Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T21:22:10.809Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Self-expression and linguistic variation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2009

Barbara Johnstone  and
Judith Mattson Bean
Barbara Johnstone
Affiliation:
Department of English, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Judith Mattson Bean
Affiliation:
Department of English, Speech, and Foreign Languages, Texas Women's University, Denton, TX 76204-1972, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article argues that self-expression is a crucial though heretofore largely overlooked part of the explanation for linguistic variation. Self-expression mediates between linguistic choices and social facts such as gender, occupation, linguistic ideology, and place of origin, as speakers use language not only to express their identification with or rejection of social groupings, but also to express their individuality. All language use is thus essentially idiosyncratic and syncretic. The point is illustrated with reference to case studies of the speech and writing of two Texas women who use language in public contexts. The article further argues for the sociolinguistic study of public modes of discourse in addition to “vernacular” modes, and for the need in sociolinguistic research for rhetorical as well as linguistic analysis. (Variation, self-expression, individuality, case studies, Texas, public speech)

Type
Research Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , June 1997 , pp. 221 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abrahams, Roger D (1962) Playing the dozens Journal of American Folklore 75 209–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abrahams, Roger D (1976) Talking Black Rowley, MANewburyGoogle Scholar
Angelo, Bonnie (1991) An ethical guru monitors morality Time, June 3, 9–10Google Scholar
Arieli, Yehoshua (1964) Individualism and nationalism in American ideology Cambridge, MA, Harvard University PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ash, Sharon (1988) Speaker identification in sociolinguistics and criminal law In Ferrara, Kathleen et al. (eds), Linguistic change and contact (Proceedings of NWAV XVI), 25–33AustinDepartment of Linguistics, University of TexasGoogle Scholar
Atwood, E Bagby (1962) The regional vocabulary of Texas AustinUniversity of Texas PressGoogle Scholar
Bailey, Guy (1991) Directions of change in Texas English Journal of American Culture 14 125–34Google Scholar
Bailey, Guy, & Bernstein, Cynthia (1989) Methodology for a phonological survey of Texas Journal of English Linguistics 22 6–16Google Scholar
Bailey, Guy, & Thomas, Erik (1992) A case of competing mergers and their resolution SECOL Review 16 179–200Google Scholar
Bailey, Guy, & Tillery, Jan (1991) Anymore they say in Texas Paper presented at Southeastern Conference on Linguistics, Knoxville, TNGoogle Scholar
Bailey, Guy, Wickle, Tom, & Sand, Lori (1991a) The focus of innovation in Texas English World-Wide 12 195–214CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, Guy, Wickle, Tom & Sand, Lori (1991b) The linguistic landscape of Texas North American Culture 7 19–46Google Scholar
Bakhtin, Mikhail M (1980) The dialogic imagination AustinUniversity of Texas PressGoogle Scholar
Balester, Valerie (1993) Cultural divide A study of African-American college-level writers Portsmouth NH, Boynton/Cook-HeinemannGoogle Scholar
Bauman, Richard (1977) Verbal art as performance Rowley, MANewbury [Reprinted, Prospect Heights, IL Waveland, 1984]Google Scholar
Bean, Judith Mattson (1993) “True grit and all the rest” The expression of regional and individual identity in Molly Ivins's discourse Southwestern American Literature 19 35–46Google Scholar
Bell, Allan (1984). Language style as audience design. Language in Society 13:145–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellah, Robert N. et al. , (1985). Habits of the heart: Individualism and commitment in American life. Berkeley: University of California PressGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, Cynthia (1993). Measuring social causes of phonological variation in Texas American Speech 68.227–40.Google Scholar
Bridgman, Richard (1966). The colloquial style in America. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope, & Levinson, Stephen D. (1987) Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, J. K. (1995). Sociolinguistic theory. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Cohen, Ronald (1978) Ethnicity: Problem and focus in anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology 7:379–403.Google Scholar
Collins, Mary Evelyn, & Clayton, Lawrence R (1991) Gone with the drawl: Changing patterns in Texas folk speech. Journal of American Culture 142:135–37Google Scholar
Coulmas, Florian (1981), ed Festschrift for native speaker The Hague: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coupland, Nikolas (1983) Patterns of encounter management: Further arguments for discourse variables. Language in Society 12:459–76.Google Scholar
Craig, Colette G. (1979). Jacaltec: Fieldwork in Guatemala. In Timothy, Shopen (ed.), Languages and their speakers, 3–75. PhiladelphiaUniversity of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Crawford, Ann Fears, & Ragsdale, Crystal Sasse (1992). Women in Texas. Their lives, their experiences, their accomplishments. 2nd ed. Austin, TX: State House Press.Google Scholar
Dines, Elizabeth (1980) Variation in discourse – “and stuff like that” Language in Society 9:13–31.Google Scholar
Dobie, J. Frank (1974) Guide to life and literature of the Southwest. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.Google Scholar
Dumont, Louis (1970). Homo hierarchicus Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Dumont, Louis (1985). A modified view of our origins: The Christian beginnings of modern individualism. In Michael, Carrithers et al. (eds.), The category of the person: Anthropology, philosophy, history, 93–122. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Eckert, Penelope (1990a) Cooperative competition in adolescent girl talk Discourse Processes 13 92–122.Google Scholar
Eckert, Penelope (1990b) The whole woman: Sex and gender differences in variation. Language Variation and Change 1:245–67.Google Scholar
Gal, Susan (1993). Diversity and contestation in linguistic ideologies German speakers in Hungary Language in Society 22 337–59.Google Scholar
Gal, Susan, & Woolard, Kathryn (1995), eds. Constructing languages and publics. (Pragmatics, 5:2.) Antwerp. International Pragmatics Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geertz, Clifford (1984) “From the native's point of view”: On the nature of anthropological understanding In Shweder, & LeVine, 1984 123–36. [Orig. pub. in Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 28:1, 1974].Google Scholar
Giles, Howard, & Powesland, P. F. (1975) Speech style and social evaluation London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Greenblatt, Stephen Jay (1980). Renaissance self-fashioning: From More to Shakespeare Chicago. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Habermas, Jurgen (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Hallowell, A. I (1955). The self and its behavioral environment In his Culture and experience, 75–110. PhiladelphiaUniversity of Pennsylvania PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, Jane H. (1985). The grammar of consciousness and the consciousness of grammar. American Ethnologist 12:725–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, Jane H., & Hill, Kenneth C (1986). Speaking Mexicano: Dynamics of syncretic language in central Mexico. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Hymes, Dell (1974). Foundations in sociolinquistics: An ethnographic approach. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Hymes, Dell (1979). Sapir, competence, voices. In Fillmore, Charles J. et al. (eds.), Individual differences in language ability and language behavior, 33–45. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ivins, Molly (1991). Molly Ivins can't say that, can she? New York. Random House.Google Scholar
Ivins, Molly (1992) For Democrats, Gore's a breath of fresh air Fort Worth Star Telegram, July 12Google Scholar
Ivins, Molly (1993) Nothin' but good times ahead New YorkRandom HouseGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Ellen (1992) Lexical change and variation in the southeastern United States in the twentieth century Dissertation, University of GeorgiaGoogle Scholar
Johnstone, Barbara (1990) Variation in discourse Midwestern narrative style American Speech 63 195–214Google Scholar
Johnstone, Barbara (1991) Individual style in an American public-opinion survey Personal performance and the ideology of referentiality Language in Society 20 557–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnstone, Barbara (1992) Violence and civility in discourse Uses of mitigation by rural Southern White men SECOL Review 16 1–19Google Scholar
Johnstone, Barbara (1993) Community and contest Midwestern men and women constructing their worlds in conversational storytelling In Deborah, Tannen (ed), Gender and conversational interaction, 62–80Oxford & New YorkOxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Johnstone, Barbara (1995) Sociolinguistic resources, individual identities and the public speech styles of Texas women Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 5 1–20Google Scholar
Johnstone, Barbara (1996) The linguistic individual Self-expression in language and linguistics Oxford & New YorkOxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Jordan, Barbara, & Hearon, Shelby (1979) Barbara Jordan A self-portrait New YorkDoubledayGoogle Scholar
Joseph, John E, & Taylor, Talbot J (1990), eds Ideologies of language LondonRoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Kroch, Anthony, & Small, Cathy (1978) Grammatical ideology and its effect on speech In David, Sankoff (ed), Linguistic variation Methods and models, 45–55New YorkAcademic PressGoogle Scholar
Kroskrity, Paul V (1993) Language, history, and identity Ethnolinguistic studies of the Arizona Tewa TucsonUniversity of Arizona PressGoogle Scholar
Kroskrity, Paul V, Schieffelin, Bambi B, & Woolard, Kathryn A (1992), eds Language ideologies (Pragmatics, 2 3) AntwerpInternational Pragmatics AssociationGoogle Scholar
Labov, William (1972) Sociolinguistic patterns PhiladelphiaUniversity of Pennsylvania PressGoogle Scholar
LePage, R B (1968) Problems of description in multilingual communities Transactions of the Philological Society, 189–212OxfordBlackwellGoogle Scholar
Lepage, R B (1980) Theoretical aspects of sociolinguistic studies in pidgin and creole languages In Albert, Valdman & Arnold, Highfield (eds), Theoretical orientations in Creole studies, 331–68 New YorkAcademic PressGoogle Scholar
Lepage, R B, & Tabouret-Keller, Andree (1985) Acts of identity Creole-based approaches to language and ethnicity Cambridge & New YorkCambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Macaulay, Ronald K S (1991) Locating dialect in discourse The language of honest men and bonnie lassies in Ayr Oxford & New YorkOxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Mauss, Marcel (1938) Une catégorie de l'esprit humain La notion de personne, celle de “moi” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 68 263–81 [Trans by H D Wells, A category of the human mind The notion of person, the notion of self In Michael Carrithers et al (eds), The category of the person Anthropology, philosophy, history, 1–25 Cambridge & New York Cambridge University Press, 1985]Google Scholar
McMillan, James B, & Montgomery, Michael B (1989) Annotated bibliography of Southern American English TuscaloosaUniversity of Alabama PressGoogle Scholar
Milroy, Lesley (1987) Language and social networks 2nd edOxfordBlackwellGoogle Scholar
Milroy, Lesley (1992) New perspectives in the analysis of sex differentiation in language In Bolton, Kingsley & Kwok, Helen (eds), Sociolinguistics today International perspectives, 163–79 LondonRoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Montgomery, Michael, & Bailey, Guy (1986) Language variety in the South Perspectives in black and white University University of Alabama PressGoogle Scholar
Morris, Colin (1987) The discovery of the individual, 1050–1200 TorontoUniversity of Toronto PressGoogle Scholar
Pederson, Lee, McDaniel, Susan Leas, & Dent, Borden D (1986–1992) Linguistic atlas of the Gulf states 7 vols AthensUniversity of Georgia PressGoogle Scholar
Preston, Dennis R (1989) Perceptual dialectology Dordrecht ForisCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preston, Dennis R (1993) The South The touchstone Paper presented at conference on Language Variety in the South II, Auburn, ALGoogle Scholar
Read, K. E. (1955). Morality and the concept of the person among the Gahuku-Gama. Oceania 25:233–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sankoff, David, & Laberge, Suzanne (1978). The linguistic market and statistical explanation of variability. In Sankoff, David (ed.), Linguistic variation: Methods and models, 239–50. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Sankoff, David et al. , 1989). Montreal French: Language, class, and ideology. In Fasold, Ralph & Schiffrin, Deborah (eds.), Language change and variation, 107–18. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Sapir, Edward (1921). Language. New York: Harcourt, Brace.Google Scholar
Sapir, Edward (1934). The emergence of the concept of personality in a study of cultures. Journal of Social Psychology 5:408–15.Google Scholar
Sapir, Edward (1938). Why cultural anthropology needs the psychiatrist. Psychiatry 1:7–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sapir, Edward (1939). Psychiatric and cultural pitfalls in the business of getting a living. Mental Health (AAAS publ. no. 9), 237–44.Google Scholar
Sapir, Edward (1949). Selected writings in language, culture, and personality, ed. by Mandelbaum, David. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Saum, Lewis O. (1990). The popular mood of America, 1860–1890. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Schwartz, Mimi (1992). The price of being Molly. Texas Monthly, November, 138–42, 156, 158, 160, 162, 164, 166.Google Scholar
Scotton, Carol Myers (1983). The negotiation of identities in conversation: A theory of markedness and code choice. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 44:115–136.Google Scholar
Sherzer, Joel (1983). Kuna ways of speaking: An ethnographic perspective. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Shweder, Richard A., & Bourne, Edmund J. (1984). Does the concept of the self vary crossculturally? In Shweder, & LeVine, , 1984:158–99.Google Scholar
Shweder, Richard A., & LeVine, Robert (1984), eds. Culture theory: Essays on mind, self, and emotion. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Silverstein, Michael (1979). Language structure and linguistic ideology. In Clyne, R., Hanks, W., & Hofbauer, C. (eds.), The elements (Parasession to CLS 15), 193–247. Chicago: Chicago Linguistics Society.Google Scholar
Stross, Brian (1974). Speaking of speaking: Tenejapa Tzeltal metalinguistics. In Bauman, Richard & Sherzer, Joel (eds.), Explorations in the ethnography of speaking, 213–39. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tannen, Deborah (1981). New York Jewish conversational style. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30:133–49.Google Scholar
Tannen, Deborah (1989). Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue, and imagery in conversational discourse. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles (1989). Sources of the self: The making of modern identity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Tillery, Jan (1989). The merger of the phonemes /כ/ and /a/ in Texas: A study of sociological and phonetic constraints. M.A. thesis, Texas A&M University.Google Scholar
Tillery, Jan (1991). What Texans say they say and what they say. Paper presented at American Popular Culture Forum, San Antonio.Google Scholar
Vliet, R. G. (1983). The frontier of the imagination. In Don, Graham et al. (eds.), Texas literary tradition: Fiction, folklore, history, 108–12. Austin: College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas.Google Scholar
Warner, Michael (1990). The letters of the republic: Publication and the public sphere in eighteenth-century America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Weddington, Sarah; Hickie, Jane; & Fitzgerald, Deanna (1977). Texas women in politics. Austin, TX: Foundation for Women's Resources.Google Scholar
Woolard, Kathryn Ann (1989). Double talk: Bilingualism and the politics of ethnicity in Catalonia. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woolard, Kathryn Ann, & Schieffelin, Bambi (1994). Language ideology. Annual Review of Anthropology 23:55–82.Google Scholar