Ethnographic approaches in society

Etnograpic approaches in sociology

Theory

Julia Daśko & Patrycja Skowron

Chapter 9 - summary

• This chapter returns to the idea of communicative competence which was introduced in chapter 1 and links it to ethnographic approaches to sociolinguistic research, with a particular focus on ethnography of communication. This framework is designed to identify how participants in particular cultural events themselves structure communicative practices, and what underlying assumptions are at work. We also look at ethnomethodology, which is used in conversation analysis. This methodology focuses on patterns in everyday interactions.
• Finally, there is mentioned linguistic ethnography, which is a relatively new approach in sociolinguistics, which integrates the study of linguistic practices in a particular setting with ethnographically gained knowledge about societal norms and ideologies.

Etnography

Writing about people

(ethno-people; graphic-writing)

To study daily life most often over a long period of time

Must be fluent in the language of the people we study

To estabilish mutual trust with local people

Usually stay in a specific location

‘Ethnographers expect to live for an extensive period of time in the community they are studying in order to capture first-hand its language patterns and attitudes. As much as possible, they try not to alter the “natural” flow of life and social relationships of the community, but understand how language works in everyday life.'

Canagarajah (2006)

Ethnography of communication

Ethnographic approaches in sociolinguistics

Ethnomethodology

Linguistic ethnography

Ethnography of communication

Ethnography of communication is the study of communication within the background of social and cultural practices and beliefs. First introduced by Dell Hymes in 1962, he described it in detail in his article ‘Introduction: Toward Ethnographies of Communications’, which was published in 1964. The term ‘ethnography of communication’ means the different features of an approach that is taken towards understanding a language from an anthropological perspective. Originally termed as ‘ethnography of speaking’, Hymes broadened it in 1964 to include the non-vocal and non-verbal aspects of communication.

purposes

2. "to take as framework a community, exploring its unrestrained habits as a whole”

1. “to investigate directly the use of language in contexts of situations so as to discern patterns proper to speech activity”

Hymes (1962)

SPEAKING AS AN ACRONYM

Ethnomethodology

Talk itself is used to sustain reality and be the part of the reality. Ethnomethodology is concerned, among other things, with talk viewed in this way. Ethnomethodologists are interested in the processes and techniques that people use to interpret the world around them and to interact with that world. They are interested in trying to discover the categories and systems that people use in making sense of the world.

Phenomenological view of the world

Practical reasoning

People's everyday experiences

How do people use their commonsense knowledge?what people assume and never question and how they select matters to deal with everyday - connected with social encounters in order to maintain 'normal' appearances. NOT A LOGICAL THINKING (refers to formal settings)

Commonsense knowledge

definitions that we employ in daily living, f.e.: knowing how to make a phone call, knowing that bus drivers do not take checks, knowing that there are different types of people, objects, events, things

Linguistic ethnography

(Links ethnographic research on ideologies and wider societal norms with the analyses of specific language practices.)

The language a person uses based on their social and cultural background and the language they surround themselves influence their behaviour, way of perceiving the world and thus their actions. We can understand human behaviour in a given group investigating the link between the language they use and their behaviours. Linguistic Ethnography is a study of how language, way of thinking, mental state and thus behaviour are tightly connected and finding links between all of them.

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