scholarly journals Language Use and Discoursal Strategies in Peer Religious Mentoring

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Phyllis Ghim Lian Chew
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Group Support ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Linguistic Strategies

This paper focuses on language use and discoursal strategies in an Islamic boys camp and draws from theoretical frameworks such as the ethnography of speaking, conversation analysis and discourse analysis as a means to examine the phenomena of religious mentoring and socialization.   The article found that mentees were socialized through senior peers’ linguistic strategies such as language choice and code-switching and discoursal strategies such as humor, mock-demonstrations  – all of which played a major role in building solidarity, group support and brotherly bonding.

Language choice and conversational repair in bilingual interaction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Additional Resource ◽  
Concurrent Use ◽  
Language Alternation ◽  
Conversational Repair ◽  
Research Questions

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating this form of language use. Now that code-switching has been rehabilitated, the research tradition faces an entirely new challenge, namely that of its continued relevance. This book argues that, in order to overcome this challenge, research should aim to describe specific interactional practices involving the use of two or more languages and outlines a methodology for doing so. This chapter illustrates this methodology by means of a specific case study. The chapter describes the interactional practice of conversational repair in bilingual interaction. Two research questions are raised: (a) where in the repair sequence can language alternation occur and (b) what does language alternation do when it occurs in repair sequences. It is shown that language alternation interacts with repair organisation in two ways. Either language alternation is the focus of conversational repair or it is an additional resource for the organisation of conversational repair.

Rites of rivalry

2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Bax
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Characteristic Feature ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Indirect Communication ◽  
Significant Issue ◽  
Primary Stage ◽  
Linguistic Communication ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Linguistic Strategies ◽  
Over Time

The indirect conveyance of functional meaning is a conspicuous and thoroughly studied characteristic of contemporary linguistic practice. Even so, in addition to seeming “something natural” indirect language use appears to be a universally spread phenomenon, and both factors may have caused students in the fields of pragmatics and discourse analysis to generally overlook the significant issue of whether or not indirectness was a characteristic feature of earlier forms of linguistic communication as well and, if such is the case, how in bygone eras non-literal meanings were imparted. The overall lack of historical and diachronic perspectives on indirect language use implies that there are to date no theories explaining its origin and development over time. In this article, I shall argue that currently prevailing modes such as conventional and inferential indirectness are historically speaking rather recent innovations, and that in pre-modern times indirect pragmatic meaning was established in a markedly different fashion. Taking the mediaeval pre-combat dialogue and some of its earlier manifestations as my focal material, I will try to establish that ritual interaction, more particularly the time-honoured altercation rite, marks a primary stage in the development of indirect communication. Considering the conceptual links between ritual behaviour and indirect language use, I will contend that oral ritual is a precursor of the now prevailing linguistic strategies for being indirect.

scholarly journals MORE THAN WORDS: TEXT MATTERS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Chau Meng Huat
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Student Feedback ◽  
Learning Resources ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Exchange Structure ◽  
Level I ◽  
Spoken Interaction

In this paper, I discuss one possible line of approach towards enabling learners to develop their appreciation of the linguistic resources that contribute to the creation of discourse as well as their control of language use at the discourse level. I argue that texts, spoken or written, are critical language learning resources and that they need to be selectively employed and connected with well-developed tasks to provide supporting frameworks within which opportunities for language learning can be maximized. The interplay between text, task and reflection is emphasized and student feedback on the proposed approach is considered. The discussion in this paper complements most other discussion on discourse analysis which is concerned solely with spoken interaction as reflected in such approaches as exchange structure and conversation analysis (e.g., McCarthy & Walsh, 2003; see also Cook, 2011). 

Alliance building in girls’ talk

2003 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Ardington
Keyword(s):  
Positive Affect ◽  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Adolescent Girls ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Close Monitoring ◽  
Interactional Sociolinguistics ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Cooperative Model ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Alliance Building

This paper focuses on those speech activities which foreground the conversational accomplishment of alliance building in pre-adolescent girls’ talk. The methodology and analysis of alliance building is synthesised from the theoretical frameworks of interactional sociolinguistics and Conversation Analysis. Delicate microanalysis reveals how playfully negotiated behaviours are interwoven into interactions by participants during the course of their talk in a range of interactional tasks. Findings demonstrate that alliance building is accomplished in a diversity of forms that contribute to the overall gamelike key of pre-adolescent girls’ talk. Some of the selected resources foreshadow documented interactional practices associated with women, realised in turn taking procedures and features such as close monitoring of talk complimenting actions and statements of self deprecation (Coates, 1991; Holmes, 1993; Tannen, 1993). Findings also reveal that alliance building is not confined to overtly positive affect practices and supportive behaviours reported in the widely embraced cooperative model. Results are discussed in terms of their contribution to the literature on older children’s language use.

scholarly journals Language choice and direct speech presentation in Kinyarwanda news articles

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 921-941
Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
News Media ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Direct Speech ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Original Speech ◽  
Speech Presentation ◽  
Practical Implications

Aims/objectives/purpose/research questions: This paper investigates the issue of language choice in direct speech presentation (DS) in Kinyarwanda news articles. Two specific research questions are addressed: 1. What is the default medium of DS in these texts and how can it be accounted? 2. Can the default medium be deviated from and what functions does deviance serve? Design/methodology/approach: An inductive discourse analytic methodology. Data and Analysis: Data consist of instances of DS extracted from Kinyarwanda news texts published in two Rwandan news media blogs, namely Igihe and Umuseke. Findings/conclusions: Analysis of the data reveals that, in DS, the medium of the original discourse is incidental and that the default medium of DS is Kinyarwanda. In turn, this is interpreted as conforming to the general discourse organisation principle of preference for same medium discourse. Analysis also revealed that this medium can be deviated from either because of issues in the medium itself or in order to serve specific discourse-related functions. Finally, analysis revealed that, in each case, two options are available, namely to merely reproduce verbatim items from original speech and to enter them in translinguistic apposition structures. In the latter possibility, the direction of switch is found to be significant as, in the case of issues in the medium, switching typically takes the direction Kinyarwanda–non-Kinyarwanda, while, in the case of discourse-related functions, the typical direction of switching is reversed. Originality/significance/implications: Language choice in news texts, and in DS environments in particular, remains under-investigated. Therefore, this paper serves as a call for further investigations of this aspect of language use. Also, the study has practical implications for the training of media professionals in the context it has investigated.

Bilingualism as Interactional Practices

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Concurrent Use ◽  
Conversational Repair ◽  
Interactional Functions ◽  
New Research

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating this form of language use. From being seen as a random phenomenon reflecting the user’s lack of competence, code-switching is currently seen as sign of an advanced level of competence in the languages involved and as serving different interactional functions. However, as a result of its success, the research tradition now faces an entirely new challenge: Where to from here? How can research in code-switching continue to be relevant and interesting now it has largely achieved its original purpose? This books seeks to answer this programmatic question. The author argues that, in order to overcome this challenge, the notion of bilingualism (multilingualism) itself must be redefined. Bilingualism must be seen as consisting of multiple interactional practices. Accordingly, research in bilingualism and in code-switching in particular must aim to describe each of those practices in its own right. In other word, the aim should be an empirically based understanding of the various interactional practices involving the use of two or more languages. In the book, this new research direction is illustrated by means of three case studies: language choice and speech representation in bilingual interaction, language choice and conversational repair in bilingual interaction and language choice and appositive structures in written texts in Rwanda.

Language choice and speech representation in bilingual interaction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Research Tradition ◽  
Concurrent Use ◽  
Speech Representation

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating this form of language use. Now that code-switching has been rehabilitated, the research tradition faces an entirely new challenge, namely that of its continued relevance. This book argues that, in order to overcome this challenge, research should aim to describe specific interactional practices involving the use of two or more languages and outlines a methodology for doing so. This chapter illustrates this methodology by means of a specific case study. In the chapter, the interaction practice of speech representation in talk in two languages is described. It is shown that, in talk in two languages, language choice in the interactional site of speech representation follows a three-path map: language choice may be an incidental aspect, it may be as a supportive aspect and it may be the depictive element in speech representation.

Introduction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Concurrent Use ◽  
Interactional Functions ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Right

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating this form of language use. From being seen as a random phenomenon reflecting the user’s lack of competence, code-switching is currently seen as sign of an advanced level of competence in the languages involved and as serving different interactional functions. However, as a result of its success, the research tradition now faces an entirely new challenge: Where to from here? How can research in code-switching continue to be relevant and interesting now it has largely achieved its original purpose? This chapter outlines the case for a new direction in research in code-switching, foregrounds the need for mainstreaming bilingualism studies and suggests an inductive perspective, based on Conversation Analysis, as the right methodology for this new research direction. The chapter also outlines the organisation of the book as based on the notion of text as colony.

The Language of Violent Jihad

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Baker ◽  
Rachelle Vessey ◽  
Tony McEnery
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
Linguistic Strategies ◽  
Violent Acts

How do violent jihadists use language to try to persuade people to carry out violent acts? This book analyses over two million words of texts produced by violent jihadists to identify and examine the linguistic strategies employed. Taking a mixed methods approach, the authors combine quantitative methods from corpus linguistics, which allows the identification of frequent words and phrases, alongside close reading of texts via discourse analysis. The analysis compares language use across three sets of texts: those which advocate violence, those which take a hostile but non-violent standpoint, and those which take a moderate perspective, identifying the different uses of language associated with different stages of radicalization. The book also discusses how strategies including use of Arabic, romanisation, formal English, quotation, metaphor, dehumanisation and collectivisation are used to create in- and out-groups and justify violence.

Language choice and code-switching among Hong Kong’s Hakka speakers

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-83
Author(s):  
Sherman Lee
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Resource ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Community Shifts

Abstract This paper examines the language practices among speakers of Hakka in Hong Kong, a minority Chinese variety still found in the territory. These speakers were largely monolingual a few decades ago but are now primarily bilingual in Hakka and Cantonese as the community shifts towards the latter, the dominant societal language. To explore the process and dynamics of this language shift, the present study adopted an ethnographic approach for observing the actual bilingual behaviours of individuals and families in the community. The informant sample comprised 32 speakers aged between 9 and 82 from nine separate families across Hong Kong. Data was collected through a combination of participant observation, informal interviews and conversational exchanges in the informants’ homes. Examination of their patterns of language choice and language use shows that most of the speakers use Cantonese-dominant patterns, and are ‘shifters’ rather than ‘maintainers’ of the Hakka language; the shift is clearly generation and age-related. The paper also illustrates how bilingual speakers make use of code-switching between Hakka and Cantonese to achieve various discourse purposes in their everyday conversations, suggesting that even among the ‘language shifters’, Hakka remains an important linguistic resource.

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