108
1 How do people decode the highly condensed utterances of everyday
speech,
and how do they use the social system for doing so?
2
How
do people reveal the ideational and
interpersonal environment
within
which what they are saying is to be interpreted? In other words,
how
do they construct the social
contexts in which meaning takes place?
3 How do people relate the social context to the linguistic
system? In
other
words, how do they deploy their meaning potential in actual semantic
exchanges?
4 How and why do people of different social class or other
subcultural
groups
develop different dialectal varieties and different orientations
towards
meaning?
5 Hovv' far are children of different social groups exposed
to different
verbal
patterns of primary socialization, and how does this determine their
reactions
to secondary socialization especially in school?
6 How and why do children learn the functional-semantic system of the
adult
language·!
7
How do children, through the ordinary everyday linguistic interaction
of
family and peer group. come to learn the basic patterns of the culture: the
social structure. the systems of
knowledge and of values, and the diverse
elements of the social semiotic?
#4
reminds me of what I heard on On the
Media – the absence of gay males in rap music.
The
socialization in terms of education part is quite interesting
Again,
the construction of “redneck” continues to be a theme in inquiry
General concepts
1. texts “the
instances of linguistic interaction in
which people actually engage:” operational contexts
(interactions in which people actually engage
109
“It has long been clear, however,
that discourse
has its own
structure that is not constituted out of sentences in
combination; and
in a sociolinguistic perspective it is
more useful to think of
text
as encoded in sentences, not as composed of
them.”
“In other words, a
text is a semantic unit; it is the basic unit of the
semantic process.”
“At the same time, text represents
choice. A text is 'what is meant', selected
from the total set of options that
constitute what can be meant. In other
words, text can be defined as actualized meaning
potential.” Meaning potential!!!
“which is the paradigmatic
range of semantic
choice that is
present in the system, and to which the members of a culture
have access in
their language, can be characterized in two ways, corresponding
to Malinowski's
distinction between the 'context of
situation'
and the 'context of culture' (1923, 1935).
Interpreted in the context of
culture, it is the entire semantic
system of the language. This is a fiction,
something we cannot hope to
describe. Interpreted in the context of situation,
it is the particular semantic
system. or set of subsystems, which is
associated with a particular type
of situation or social (too is fiction, but more describable).
2.
Situation
Environment in which texts come to life
-
well-established – Wegener/ Malinowski
(context of situation)/ Firth:
“who maintained
that the context of situation was not to be interpreted in concrete terms as a
sort ofaudiovisual record of the surrounding 'props' but was, rather, an
abstract representation of the environment in terms of certain general
categories having relevance to the text.”
May be remote from what is going on
…during the act of speaking or writing
_”It will be necessary to
represent the situation in still more abstract terms if
it is to have a place in a general
sociolinguistic theory; and to conceive of it
not as situation but as situation type,
in the sense of what Bernstein refers to
as a 'social context'.” Semiotic Structure
·
“constellation of meanings deriving from
the semiotic system that constitutes the culture”
110
“
It consists of those
general properties of the situation
which collectively function as the determinants
of text, in that they specify the
semantic configurations that the
speaker will typically fashion in contexts of the
given type.”
“However, such information relates
not only 'downward' to the text but
also 'upward', to the linguistic
system and to the social system. The 'situation'
is a theoretical sociolinguistic
construct; it is for this reason that we
interpret a particular situation
type, or social context, as a semiotic structure.
The semiotic structure of a
situation type can be represented as a complex of
three dimensions:
the ongoing social activity, the role reiationships
involved, and the
symbolic or rhetorical channel. We refer to these respectively
as 'field',
'tenor' and 'mode'”
“The field is the
social action in which the text is
embedded; it includes the subject-matter, as
one special manifestation. The tenor is the set of role relationships
among
the relevant participants; it
includes levels of formality as one particular
instance. The mode is the channel or wavelength selected, which is essentially
the function that is assigned to
language in the total structure of the
situation; it includes the medium
(spoken or written), which is explained as a
functional variable.”
3.
Register
“Given an adequate specification
of the semiotic properties
of the context in terms of field,
tenor and mode we should be able to
make sensible predictions about
the semantic properties of texts associated
with it. To do this, however,
requires an intermediary level- some concept
of text variety.”
“The register is the semantic
variety of
which a text may be regarded as an instance”
“The dialect is what a person
speaks,
determined by who he is; the
register is what a person is speaking, determined
by what he is doing at the time.” BUT
111
“we shall suggest, as with text, a
more abstract
definition in semantic terms.”
“A register can be defined as the
configuration of semantic resources that
the member of a culture typically
associates with a situation type. It is the
meaning potential that is accessible in a given
social context”
“but the existence of registers is
a fact of everyday
experience- speakers have no
difficulty in recognizing the semantic options
and combinations of options that
are 'at risk' under particular environmental
conditions. Since these options
are realized in the form of grammar
and vocabulary, the register is
recognizable as a particular selection of words
and structures. But it is defined
in terms of meanings; it is not an aggregate of
conventional forms”
4. Code
“it is the principle of semiotic
organization governing the choice
of meanings by a speaker and their
interpretation by a hearer. The
code controls the semantic styles of the
culture.”
“they are types of social
semiotic, or symbolic orders of
meaning generated by the social system ( cf.
Hasan 1973). The code is
actualized in language through the register, since it
determines the semantic orientation of speakers in particular
social contexts;”
…”When the semantic systems of the
language are activated by the situational
determinants of text- the field,
tenor and mode- this process is regulated by
the codes.”
“Hence the codes transmit, or
control the transmission of, the underlying
patterns of a culture or
subculture, acting through the socializing agencies of
family, peer group and school. As
a child comes to attend to and interpret
meanings, in the context of
situation and in the context of culture, at the
same time he takes over the code”
code
as filter – “defining and making accessible the semiotic principles of his own subculture, so that as
he learns the culture he also learns the grid, or subcultural angle on the
social system”
5.
Linguistic system
112
“Within the linguistic system, it
is the semantic
system that
is of primary
concern in a sociolinguistic context”
strata
“The conceptual
framework was already referred to
in chapter 3, with the terms 'ideational',
'interpersonal', and 'textual'.
These are to be interpreted not as functions in
the sense of 'uses of language',
but as functional components of the semantic
system- 'metafunctions' as we have called them.”
“What are these functional
components of the semantic system? They are
the modes of meaning that are
present in every use of language in every
social context. A text is a
product of all three; it is a polyphonic composition
in which different semantic
melodies are interwoven, to be realized as
integrated lexicogrammatical
structures. Each functional component contributes
a band of structure to the whole.”
A. “The ideational function
represents the speaker's meaning potential as an
observer”:
“This is the component through
which the language encodes the
cultural experience, and the
speaker encodes his own individual experience
as a member of the culture. It expresses the
phenomena of the environment:
the things- creatures, objects,
actions, events, qualities, states and relations
of the world and of our own
consciousness, including the phenomenon of
language itself; and also the 'metaphenomena',”
B. “The interpersonal
component represents the speaker's meaning potential
as an intruder. It
is
the participatory function of language, language as doing
something. This is the component
through which the speaker intrudes
himself into the context of
situation, both expressing his own attitudes and
judgements and seeking to
influence the attitudes and behaviour of others.
It expresses the role
relationships associated with the situation, including
those that are defined by language itself,”
C. “The textual component represents the speaker's text-forming potential; it
is
that which makes language relevant.
provides texture
113“lt expresses the relation
of the language to its environment, including both
the verbal environment - what has
been said or written before - and the
nonverbal, situational
environment. Hence the textual component has an
enabling function with respect to
the other two; it is only in combination with
textual meanings that ideational and interpersonal
meanings are actualized”
“These components are reflected in
the lexicogrammatical system in the
form of discrete networks of
options. In the clause, for example, the
ideational
function is represented by transitivity, the interpersonal by mood
and modality, and
the textual by a set of systems that have been referred
to collectively
as 'theme'.
Each of these three sets of options is characterized
by strong internal but weak
external constraints: for example, any choice
made in transitivity has a
significant effect on other choices within the
transitivity systems, but has very
little effect on choices within the mood or
theme systems.”
6.
Social Structure
Of the numerous ways in which the
social structure is implicated in a
sociolinguistic theory, there
are three which stand out. In the
first place, it
defines
and gives significance
to the various types of social context in which
meanings are exchanged. The different social groups and
communication
networks
that determine what we have called the 'tenor' -the status and role
relationships
in the situation- are obviously products of the social structure;
but
so also in a more general sense are the types of social activity that
constitute
the 'field'.
Even the 'mode', the rhetorical channel with its associated
strategies, though more
immediately reflected in linguistic patterns, has
its origin in the social structure;
“Secondly, through its embodiment in the types of role relationship within
the
family, the social structure determines the various familial patterns of
communication; it regulates
the meanings and meaning styles that are
associated with given social
contexts, including those contexts that are
critical in the processes of
cultural transmission. In this way. the social
structure determines, through the
intermediary of language, the forms taken
by the socialization of the child.
“Thirdly, and most problematically, the social structure
enters in through
the
effects of social hierarchy, in the form of caste or class. This is
obviously
the background to social dialects,
which are both a direct manifestation of
social hierarchy and also a
symbolic expression of it, maintaining and reinforcing
it in a variety of ways: for
example, the association of dialect with
register”
114
3
aspects of sociological semantics –
situation types,
relation of situation to semantic system &
sociosemantics
of language development.
1. semantics of situation types
“sociological semantics implies
not so much a general description of the
semantic system of a language but
rather a set of context-specific semantic
descriptions, each one
characterizing the meaning potential that is typically
associated with a given situation
type. In other words, a semantic description
is the description of a register”
2. Structure of the situation and its relation to
the semantic system:
Field
Child
at play: manipulating movable objects (wheeled vehicles)
with related fixtures, assisted by
adult; concurrently associating (i) similar
past events, (ii) similar absent
objects; also evaluating objects in terms of
each other and of processes.
Tenor Small. child and
parent interacting: child determining course of
action, (i) announcing own
intentions, (ii) controlling actions of parent;
concurrently sharing and seeking
corroboration of own experience with
parent.
Mode
Spoken,
alternately monologue and dialogue, task-oriented;
pragmatic, (i) referring to
processes and objects of situation, (ii) relating to
and furthering child's own
actions, (iii) demanding other objects; interposed
with narrative and exploratory elements.
117
Table 2 Chart on 117 puts all terms together!
121
3. Sociosemantics of language development
Child learning to “mean”
“The meanings the child can express
at this stage derive very directly from
the social functions. For example,
one of the functions served by the child's
'proto-language' is the regulatory
function, that of controlling the behaviour
of other people; and in this
function he is likely to develop meanings such as
'do that some more' (continue or
repeat what you've just been doing), and
'don't do that'. How does he get
from these to the complex and functionally
remote meanings of the adult semantic system?”
Interesting – not sure that I buy it?
“From the moment when this semantic
principle was adopted, however, it
ceased to satisfy, since Nigel
already needed a semiotic system which would
enable him to do both these things
at once - to use language in both the
learning mode and the doing mode
within a single utterance. Without this
ability he could not engage in
true dialogue; the system could not develop a
dynamic for the adoption and
assignment of semiotic roles in verbal interaction.
At this point, two steps were
required, or really one complex step, for
effectively completing the
transition to the adult system. One was a further
abstraction of the basic
functional opposition, such that it came to be
incorporated into his semantic
system, as the two components of 'ideational'
and 'interpersonal'; in the most
general terms, the former developed from
the 'learning' function, the
latter from the 'doing' function. The other step
was the introduction of a
lexicogrammar, or syntax, making it possible for
these two modes of meaning to be
expressed simultaneously in the form of
integrated lexicogrammatical structures.”
122
Relations
1. “4.1 Meaning and text
The text is the linguistic
form of social interaction. It is
a continuous progression
of meanings, combining both
simultaneously and in succession. The
meanings are the selections made
by the speaker from the options that
constitute the meaning
potential; text is the actualization of this meaning
potential, the process of semantic choice ( cf.
chapter
7).”
2. “4.2 Text and situation
A text is embedded in a context of
situation. The context of situation of any
text is an instance of a
generalized social context or situation type. The
situation type is not an inventory
of ongoing sights and sounds but a semiotic
structure; it is the ecological
matrix that is constitutive of the text.
Certain types of situation have in
their semiotic structure some element
which makes them central to the
processes of cultural transmission; these
are Bernstein's 'critical socializing contexts'.”
3. “4.3 Situation as semiotic
structure
The semiotic structure of the
situation is formed out of the three sociosemiotic
variables of field, tenor and
mode. These represent in systematic form the
type of activity in which the text
has significant function (field), the status
and role relationships involved
(tenor) and the symbolic mode and rhetorical
channels that are adopted (mode).
The field, tenor and mode act
collectively as determinants of the text”
123
4.4 Situation and
semantic system
The semiotic components of the
situation (field, tenor and mode) are
systematically related to the
functional components of the semantics (ideational,
interpersonal and textual): field
to the ideational component, representing
the 'content' function of language,
the speaker as observer; tenor to
the interpersonal component,
representing the 'participation' function of
language, the speaker as intruder;
and mode to the textual component,
representing the 'relevance'
function of language, without which the other
two do not become actualized.
4.5 Situation,
sema
ntic system and
register
The semiotic structure of a given
situation type, its particular pattern of field,
tenor and mode, can be thought of
as resonating in the semantic system and
so activating particular networks
of semantic options, typically options from
within the corresponding semantic components ( 4.4
).
4.6 Register and
code
“The specification of the register
by the social context is in turn controlled and
modified by the code: the
semiotic style, or 'sociolinguistic coding orientation'
in Bernstein's term, that
represents the particular subcultural angle
on the social system. This angle
of vision is a function of the social structure.
It reflects, in our society, the pattern of
social hierarchy, and the resulting
tensions between an egalitarian ideology and a
hierarchical reality. (talks a lot about how this happens with children)
4. 7 Language and
the social system
The foregoing synthesis
presupposes an interpretation of the social system
as a social serniotic: a
system of meanings that constitutes the 'reality' of the
culture. This is the higher-level
system to which language is related: the
semantic system of language is a
realization of the social semiotic. There are
many other forms of its symbolic
realization besides language; but language
is unique in having its own semantic stratum.
124
“4.8 Language and the child
A child begins by creating a
proto-language of his own, a meaning potential
in respect of each of the social
functions that constitute his developmental
semiotic. In the course of
maturation and socialization he comes to take over
the adult language.”
4.9
The child learns through language – interprets texts
relevant to context of situation and context of culture
“In one sense a child's learning
of this mother tongue is a process of
progressively freeing himself from the constraints
of the immediate context”
4.10 Summary
Tease it out:
‘Social interaction typically
takes a linguistic form, which we call text. A
text is the product of infinitely
many simultaneous and successive choices in
meaning, and is realized as
lexicogrammatical structure, or 'wording'. The
environment of the text is the
context of situation, which is an instance of a
social context, or situation
type. The situation type is a semiotic construct
which is structured in terms of field,
tenor and mode: the text-generating
activity, the role relationships
of the participants, and the rhetorical modes
they are adopting. These
situational variables are related respectively to the
ideational,
interpersonal and
textual components of the semantic system:
meaning as content (the observer
function of language), meaning as participation
(the intruder function) and
meaning as texture (the relevance
function). They are related in the
sense that each of the situational features
typically calls forth a network of
options from the corresponding semantic
component; in this way the
semiotic properties of a particular situation type,
its structure in terms of field,
tenor and mode, determine the semantic
configuration or register- the
meaning potential that is characteristic of the
situation type in question, and is
realized as what is known as a 'speech
variant'. This process is regulated
by the code, the semiotic grid or principles
of the organization of social
meaning that represent the particular subcultural
angle on the social system. The
subcultural variation is in its turn a
product of the social
structure, typically the social hierarchy acting through
the distribution of family types
having different familial role systems. A
child, coming into the picture,
interprets text-in-situation in terms of his
generalized functional categories
of learning (mathetic) and doing (pragmatic);
from here by a further process of
abstraction he constructs the
functionally organized semantic
system of the adult language. He has now
gained access to the social
semiotic; this is the context in which he himself
will learn to mean, and in which all his subsequent
meaning will take place.”
No comments:
Post a Comment