Ethnography of communication

The ethnography of speaking (or: ethnography of communication ) is a method of sociolinguistics, ethnography, anthropology and sociology, which attempts to derive from the use of language in a society, the social organization structures and norms of that society. The research approach was developed among others by the linguist and anthropologist Dell Hymes.

Theory

The ethnography of speaking understands language as action (compare the speech act theory and the concepts of John Searle and John Austin ). Language use is seen as limited by social and cultural rules and conditions as well as the settings of the speakers and is therefore to be understood only in the particular cultural context. The ethnography of speaking will derive these social and cultural factors in the use of language, the function of language is in the foreground (and the form of the language is secondary). As an important organizational units sees the ethnography of speaking:

  • The speech event ( "speech event" ) that represents a single unit of language use (eg, a sermon )
  • The interview situation ( "speech situation" ), which is composed of several speech events (eg, a service, which consists of the speech events preaching, reading, etc.)
  • The language community ( "speech community" )
  • The roles of the speaker in the society and the situation
  • The social rules and norms of the society, make the (linguistic) behavior predictable
  • Rituals and behavioral routines, the most predetermined and therefore the safest predictable (speech) behavior

Ethnographic methods are now being applied in the conversation analysis (as Ethnographic discourse analysis ). Covers also consist of:

  • Discourse Analysis
  • Ethnomethodology
  • Conversation analysis

Methods

The ethnography of speaking makes use of qualitative ethnographic methods, mainly participant observation and interviews, which are interpreted on the basis of categories of the respective group under study. Conversational or speech events are then considered valid categories, even if the members of the studied language community name them as categories.

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