Girls and guys, ghetto and bougie: Metapragmatics, ideology and the management of social identities¹

Abstract

This case study explores the metapragmatic awareness of a young, academically successful, African American, female speaker. It describes some of the identities and orientations that the speaker performs through language and the perceived role of linguistic style in such performances. This study suggests that these linguistic performances are a complex negotiation of ethnicity, gender and class that both draw from and resist the macrosocial indexing of social categories. Further, the understood role of language in the social negotiations of the speaker serves as an illustration of the relationship among metapragmatics, ideology and identity and also highlights the dynamism of identity management as individuals position themselves in allegiance with, or opposition to, various groups that populate their social landscape.

Fostering counter-narratives of race, language, and identity in an urban English classroom

“…Additionally, when students expressed opinions about or identification with "talking Black" and similar terms, it was not always clear what linguistic patterns they were referring to -patterns of grammar, vocabulary, or style. Like Brown (2006), we believe that when students learn a sociolinguistic meta-language for the distinct facets of language variation -including terms like dialects, registers, grammar, accent, and slang -they can better untangle linguistic discrimination based on age, economic status, or race from issues of formality, politeness, and professionalism.…”

“…Although many educators assume that African American adolescents only speak AAVE or view their language choices as direct reflections of their racial identities, recent studies of African American youths' linguistic practices and perspectives paint a more complex picture (Godley & Escher, 2012;Kinloch, 2010;Paris, 2009). In order to better understand the complexity of the students' linguistic and racial identities, our study used interactional and poststructural theories of identity, specifically theories of positioning and indexing, to examine the ways in which students positioned themselves within multiple macro-and micro-level social categories, including race, age, and neighborhood alliances (Brown, 2006;Davies & Harré, 1990;Leander, 2002;Paris, 2009). Such theories posit that identity is multi-faceted and shifting as individuals position themselves in relation to others through social action and through language choices.…”

What their friends say about the way they talk: the metalanguage of pre-adolescent and adolescent Australians

“…Once shared knowledge is established, in whatever form, language features can be used as semiotic resources that are labelled in various ways (Preston, 2004, p. 87). Examples include 'ghetto and bougie' (Brown, 2006), 'integrated' and'street' talk (Madsen, 2013), 'proper' (Brown, 2006;Evans, 2013), 'country' (Hall-Lew & Stephens, 2012), and 'cockney' and 'posh' (Rampton, 2006). In some instances, multiple labels may exist for the same or similar sets of features (see e.g.…”

“…Language ideologies also create normative views that language behaviour can be maintained, controlled, affirmed, reproduced, and sanctioned (Brown, 2006; see also Hiss, 2013), often through language itself. Such views are expressed in a variety of forms.…”

“…Labels have included 'metalanguage' (Jaworski, Coupland, & Galaskinski, 2004), 'metalinguistic commentary/discourse/representations/talk/ activities' (Eberhardt, 2012;Evans, 2013;Hall-Lew & Stephens, 2012;Madsen, 2013), 'metadiscursive processes' and 'metapragmatic commentary' (Agha, 2003;Johnstone, Andrus, & Danielson, 2006), 'metapragmatic practices' (Eberhardt, 2012), 'metapragmatic resources' (Blommaert, 2013), and 'metapragmatic awareness' (Brown, 2006). In this paper, we use the term 'metalanguage' to describe the use of words and expressions used to affirm or resist ideologies (Brown 2006, p. 598) and the term 'metalinguistic awareness' to describe explicit, conscious knowledge of formÀmeaning relationships in a language, usually manifested as the ability to verbalise thoughts about language (Sanz, 2012).…”