Identity and interaction: a sociocultural linguistic approach

Abstract

A B S T R A C T The article proposes a framework for the analysis of identity as produced in linguistic interaction, based on the following principles: (1) identity is the product rather than the source of linguistic and other semiotic practices and therefore is a social and cultural rather than primarily internal psychological phenomenon; (2) identities encompass macro-level demographic categories, temporary and interactionally specific stances and participant roles, and local, ethnographically emergent cultural positions; (3) identities may be linguistically indexed through labels, implicatures, stances, styles, or linguistic structures and systems; (4) identities are relationally constructed through several, often overlapping, aspects of the relationship between self and other, including similarity/difference, genuineness/artifice and authority/ delegitimacy; and (5) identity may be in part intentional, in part habitual and less than fully conscious, in part an outcome of interactional negotiation, in part a construct of others' perceptions and representations, and in part an outcome of larger ideological processes and structures. The principles are illustrated through examination of a variety of linguistic interactions.

Professional identity in nursing: UK students' explanations for poor standards of care

“…We also drew on the ideas of Bucholtz and Hall regarding the emergence of identity from interaction (Bucholtz & Hall, 2005) particularly the notion of identity as emerging through linguistic interaction, rather than being a stable internal psychological structure and a source of linguistic practices. As the group participants negotiated conversational topics they positioned themselves, and others, and took up certain identities.…”

“…This in turn gave rise to further dualisms: genuineness-their own practice 'from the heart'-and cynicism-the nurses who are motivated by money alone, and authority and de-legitimacy-the ambivalent identity of the 'real' nurses who are in a position of hierarchical authority over them but have no moral authority, according to their discourse. Their identity, then, as the good nurse or the nurse who cares depends on and takes shape largely from specific encounters (Bucholtz & Hall, 2005) in the health service setting.…”

“If a Muslim says ‘homo’, nothing gets done”: Racist discourse and in-group identity construction in an LGBT youth group

“…They also invoked powerful ideological discourses about what is 'right' or 'moral' by articulating their tolerance for difference yet also dismissing the 'uncivilised' views they assumed Asian people to have; in this way, they made use of both the tactics of authorisation and illegitimation. The young people's interaction, then, reflects Bucholtz and Hall's (2005) relational framework of intersubjective identity construction.…”

“…I also make use of Bucholtz and Hall's (2005) 'tactics of intersubjectivity' framework: the relational ways in which speakers position themselves and others (often through stance-taking). Bucholtz and Hall propose three pairs of tactics: adequation and distinction; authentication and denaturalisation; authorisation and illegitimation.…”

A construção da significação da experiência do abuso sexual infantil através da narrativa: uma perspectiva interacional

“…Ochs;Capps, 1996) entendem a narrativa como um gênero discursivo universal e central no desenvolvimento comunicativo das crianças e com um papel fundamental na signifi cação das experiên-cias, socialização de emoções, atitudes e identidades. Segundo Ochs e Capps (1996), a narrativa nos (re)cria no momento em que ela é criada, o que aloca as performances identitárias na fl uidez da interação, em um contínuo processo de devir, e não em um status de realidade ontológica, exterior ao discurso (Van De Mieroop, 2001;De Fina, 2008;2009;Firth, 1995;Stokoe, 2003;Bucholtz;Hall, 2005;Butler, 1990). Isso signifi ca dizer que as identidades são também construídas por meio da intersubjetividade e em contextos situados, constituindo-se em um construto social complexo e fl uido, localizado em nossas múltiplas interações no mundo (Butler, 1993).…”