Based Discourse Studies, Lancaster University
This talk examines the representation within the British Press of Muslim women who wear veils. 143 million words, consisting of 200,000 articles about Muslims in the national UK press between 1998 and 2009 were collected and examined using corpus linguistics techniques which aimed to identify frequent patterns of language use. The term "Muslim women" was highly frequent in the corpus (more so than "Muslim men") and Muslim women tended to be written about most in terms of veiling. I examined the extent to which Muslim women were positioned as being forced to wear the veil, whether they demanded to wear it, or whether it was viewed as a choice or a right. I looked at different types of arguments that journalists used against the veil, as well as metaphors that were used to describe veil-wearing women. The analysis suggests a disapproving yet conflicted stance across the UK press, and also raises questions about how analysts can claim that the press is negatively biased.
POSTPONED 25 April 2012: Irony as Hybrid of Pretence and Echo, and its relation to Under-/Overstatement
Dr Michaela Popa, Liverhulme-funded project ‘Metaphor and Metonymy’, University of Birmingham
Two rival accounts of irony claim, respectively, that pretence and echo are independently sufficient to explain central cases. After highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of these accounts, I argue that an account in which both pretence and echo play an essential role better explains these cases and serves to explain the peripheral cases.
In the process, I distinguish between —weak‖ and —strong‖ hybrid theories, and advocate an —integrated strong hybrid‖ account in which both elements of pretence and echo are seen as complementary in a unified mechanism. Accordingly, by pretending to have a limited/defective perspective/thought 'F', an ironic speaker echoes a perspective/thought 'G' which is similar in content to the pretend perspective/thought 'F', thereby implying that 'G' is similarly limited/defective and mocking/criticising those who really/possibly entertain 'G'. Finally, I explore to what extent the consequences from the interpretation of irony hold for the interpretation of Under-/Overstatement, or whether distinct mechanisms are involved.
9 May 2012: What is wrong, and what is right, about current theories of language, in the light of evolution?
Jim Hurford, Professor Emeritus, University of Edinburgh
Details to follow
23 May 2012: Pragmatics in Thought
Dr Patrick Greenough, St Andrews University
Details to follow
All seminars take place between 4.30pm and 6.00pm at Falmer Campus, Checkland Building, Room E 512. Further details of each talk will be e-mailed prior to each seminar.
All welcome!