Staging language: An introduction to the sociolinguistics of performance

Staged performance involves the overt, scheduled identification and elevation of one or more people to perform, with a clearly demarcated distinction between them and the audience. It involves the agentive use of language, building on the foundation of existing social meanings. Staged performances tend to be linguistically stylized, pushing the limits of language creativity. They have the potential to trigger significant sociolinguistic effects, circulating novel forms and contributing to language change. The paradigms used in this theme issue for approaching language performance include Bakhtin's notion of Stylization, Bell's Audience and Referee Design, Silverstein's Indexicality, Agha's Enregisterment, and Bauman's construct of Discursive Culture. Themes that run through the articles include: a concept of identity that is part product, part process; the centrality of the audience; the reflexivity of staged performance; and the importance of non‐linguistic modalities such as music and appearance. The language analysis in this collection of papers concentrates mainly on phonological features of varieties of English, finding instances of selectivity, mis‐realization, overshoot and undershoot in their performances of a range of targeted dialects.     

Variation in White House Polling Operations: Carter to Clinton

Using an entirely new data source, this article presents evidencethat significant variation exists in how much different presidentialadministrations use private White House polls. Federal ElectionCommission (FEC) disclosure records reveal the amount of moneythat presidents since Jimmy Carter paid (through their respectiveparty organizations) to the designated White House pollsters.These financial figures, in turn, roughly correlate with theestimated number of polls commissioned for the White House,as determined through archival research and information providedby the pollsters themselves. Two patterns emerge: some presidentspoll heavily from the start of their administrations (RonaldReagan and Bill Clinton); others poll only lightly during thefirst 3 years in office (Jimmy Carter and George Bush). Thesefindings reinforce scholarly assessments of Reagan and Clintonas pursuing a "permanent campaign" approach to leadership, whereasCarter and Bush lacked much interest in public relations techniques.Our evidence suggests a need for a refinement of the institutionalizationconcept as found in the academic literature on White House polling.We agree that all modern presidents inherit sophisticated toolsfor understanding public opinion, but we demonstrate that theydo not use these tools with equal attention or regularity. Putdifferently, a polling capability has been institutionalizedwithin the White house, but substantial variation still existsin how much a given administration uses that capability.     

That straight talk: Sarah Palin and the sociolinguistics of demonstratives

Drawing on previous analyses of the social meaning of demonstratives and other function words, we argue that the semantics of demonstratives facilitates affective uses that can be characterized as attempts by the speaker to foster a sense of shared perspective and common ground with other discourse participants. We present large‐scale quantitative evidence that this strategy is widely used and communicatively effective. We then conduct a focused case study of the demonstrative use of U.S. politician and public figure Sarah Palin, situated in the wider context of Palin's persona, style, and place in the social landscape. An analysis of television interview data shows that Palin is a distinctive and prolific user of affective demonstratives. Palin's usage highlights the context‐dependence of demonstratives’ social meaning and leads to a deeper understanding of her rhetorical strategies and the polarized reactions they have received.     

Ethics and social media: Implications for sociolinguistics in the networked public1

As a popular agora for writing identity into being, the networked public of social media sites presents exciting and unprecedented possibilities for sociolinguistic research. At the same time, these sites raise a wealth of unfamiliar methodological and ethical issues, and debate concerning appropriate ethical measures for research targeting online discourse communities is emergent. One of the most pressing debates concerns the visibility of online interaction (i.e. its locus between the public and private ends of the continuum). Although they exist freely online, networked publics are not public forums. They are governed by both personal and communal norms, and they are networked. This combination of factors gives rise to unique ethical challenges, particularly in the case of Facebook, an accessible and data‐rich, yet problematic, research site. This paper reviews the ethical difficulties presented by Facebook, and presents a framework for ethnographic sociolinguistic research that uses this site as a source of data. En tant qu’espace public privilégié pour la création de l’identitéà travers l’écriture, le public ?réseauté? (interconnecté) des sites des médias sociaux présente des possibilités prometteuses et sans précédent pour la recherché en sociolinguistique. Cependant, ces sites soulèvent de nombreuses questions méthodologiques et éthiques qui sont nouvelles, d’où l’émergence de discussions portant sur les mesures éthiques appropriées pour la recherche qui vise les communautés discursives en ligne. Un des débats concerne la visibilité de l’interaction en ligne (c.‐à‐d. sa place entre les extrémités privée et publique du continuum). Bien qu’ils existent de façon libre en ligne, les réseaux publics ne sont pas des forums publics. Ils sont gouvernés à la fois par des normes personnelles et communautaires, et ils sont interconnectés. Cette combinaison de facteurs donne naissance à des défis éthiques uniques, en particulier dans le cas de Facebook, un site de recherche accessible et riche en données, mais problématique. Cet article passe en revue les difficultés éthiques que Facebook présente, et offre un cadre de travail pour la recherche sociolinguistique ethnographique utilisant ce site comme source de données. [French]     

The sociolinguistics of exogamy: Dialect acquisition in a Zhuang village

Adult dialect acquisition is typically studied in relatively idiosyncratic situations where adults happen to move to another community. But how does dialect acquisition play out in indigenous minority societies that have systemic adult migration due to exogamy? Do the in‐married spouses acquire the local variety? Why or why not? How much do they acquire? We investigated an indigenous Zhuang community in southern China. Sociophonetic analyses of in‐married women and local villagers show that the in‐married women acquired the local variety in most respects but not in aspirated consonants. To the limits of their phonological ability as adult learners, the wives followed the local sociolinguistic norm: they acquired the husbands’ variety. By contrast, in societies experiencing greater external cross‐cultural contact, exogamous women sometimes use their liminal status to challenge such gendered sociolinguistic expectations. Comparing the present study with outcomes in different societies, we lay the foundation for a typology of the sociolinguistics of exogamy. In this way, we help expand the study of language and gender toward new horizons and under‐represented social settings.     

Giving voice: A personal essay on the shape of sociolinguistics

From the vantage point of 21 years editing the Journal of Sociolinguistics, I survey and assess the shape of our field. I identify six strands or trends that I see in play over that time: language and society, social theorization, the centralization of style, diversification, new orthodoxies and a sense of history. I advocate in particular for a sociolinguistics of voice, especially so the voices that are unheard or muffled in society may be given an audience. In closing I pay tribute to the exceptional colleagues with whom I have worked on the Journal over these years.