Lecture Quiz 1: Language, Culture, and Identity PDF

©VICTOR [email protected] LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND IDENTITY Week 5 (Sept 30) LECTURE QUIZ 1 ON OCT. 14, WEEK 7 ❖ Time: Oct. 14, Week 7 ❖ Venue: LTA ❖ Coverage: ◆ MCs & T/F (1pt each) ◆ Contents from Week 3 – 6 inclusive (Sept. 16 – Oct. 7) ◆ Introductory Lecture (Week 2) NOT inclu...

©VICTOR [email protected] LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND IDENTITY Week 5 (Sept 30) LECTURE QUIZ 1 ON OCT. 14, WEEK 7 ❖ Time: Oct. 14, Week 7 ❖ Venue: LTA ❖ Coverage: ◆ MCs & T/F (1pt each) ◆ Contents from Week 3 – 6 inclusive (Sept. 16 – Oct. 7) ◆ Introductory Lecture (Week 2) NOT included ◆ Lecture contents (PPTs & in-class delivery) ❖ Details on procedures to be announced next week. 2 LECTURE QUIZ 1 SAMPLE QUESTION 1 Is the following statement true or false: difficulty in speech and articulation In general, Broca’s aphasia is a linguistic disorder that can often cause difficulty in producing semantically meaningful sentences, whereas fluent but nonsensical speech Wernicke’s aphasia in producing grammatically/syntactically correct sentences. 困難在於答非所問but can produce grammatically correct sentences 3 LECTURE QUIZ 1 SAMPLE QUESTION 2 Regarding the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, which of the following is NOT TRUE? a) The Hypothesis has two versions: the stronger form of Linguistic Determinism and the weaker form of Linguistic Relativism, both of which are accepted. wrong, only Linguistic Relativism is generally accepted b) To support the Hypothesis, Benjamin Lee Whorf made comparisons of linguistic structures between Native American languages and Standard Average European (SAE) languages that include French, German, English, etc. c) The stronger version of the Hypothesis suggests that our mother tongue is a ‘prison house’ that restricts our capacity to only think in categories that the language provides. d) Saying that “…at least so far as thought is dependent on words”, George Orwell, in effect, grounded the principles of Newspeak in the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. 4 GUIDING QUESTIONS ❖ What is identity? How has the notion of identity been approached epistemically? ❖ How is it that one’s (e.g., social class, gender, regional, ethnic, multicultural) identities can be constructed, negotiated and challenged through language? ❖ What insights can we draw from studies on sociolinguistic variations? 5 IDENTITY IS... ❖ The reflective self-conception or self-image that we each derive from family, gender, cultural, ethnic, and individual socialization processes; sense of belonging ❖ Acquired via our interaction with others in particular cultural scenes; build up different aspect of identity, constantly change the sense of who we are -> how we see our place and how we want other people to see us ❖ Defining how we see ourselves and our place in the world (Jackson, 2024; Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2012). 6 HISTORICALLY… downside of theory: self determination -> we can refuse this kind of identification Essentialism /humanist view both share thing in common: individuals are pre-defined by a certain factors that already there embrace certain set of conditions in order to be a human Biological Social determinism structuralism determine by genes, body colors, sth that is already here since we are born sense of who we are defined by our membership/affiliation we have/develop sth already here since we are born 7 Question: What counts as a bird? label physical object/actual concept Structuralism (Remember Saussure?): form (signifier) & concept (signified) Question: What counts as a woman? 8 UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS OF ESSENTIALISM/HUMANISTIC VIEW ❖ Individuals are formed and shaped by formations which precede them, be these biological or social in nature (Block, 2014); something that is essential for a person to consider who we are -> groups can be easily recognized (homogenous) ❖ Every individual has an essential, unique, fixed and coherent core (Norton, 2013); 可以清楚地劃分組 ❖ Groups can be clearly delimited; Groups members are more or less alike (Bucholtz, 2003). each of individual can be easily defined through a set of traits  shift from essentialism to self-concept (subjective understanding) EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY BY HENRI TAJFEL Social identity is “that part of an individual's self-concept which derives from his [sic] knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership” (Tajfel, 1978, p. 63) 關於 5 components: pertaining to an individual rather than to a social group a matter of self-concept rather than of social categories not about the groups themselves membership being essential, regardless of the nature of the group itself ‘subjective’ factors (one’s own knowledge of the membership, and the particular value one attaches to) – are what count; emotional significance being an integral part (cf. Joseph, 2016) 10  we have self-consciousness, we want to develop a sense of being control things and being related to other people -> we want to develop a sense of autonomy POST-STRUCTURALIST VIEW OF IDENTITY the core idea of being subjective: consciousness of individual, consciousness of emotions, sense of understanding Chris Weedon, feminist scholar, posits: ~identity ❖ Subjectivity fundemental to achieve human freedom is to develop self-consciousness “the conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions of the individual, her sense of herself and her ways of understanding her relation in the world” (1997, p. 32); one's sense of subjectivity is discursively constructed and always socially and historically embedded; Identity is constituted in and through language. language plays a fundemental role in identity *essay: when a language learner start to use that language, no matter how well or poor we speak -> they are engaged with the complicated process (constantly building up sense of image through the target language with the target community) 11 IDENTITIES ARE, THUS: the moment we learn our first language -> also start our socialization process ❖ Influenced by culture and primary socialization ❖ Shaped in diverse ways in different cultural contexts ❖ Multiple and complex 流暢 ❖ Dynamic and fluid (identities are self-declared) (identities are often beyond an individual’s control and assigned by the society) ❖ Both avowed and ascribed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucTdm33R_wA 顯著性 ❖ Variable in salience and intensity how you speak the language to convey social meaning ❖ Expressed verbally and nonverbally in particular contexts ❖ Co-constructed and negotiated through social interactions (Jackson, 2024) 12 DIFFERENT TYPES OF IDENTITIES… ❖ Personal identity ❖ Bi(multi)cultural and bi(multi)lingual ❖ Social identity identities ❖ Cultural identity ❖ Regional identity ❖ Racial and ethnic identities ❖ Global (transnational) identity ❖ Majority and minority identities ❖ Professional identity ❖ Class identity ❖ Virtual identities ❖ Language identity (Jackson, 2024) ❖ Gender identity  LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY individuals are not fixed with a set of characteristics Poststructuralism depicts the individual as diverse, contradictory, dynamic and changing over historical time and social space. 錯綜複雜地 ▪ Language is intricately related to identity; ▪ Language shows we ‘belong’ (Crystal, 2010); ▪ Part of our cultural identity is tied to the language(s) we speak. One’s expertise in a language/ dialect/ sociolect serves a passport to the specific language community (Block, 2014). ▪ While identity is a matter of becoming with autonomy and agency (cf. Kawai, 2004; Norton, 2013), one’s language identity, however, is a relational, co- constructed, and sometimes, contested process. ❖ Social class: Position in a society’s hierarchy based on education, occupation, economics and familial prestige. linguistics variations -> can be a way to reveal what kind of social background that individuals come from & social meanings ❖ Variation (phonetic and syntactic) is an inherent characteristic of all languages at all times, and the patterns exhibited in this variation carry social meanings (Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015, p. 6). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKxd30lQ1f0 ❖ Speech differences social status social identity 1. the higher social class -> more upper R-pronunciation 2. younger generation more likely to more upper R-pronunciation than older generation R-PRONUNCIATION & SOCIAL STRATIFICATION Three departmental stores ranked in accordance with the social-class groups they cater: Saks Fifth Avenue – high Macy’s at Herald Square – middle S. Klein at Union Square – low Talking with salespersons with the test phrase ‘fourth floor’ (and seeking for repetition by pretending not to hear the initial response) 18  R-PRONUNCIATION & SOCIAL STRATIFICATION Careful repetition of the utterance nearly always increased r-pronunciation; Post-vocalic r was found more often in floor than in fourth in all circumstances. (highest level of department store) high social class Saks Fifth Avenue – highest values for r Macy’s at Herald Square – intermediate values S. Klein at Union Square – lowest values % of r sound by store for four positions (S: Saks, M: Macy’s, K: Kleins) (Labov, 1966, 2006, p. 48) → Evolving to be a prestigious way of speaking… individual speech patterns can be a strong indicator of social structure Individual speech patterns are “part of a highly systematic structure of social and stylistic stratification.” 19 PROBLEM? Social categories used are Social identities are composite indices based on a conceptualized as stable, variety of different factors unified and essential, as they (e.g., occupation, income, would be based on membership educational background and a of individuals in specific social variety of other factors categories. combined) Issues arising from the 1st and 2nd wave of sociolinguistic studies... 20 LANGUAGE, GENDER AND IDENTITY tend to define gender that is sth fixed, stable ❖ In early sociolinguistic studies, as noted by J. K. Chambers (1995, p. 102): In virtually all sociolinguistic studies that include a sample of males and females, there is unequivocal evidence that “women use fewer stigmatized and non-standard variants than do men of the same social group in the same circumstances”. for women and men coming from the same social class, men tend to use non- standard with speaking while women speak more standard and prestigious way of speaking ❖ And yet, this also raises issues and questions… issues: how gender is understood 22 STUDY BY PODESVA (2007) ON STYLISTIC VARIATION AN EXAMPLE OF THE 3 RD WAVE OF SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDIES -> gender has been understood in very different manners individual can perform gender identity as they desire -> this kind of gender identity can constantly change and evolve 25 years old Informant: Heath, a white medical school student in his mid-twenties, growing up on Long Island, and concentrating on developing a specialization in clinical psychiatry; in social life, openly gay and dating a fellow medical school student, Jack; though not attempting to hide his sexual orientation in his professional life, not often a relevant aspect of his professional identity. 假聲 嘎吱聲 Stylistic variable: Use of falsetto phonation, accompanied by creak phonation in Heath’s speech Data: Recordings of three different situations informal barbecue with four close friends (two male, two female) phone conversation between Heath and his father meeting with a patient with Parkinson’s disease 23 PODESVA (2007) affect the social image of the speaker PHONATION TYPE AS A STYLISTIC VARIABLE: THE USE OF FALSETTO IN CONSTRUCTING A PERSONA more frequent to use Falsetto in barbecue Podesva (2007, p. 486 & p. 490) 24  華麗的女主⾓ Heath “distinguishes himself as a flamboyant diva, a persona markedly different from the personae he takes on in other situations, such as the phone conversation and the meeting with his patient” (Podesva, 2007, p. 492). Diva: Anyone who can employ a tiara and blowtorch with equal effectiveness is a Diva (Divamind.com) Thus, the falsetto phonation creates an expressive meaning, and this meaning can be used to construct a diva persona and perhaps a gay identity (Podesva, 2007, p. 497). 25 LANGUAGE, ETHNICITY AND REGIONAL IDENTITY 中英夾雜 Code-mixing Code-switching ❖Lexical items and ❖Switching of two or more grammatical features from languages at clausal level two languages appear in (e.g., talking in Cantonese one sentence (e.g., inserting and then switching to some English words into English). Cantonese discourse) Intra-sentential ‘MIX’ can be typical of HK bilinguals’ informal language use, both in speech and in print (Li, 1996).  4 major reasons for code mixing MOTIVATIONS FOR MIX (LI, 2000) 委婉語 if the word/phrase is culturally embarrassing -> people will talk english ❖ Euphemism: use of word ‘bra’ equivalent (e.g. saying '我愛你' in Cantonese is a bit embarrassing, people will say 'I love you' instead) ❖ Specificity * 黎明有好多FANS when they use english equivalent, it carries more specific meaning -> less ambiguous in interpretation lai4 ming4 jau5 hou2 do1 FANS Leon Lai has very many fans / Leon Lai (the singer/film star) has many fans’ ❖ Principle of economy 好難喺廣東話諗到嗰個字係咩就會⽤英⽂講 -> easier to use and widerly accept *你CHECK IN 左未呀？ nei5 CHECK IN zo2 mei6 aa3 you check in ASP not yet F.P. ‘Have you checked in already?’ ❖ Bilingual punning 號外(hou6 ngoi6, ‘newspaper extra’) 28 EMERGENCE OF ‘KONGISH’ Many boss Day-day say, E+ di 90-after gei University graduates, keoi dei gei English ho rubbish. Wrong grammar, un-proper style, poor pronunciation. Cannot write or speak English goodest- ly. But, Hong Kong di university-s ming ming hai teach in English. After study for 4 years, should be gooder than secondary school ga wor. Dim gai gei, Dim gai gei, Dim gai wui gum gei? Gor problem hai where? (Kongish Daily, 2016, cited in Sewell & Chan, 2017) 29  MULTICULTURAL AND MULTILINGUAL IDENTITIES → HYBRID (MIXED IDENTITIES) culture A and culture B encounter with each other -> what would happen? -> Unknown (it depends) for some people it might be constructive sense of identity -> make new friends, new connections, build up authentic relationship with others -> sense of belonging (goes beyond the boundaries of geography, you can feel at home all the time no matter where) BUT for some people, it’s the journey of not finding who we are/ journey of struggle ⽂化衝擊 challenging to switch between different cultural frames (conflicting cultural cues) Live in a state of "dynamic in-betweenness" 30  intercultural journey of the girl Marjane’s father: “Don’t ever forget who you are and where you are from.” Her grandma: “Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself.” PERSEPOLIS & THEME OF IDENTITY 31 PERSEPOLIS & THEME OF IDENTITY issues of not finding a right place for herself “People always say that I was lucky that I left but I know they are lucky because they stayed and didn’t lose their identity … I feel like I’m constantly wearing a mask … My calamity could be summarized in one sentence: I was nothing. I was Westerner in Iran, an Iranian in the West. I had no identity.” 32 i am a door … i am caught between two rooms swinging from one to another. grasping moments as the wind sways me from the first to the next. living loving, caressing life in each taking a little from one and giving to the other, and back. i hear the strains of my mother’s voice over the aroma of the eggplant curry wafting over my father’s intense study of the Indian Express – his favorite newspaper the aunts and uncles come in droves to my sister’s wedding to eat and gossip during the ceremony, and through the night. glimpses of life... very Indian. in the other room, the surround sound heard Simon & Garfunkel over troubled waters, where Sting cried about the walls in our lives the Simpsons were definitely in as Bush babbled using innocuous verbiage. the computer was never shut off as reams of paper saw term papers discuss new ways to communicate glimpses of life... very American. between these two worlds i am happy, confused, angry and in pain– all at the same time. for i am a door caught between two rooms: i see and feel both of them but i don’t seem to belong to either. Nagesh Rao ENCAPSULATED MARGINALITY VS. CONSTRUCTIVE MARGINALITY Nagesh Rao: “I wrote this poem in 1992 after having lived in the United States for five years. At that time, I felt "marginal" between being Indian and being an American, and also felt "caught“ between these two cultures. Today, I no longer feel caught between these cultures, but have the ability to "flow" between these cultures.” 35