Language and Identity1Language and Language and IdentityIdentity2Language and IdentityLanguage and Identity• Reflect on Your Own Identity• Do the identity profile3What Does What Does ““IdentityIdentity””Mean?Mean?• The stable and fixed aspects of selfhood: things that you check off on census forms such as . . .–Race or ethnicity–Nationality–Social class–Gender–AgeLanguage and Identity24What Does What Does ““IdentityIdentity””Mean?Mean?• Identity is an accomplishment, not a thing.• Identity is fragmentary and in flux.• People change identities to suit the needs of the moment.5What Does What Does ““IdentityIdentity””Mean?Mean?• Identities are . . .–Stable features of persons that exist prior to any particular situation.•AND–Dynamic and situated accomplishments, enacted through talk, and changing from one occasion to the next.6We donWe don’’t know these people. t know these people. What identities do they have?What identities do they have?Language and Identity37Four Kinds of IdentitiesFour Kinds of Identities1. Master identities2. Interactional identities3. Personal identities4. Relational identities8Four Kinds of IdentitiesFour Kinds of Identities• Master identities . . .– are relatively stable and unchanging: gender, ethnicity, age, national and regional origins• The meanings of master identities change across time and space.– “Though the sex to which I belong is considered weak … you will nevertheless find me a rock that bends to no wind.”– Queen Elizabeth I speaking to a French ambassador9Four Kinds of IdentitiesFour Kinds of Identities• Interactional identities . . .– refer to roles that people take on in a communicative context with specific other people.• For instance, Joey is my next door neighbor Dan’s oldest child, he works for Glass Nickel Pizza, he is friends with my daughter Jenni, he shares an apartment with some buddies from high school.Language and Identity410Four Kinds of IdentitiesFour Kinds of Identities• Personal identities . . .– are expected to be relatively stable and unique.– reference ways in which people talk and behave toward others: hotheaded, honest, forthright, reasonable, overbearing, a gossip, a brown-nose.• Personal identities are frequently contested.11Four Kinds of IdentitiesFour Kinds of Identities• Relational identities . . .– refer to the kind of relationship that a person enacts• with a particular conversational partner• in a specific situation.• Relational identities are negotiated from moment to moment and are highly variable.12Conceptualizing IdentitiesConceptualizing IdentitiesLanguage and Identity513What Kind of Identity?What Kind of Identity?• Identity, whether on an individual, social, or institutional level, is something that we are constantly building and negotiating throughout our lives through our interaction with others.– Joanna Thornborrow. (2004). Language and identity. In Language, society and power.14What Kind of Identity?What Kind of Identity?• The emphasis is on identities not essentially given but actively produced –whether through deliberate, strategic manipulation, or through out-of-awareness practices. This both captures the agency of speakers and views language as social action.– Paul Kroskrity. (2000). Identity. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 9(1-2), 111-114.15What Kind of Identity?What Kind of Identity?• The focus on an individual’s freedom to manipulate a flexible system of identities fails to adequately take into account that some identities – notably race and caste –are imposed and coercively applied. There are political economic constraints on processes of identity-making.– Paul Kroskrity. (2000). Identity. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 9(1-2), 111-114.Language and Identity616Language Use andLanguage Use andMaster IdentitiesMaster Identities• National and/or regional– Shared participation in literacy activities• Ethnic– Language use: AVE and heritage languages– Discursive practices like indirection in African-American or traditionalism and purism in Arizona Tewa• Social class and/or rank– Working class neighborhoods in Belfast demonstrate strong loyalty to class through pronunciation.17Language Use andLanguage Use andMaster IdentitiesMaster Identities• Professional– Examples include the specialist vocabularies of doctors and lawyers, and the Socratic discourse style of lawyers.•Gender– Transgender and queer identities are indexed by discursive practices that challenge binary gender.•Age– Discursive practices and language varieties index social ages, such as teenager or elder.18Terms of Address and Terms of Address and Interactional IdentitiesInteractional Identities• Naming–How do you name yourself•To your parents?•To your friends?•To your professors?•To your best friend?•To your partner?–How do these people name you?–Has your name changed over time?Language and Identity719Terms of Address and Terms of Address and Interactional IdentitiesInteractional Identities• Many languages have different 2nd-person pronouns:– French has tu and vous–Spanish has tu/Usted–Italian has tu/Lei/voi–German has du/Sie.• Korean, Japanese, and other languages have honorifics.20Terms of Address and Terms of Address and Interactional IdentitiesInteractional Identities• Test your understanding of T/V forms in languages you know by deciding what form to use with the following addressees.1. Your teacher2. Your best friend3. Your parents4. The waiter5. Your neighbor’s kittens6. The stranger you ask for directions7. Your brother8. Your doctor 9. The baker 10. Your partner21Naming Practices andNaming Practices andMaster IdentitiesMaster Identities• ‘A Boy Named Sue’• Boys with names most commonly given to girls (Taylor, Dominique) may be prone to misbehavior at school as they get older.– David N. Figlio ‘Boys named Sue: Disruptive children and their peers.’ NBER Working Paper 11277, April 2005.Language and Identity8How are How are relational relational identities identities created?created?23How are relational identities How are relational identities created?created?• New Ideas from H. P. Grice:• The Cooperative Principle –Conversational maxims of quantity, quality, relevance, and manner• Conversational implicature24How are relational identities How are relational identities created?created?• Identity-work:–The process through