Words As Indices of Social and Cultural Identity
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International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, Vol. 3, No. 3, September 2017 Words as Indices of Social and Cultural Identity Tatiana A. Ivushkina regarding one’s own or others’ identity position; (c) Abstract—The paper focuses on words, which alongside displayed evaluative and epistemic orientations to ongoing with their denotations reflect meanings of social, cultural and talk, as well as interactional footings and particular roles; historical levels and serve as signs of identity. These words and (d) the use of linguistic structures and systems that are used in literature to depict the upper classes of Great Britain ideologically associated with specific personas and groups can be grouped into five clusters. The first includes proper (p. 21) [1]. names of upper class educational institutions or districts known for their most expensive properties, also words that The idea of indexicality is in the focus of Peirce’s and denote the highest ranks of society, and proper names of the Silverstein’s works. According to Peirce and his semiotic Royal family members and their circle. The second class of theory, the main property of words, and other signs, is words is made up of words – allusions, which are the names of indexicality, their ability to point at levels other than that of authors, books and reference books depicting the lifestyle and their order (p. 17) [2]-[3]. Silverstein claims that such history of the upper classes and underlying their social and indices pursue an ordered path of development. They start cultural codes. Another group of words reflect social signs of the upper class standing by non-verbal, visual means - at level one and develop into level two, level three and so appearance and clothing or fabrics of which clothing is made. on and it is in the interplay between these levels that In a separate cluster are social events and all attributes identity is dialectically constructed (p. 17) [2], [4]. There accompanying them. Cluster five words characterize voice and are always links between linguistic forms and social manner of speaking which unequivocally reveal social identity. meanings. Relationality suggests a much broader range of relations Index Terms—Words, meaning, social and cultural code, identity, the upper classes, literature. that are forged through identity processes (p. 23) [1]. Because identity is relational, it is also partial, according to the researchers, as “it is produced through contextually I. INTRODUCTION situated and ideologically informed configurations of self and other” (p. 25) [1]. In recent years the question of social identity has Of particular significance for our research is the principle attracted attention of scholars in different fields – sociology, of indexicality expressed in the above-mentioned works on sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, discourse theory, etc. (Labov 1966, Tajfel 1978, Edwards 1985, Turner 1987, which the analysis of the literary material will be based, as Wodak 1989, Bourdieu 1991, Silverstein 2003, Agha 2005, it enables to correlate words with different aspects of Blommaert 2007, Coupland 2007 etc.) who tackling it from people’s life and consider them as multifaceted linguistic different perspectives have considerably enlarged on the units communicating identity of the speakers. The verbal details of how language, culture and society interact. and non-verbal means of identifying oneself arose, Different approaches to the study of social identity find according to Luis Dessalles, with the necessity ‘to show off their reflection in the work by Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall the values’ of ‘the social sizeable coalition of their [1] in which they are combined in a “comprehensive ancestors’ [5]. toolkit”, as it were, in a framework for the analysis of The paper is aimed at singling out language-mediated identity. This framework is based on five fundamental attributes of social identity and examining how words principles that include Emergence, Positionality, translate different levels of information, and social meaning Indexicality, Relationality and Partialness. According to in particular. Emergence principle, identity is considered an emerging in interaction social and cultural phenomenon. The principle of Positionality presupposes not only macrolevel II. ABOUT THE RESEARCH demographic categories (gender, age, and social status) but In the focus of the article are the words used by or about also microlevel local identity categories and temporary and the upper classes of British society in literature, in the book interactionally specific stances and roles. The third principle People Like Us, A Season Among The Upper Classes by of Indexicality emerges in interaction through “related Charles Jennings [6]. Drawing on this book provides a deep indexical processes, including: (a) overt mention of identity insight into social context of a verbal and non-verbal categories and labels; (b) implicatures and presumptions behavior of the upper classes of society, which differentiates them from the rest. The book is centered around the main character, a graduate from Oxford, who, in order to get into the upper class society and to become one Manuscript received May 9, 2017; revised September 5, 2017. of “them”, spends several weeks in their company, living Tatiana Ivushkina is with the Department №3 at MGIMO (University), Moscow, Russia (e-mail: highlife and trying to assimilate their social and cultural [email protected]). codes; but he fails in his attempts and has to acknowledge doi: 10.18178/ijlll.2017.3.3.117 96 International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, Vol. 3, No. 3, September 2017 that it’s not only education that matters but a host of other locations, social meaning attached to them in the time of factors to be an integral part of upbringing that constructs their foundation as they were conceived of as the and frames socio-cultural code of the upper classes. If not institutions intended to enhance the power and ideology of inculcated in childhood, they immediately reveal “others”. the aristocracy [8]. They also evoke a historical background His experience brought him to the realization that “an adult of the first universities (the University College, the first of can never attain complete success” (p. 47) [6]. In the focus the 39 constituting the Oxford University, was founded in of the paper are the words conveying verbal and non-verbal 1249) and public schools (Harrow school, founded under information of a socio-cultural character. Queen Elizabeth in 1571; Eton, a boys’ public school, founded in 1440 by Henry VI to prepare scholars for King’s College, Cambridge; Benenden, an independent boarding III. WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS school for girls in Kent, Westminster school, Marlborough College, Sherborne School for Girls (p. 5) [6]). Analyzing words of the upper-class speech portrayals and The proper names (Eton, Oxford, Harrow and others) are words about them used in the narration, we could single out a stable, familiar and re-usable way of indexing class. They different categories, or classes, of words. It should be are linguistic signs coming to signal upper class culture and pointed out that the words under analysis lie “on the “register”, which according to Agha, ‘are cultural models of surface”, as it were, and they either explicitly denote social action that link diverse behavioral signs to enactable effects, ranking of the speaker, or character, or assign identity including images of persona, interpersonal relationship, and implicitly, by drawing on a lot of proper names, type of conduct (p. 145) [9]. Even if little or nothing is descriptions of appearance and small talks, social events, known about the history and founders of the Universities or hobbies and interests, which attract the reader’s attention. schools, the words get linked to upper-class people, to those A. Class 1 with money and status. Class 1 includes, first of all, words denoting the upper There are metapragmatic, or contextualized, links class titles and ranks (pp. 239-252) [7], which immediately between the proper names and contexts, according to and explicitly link the words with socially privileged classes Silverstein and Agha [10], [9], which mean the words are of Great Britain and their representatives by their semantic linked with social identities explicitly. Being imbued with a structures– knightly class (p. 109) [6]; titled landowners (p. host of social, historical, ideological connotations, they can 147) [6]; baronets (…baronets, of course, being parvenus both evoke and construct identities, and they invented by James 1, are more like sleazy older brothers or unambiguously index elitism and social superiority. Alan Rickman (p. 153) [6]); quintessentially upper crust (p. This class of words corresponds to group (a) “overt 96) [6]; upper crust men and women’ (p. 7) [6]; the mention of identity categories and labels” in Mary Bucholtz uppermost people (p. 10) [6]; grandee (p. 81), (p. 152), (p. and Kira Hall’s framework. These words get linked with 160) [6], peers (p. 10) [6], don (a university teacher, a their social meanings by virtue of co-occurring with the senior member of a college at Oxford or Cambridge), high titles and ranks of the British society they are taken to mean; society of this kind (p. 6) [6]; an earl, privileged classes, they acquired the status of social indices long ago and the gentlefolk (p. 61) [6]; the upper boys (p. 63) [6]; aristos and reader easily establishes the links between linguistic forms toffs (p. 59), (p.11), (p. 64) [6]; layabout aristos (p. 96) [6]; and social meanings of their referents. The names of the debs (p. 111), (p. 118) [6]; paragons (p. 161) [6]; upper- Universities and schools, though belong here and have a class wastrels (p. 119) [6]. It should be noted that the words direct reference to class, are of a more complex nature as with negative, derogatory connotations of the adduced they contain deeper layers of historical and socio-cultural nouns (aristos, toffs, wastrels, etc.) and informal words information to infer.