Week 6 - Vocal Expressions of the Self (accents) Flashcards
What is the focus of vocal expressions of the self?
▪ Extend our exploration of culture and self by
considering what happens when people
interact vocally…
▪ Accent as a fluid marker of identity and social
groups.
What is non-verbal communication, language, speech style, and paralanguage?
Non-verbal communication: proxemics, kinesics (posture/gestures/embelms), touch, gaze, facial expression
Language
Speech style: accent, language e.g. french, dialecy
Paralanguage/Prosody: rhythm, pitch, pauses, volume
“Accent can trigger social categorisation in a prompt, automatic, and occasionally unconscious
manner,” Ze Wang of the University of Central Florida
Accent as a social marker
- Operates before birth
- Detected within one word
- Speakers are evaluated by main clusters of status and solidarity
Speech and Social Groups
* Social Identity Theory influenced Howard
Giles’ Ethno-linguistic Identity Theory
(2012)
* Speech is important to the norms of E-L
groups and reflects their shared social ties
* Such groups have “Vitality” but may
commit “Suicide”
* Matched guise paradigm
Relating accents to Summative 4
- As with social media, accents give us fluid,
reflexive intersectional identities which are
reinvented - Yet they exist in the offline space, and
- There are different norms and expectations
around their use
what does this leave us?
- The voice is an extremely powerful yet fluid boundary marker for social identity
- It therefore highlights the problematic nature of multi- cultural interaction, freedoms, and ‘ownerships’… which makes it - political and moral
- You sound as you do because of how you position yourself within culture, and how culture has positioned you
Do you change your speech when you meet other people?
Yes,
- might be out of embarassment
- self monitoring; quickly change according to their surroundings
