style and stylisation jaspersvanhoof revised · 2018. 4. 18. · ignored language variation,...

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The published version of this text will appear in: K. Tusting (Ed.) 2018. The Routledge Handbook of Linguistic Ethnography. London-New York: Routledge. Style and stylisation Jürgen Jaspers & Sarah Van Hoof INTRODUCTION Throughout their lives, language users acquire, cultivate, identify, and act upon different ways of speaking and writing that scholars customarily call ‘styles’ or, less regularly, ‘registers’. Conventional labels that people use for such styles are ‘slang’, ‘posh’, ‘polite speech’, ‘announcing’, ‘informal talk’, ‘lecturing’, ‘dialect’, ‘hip hop language’, and many others. Such labels draw attention to verbal behaviour, but styles are probably best described as cultural models of interaction (cf. Agha 2007: 4): apart from deploying specific linguistic features, ‘lecturing’, to give one example, often involves a higher voice volume and a slower rhythm of speech, gestures to underline explanations, and until not so long ago, wearing a costume or gown. Those who follow the lecture adopt a range of matching signs: they are mostly silent, nod their heads (or feign they are listening), take notes, and raise their hand to ask a question. ‘Lecturing’ equally hints at particular types of interlocutors and the social relations between them (students and their lecturer rather than, say, lovers), at a specific location (a lecture hall), and at different speaking rights (lecturers talk much more than their students). ‘Lecturing’, in other words, is a short-cut name, or more precisely, a ‘metasign’ (Agha 2007: 22), for the complex choreography of semiotic resources that interactants set up to make clear to each other what it is that they are doing. In this sense, a style offers a template for social activity, or a recipe that tells us which semiotic ingredients to combine and how, and which ones to leave out to avoid giving the wrong impression. Of course, like all recipes, styles are amenable to change, half-hearted enactment, partial learning, rejection, or extinction – many lecturers today dress relatively informally and prefer a conversational over a declamatory style. In most societies too, some styles are held up as exemplary (for example, as ‘the standard’), while others are

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Page 1: Style and Stylisation JaspersVanHoof revised · 2018. 4. 18. · ignored language variation, considering it a chaotic surface feature of the underlying linguistic system. William

Thepublishedversionofthistextwillappearin:K.Tusting(Ed.)2018.TheRoutledge

HandbookofLinguisticEthnography.London-NewYork:Routledge.

Styleandstylisation

JürgenJaspers&SarahVanHoof

INTRODUCTION

Throughouttheirlives,languageusersacquire,cultivate,identify,andactupon

differentwaysofspeakingandwritingthatscholarscustomarilycall‘styles’or,

lessregularly,‘registers’.Conventionallabelsthatpeopleuseforsuchstylesare

‘slang’,‘posh’,‘politespeech’,‘announcing’,‘informaltalk’,‘lecturing’,‘dialect’,

‘hiphoplanguage’,andmanyothers.Suchlabelsdrawattentiontoverbal

behaviour,butstylesareprobablybestdescribedasculturalmodelsof

interaction(cf.Agha2007:4):apartfromdeployingspecificlinguisticfeatures,

‘lecturing’,togiveoneexample,ofteninvolvesahighervoicevolumeanda

slowerrhythmofspeech,gesturestounderlineexplanations,anduntilnotso

longago,wearingacostumeorgown.Thosewhofollowthelectureadopta

rangeofmatchingsigns:theyaremostlysilent,nodtheirheads(orfeigntheyare

listening),takenotes,andraisetheirhandtoaskaquestion.‘Lecturing’equally

hintsatparticulartypesofinterlocutorsandthesocialrelationsbetweenthem

(studentsandtheirlecturerratherthan,say,lovers),ataspecificlocation(a

lecturehall),andatdifferentspeakingrights(lecturerstalkmuchmorethan

theirstudents).

‘Lecturing’,inotherwords,isashort-cutname,ormoreprecisely,a

‘metasign’(Agha2007:22),forthecomplexchoreographyofsemioticresources

thatinteractantssetuptomakecleartoeachotherwhatitisthattheyaredoing.

Inthissense,astyleoffersatemplateforsocialactivity,orarecipethattellsus

whichsemioticingredientstocombineandhow,andwhichonestoleaveoutto

avoidgivingthewrongimpression.Ofcourse,likeallrecipes,stylesare

amenabletochange,half-heartedenactment,partiallearning,rejection,or

extinction–manylecturerstodaydressrelativelyinformallyandprefera

conversationaloveradeclamatorystyle.Inmostsocietiestoo,somestylesare

heldupasexemplary(forexample,as‘thestandard’),whileothersare

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discouraged.Exemplarystylesandthoserelatedtospecificprofessionsand

pastimesareoftenonlyacquiredbyasubsetofthepopulation,thoughtheymay

beobservablebymillions(forexample,ontelevision).Asaresultwealllearnto

useanumberofstylesthatcirculateinaparticularsociety,andwelearnto

recognisemanymorethanwecanproduceourselves(Agha2004;Auer2007).

Sociolinguistshaveinthelast50yearsattendedtowhenandwhygroups

ofspeakersshiftbetweenstyles,andadopt(featuresof)styles,inordertostudy

howsuchadoptionsimpactonthedynamicsofalanguageasawhole.Rather

thanonlecturingorslang,thisworkinitiallyconcentratedonthevaryinguses

speakersmakeof‘vernacular’and‘prestigious’linguisticfeatures,andonhow

theirrelativeusagecorrespondswithspeakercharacteristics,theirself-

presentation,andsituationalchanges(frominformaltoformal,forexample).

Manyscholarshavetracedstyleshiftsthroughfrequencycountsinlargecorpora

thatsubdividespeakersaccordingtoalimitedsetofbroadsocialcategorieslike

class,age,andgender.Othershavelaterappliedethnographicmethodsto

identifyhowlinguisticfeatures,typesofdemeanourordress,andcontextsofuse

areassociatedwithlocalsocialcategories.Today,scholarstendtoseestylesas

multimodalcomplexesoflinguisticandothersemioticpracticesproducedin

situatedinteraction,andtheydemonstratespeakers’regularuseofthese

combinedresourcesthroughquantitativeorqualitativemethods.Inallofthese

cases,speakersareseentocommittothestyleselection,andtheselectionis

seenasrelativelyinconspicuous:itisnotunexpected,ornotsurprisinggiventhe

situation.

Linguisticethnographershaveobserved,however,thatspeakerscanalso

‘stylise’,i.e.suddenly,momentarily,andinanexaggeratedmannerproduce

particularstylesthatliebeyondtheirregularlinguisticrepertoires,orbeyond

whatisconventionalinthesituationathand–thinkofastudentwhobriefly

shiftsintoalecturingstyletoaddressafriendinthepub.Speakersinsodoing

interrupttheroutineandturnothersintospectatorsofabriefperformance.

Sucheye-catchingstylechoices,so-called‘stylisations’,havebeeninvestigatedto

revealhowstylisersinterprettheon-goingsituation,andhowtheyposition

themselvesinthatsituationandinthesocialworldbeyondit.Ratherthan

focusingattentiononthechangesthelanguageasawholemayincur,itis

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directedheretowardsthemicro-levelofindividualspeakermovesandtheir

oftencriticalstancetowardsestablishedsocialandlinguistictrends.Analysesof

stylisationsarethusmostlyqualitative,case-studybased,andinprincipleopen

toaninfinitesetoflocalandnon-localspeakercharacteristics.

Thissuggeststhatthestudyofstyleandstylisationmovesinorthogonal

directions(demonstratingregularlanguagebehaviourvs.explainingirregular,if

not‘fake’,activity).Weargueinthischapter,however,thatroutineandmarkedly

selfconsciousspeecharetwomanifestationsofthesameprocessinwhich

speakersdemonstratetheirinterpretationofthesocialworldandtheusesof

languagewithinit.Scholarsofstyleandstylisationmaythushavemoretosayto

eachotherthanisobviousatfirstsight,theircombinedinsightsofferinga

complexperspectiveonthemeaningoflanguagevariation.

HISTORICALPERSPECTIVES

Thesociolinguisticinterestinstylewasareactionagainstdominanttrendsin

20thcenturylinguistics(associatedwithChomskyangenerativegrammar)that

ignoredlanguagevariation,consideringitachaoticsurfacefeatureofthe

underlyinglinguisticsystem.WilliamLabov’spioneeringworkinNewYorkin

the1960sdemonstratedthatinsteadofbeingamatterof‘freevariation’,

linguisticheterogeneitywasremarkablyregular.Labovintroducedthenotionof

thelinguisticvariabletorefertoanyaspectoflanguagethatappearsindifferent

variants–e.g.inhisNewYorkstudy(2006),thepresence([r])orabsence(∅)of

finalandpre-consonantal/r/inwordssuchascarorcardconstitutedvariantsof

thephonologicalvariable(r).Herevealedthatspeakers’differentialuseof[r]or

∅variedsystematicallywiththeirsocio-economicbackgroundand,thus,that

linguisticvariationwassociallystratified.Inaddition,Labovfoundthatspeakers’

useofthesevariantsdependedontheformalityofthesituation,sothatintra-

speakerstylisticvariationcouldbeseentomirrorvariationacrosssocio-

economicgroups.Insomecasesthissynchronicvariationledtodiachronic

change,whenstylefeaturesassociatedwithonesocialgroupweregradually

takenoverbyothers.

Inthe‘variationist’strandofresearchthatLabovsoinspired,stylewas

seenasdependingontheattentionspeakerspaidtotheirspeech:themore

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formalthesituation,themorespeakerswouldbeinclinedtouse‘prestige’

variants,associatedwithhigh-placedsocialgroups,insteadof‘vernacular’

variants.Scholarsthereforemadesurethatthesociolinguisticinterview,the

classicmethodbywhichtheyrevealedthestructurednatureoflinguistic

variation,consistedofactivitiesthatwouldmakeinformantsstyleshiftasthey

increasedattentiontotheirspeech:aninterviewelicited‘carefulspeech’;having

informantsreadatextproduceda‘readingstyle’withmoreprestigevariants;

the‘maximumattention’paidtospeechwhilereadingminimalpairs(e.g.guard

andgod)producedthehighestfrequencyofprestigevariants.Aparticular

challengethoughwasto‘somehowbecomewitnessestotheeverydayspeech

whichinformantswilluseassoonasthedoorisclosedbehindus:thestylein

whichtheyarguewiththeirnearestanddearest,scoldtheirchildren,orpassthe

timeofdaywiththeirfriends’(Labov2006:64).Sucheveryday,vernacular,

speechwasseenaspeople’slinguisticbaseline,theirmost‘natural’typeof

speechsincetheypresumablypaid‘noattention[…]tolanguage’(Labov2006:

64),anditwasassumedthatdemonstratinglanguagechangedependedon

provinginnovationinthisbaseline.Butbeingobservedbyalinguistmade

informantsselfconsciousratherthanspontaneous,andvariationiststriedto

circumventthisso-calledobserver’sparadox(Labov1972)by,forexample,

askinginformantstotalkaboutlifethreateningsituationsthatwouldbriefly

makethemforgetwheretheywere.

Laterstrandsinvariationistsociolinguisticswerelessrejectingof

people’sselfconsciousness,or‘reflexivity’.Thus,ratherthanseeingvernacular

usageasanaturalbaseline,theso-called‘secondwave’ofvariationiststudies

(Eckert2012)deployedethnographicmethodstodemonstratethatsuchusage

wasmotivatedbyspeakers’participationintight-knitlocalnetworksofworking-

classadolescents(Cheshire1982)andadults(Milroy1980),orbytheir

belongingtoclass-basedschoolcategorieslike‘jocks’and‘burnouts’(Eckert

1989).Othersarguedthatstylehadtobeapproachedasastrategicresponseto

audiencecharacteristics.Bell(1984)describedhowradioannouncersadapted

theirspeechstyletocatertodifferentaudiences.Giles&Powesland(1975)

similarlyproposedintheir‘communicationaccommodationtheory’that

speakersactivelymodifiedtheirspeechstyle,convergingwiththatoftheir

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addresseesinordertolookmoreattractiveortofacilitatecommunication,or

divergingfromittoreduceintimacyandenlargesocialdifference(Coupland

2007:54-81).Whatwasaheuristicproblem–speakers’reflexivity–here

emergesasacommonplacebutimportantaspectofthe‘communicative

competence’(Hymes1972)withwhichspeakerspartakeinsociallife.Increole

studies,LePage(1978;alsoseeLePage&Tabouret-Keller1985)proposedthat

stylisticchoicesarenotsomuchrelatedtopeople’srelativelyautomatic

responsetobroadsocialcategories(suchassocialclass)ortotheattentionthey

paytotheirspeech,butneedtobeseenas‘actsofidentity’,engenderedby

speakers’activeidentificationwithparticularsocialgroups,thatis,bytheirwish

tomodeltheirlanguageonthegroupsthattheysohopetobeidentifiedwith.

Sociolinguisticvariablesarethus‘reanalysed[…]fromsymptomsintosymbols’

(Auer2007:4).

Theseandotherstudiesgraduallymovedthestudyofstyleintowhat

Eckertcallsa‘third’waveofvariationiststudies.Scholarsinthisstrandapproach

languageas‘performanceratherthanbehavior’(Coupland2001:348),thatis,as

asocialpracticeinwhichspeakersactivelyandcreativelydrawonavailable

linguisticandothersemioticresourcestoproducesocialmeaning

(Androutsopoulos2007;Bucholtz2003;Bucholtz&Hall2005;Eckert2012;

Schilling-Estes2006).Scholarsinthiswavemovedfromasinglevariable

approachtoamoreholisticnotionofstyleasaconglomerateofverbalandnon-

verbalresources(cf.Auer2007:11-12),including,besideslinguisticfeatures,

alsointonation,gesturing,bodypositioning,useofspace,clothing,hairdo,make-

up,andsoon(Schilling-Estes2006).Thebasicideaisthatspeakersrecycle,

reconfigureandcombineseveralsemioticresources,andthattherepetitionof

thisbricolageactivityculminatesintoaparticularstyle,aconventionalmodelfor

interactingwithothers,whichcanitselfagainbeonlypartiallyadoptedor

reconfiguredininteraction.Themeaningsofspecificvariablesareseeninthis

contextas‘underspecified’(Eckert2012:87),thatis,asbecomingmorespecific

whentheyareinterpretedinrelationtotheotherresourcesthatareused.

Takentogether,thefocusinresearchonstylegraduallycametolieon

speakers’active‘styling’,ratherthanonhowtheyshiftstylesinresponsetothe

formalityofthesituation;andonamuchbroaderrangeofsocialmeaningsthan

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onalimitedsetofstandarddemographiccategories.Thischangingfocushasto

besituatedinawider,‘post-structuralist’,turninthehumanitiesthatessentially

soughttomoveawayfromseeingbehaviourasnaturalandfromthetendencyto

seeitsmeaningasrelatedtoitsplaceinasocialsystem,toafocusonhowsocial

actorsautonomouslycreatemeaningbydeployingthesemioticresourcesthey

haveaccessto.Inspiredbythisturn,moreandmorescholarsquestionedthe

predominantapproachoflanguagevariationasagroupphenomenon–theidea

thatgroupmembersshareavarietythateachofthemhasbeensocialisedinat

hometospeakcompetentlywithothermembers,andofwhichtheyarethe

authentic,‘native’,representatives.Incontrasttothis‘linguisticsofcommunity’,

scholarscalledfora‘linguisticsofcontact’(cf.Pratt1987).Theyinsisted,first,

thatthestudyoflanguagevariationneededtoincludeacross-groupinteraction,

imperfect,unusualandquasi-use,nexttolanguageusestampedbyspeakers’

dealingswithcontextsoutsideofthehome(themedia,popularculture,andso

on).Secondly,theyarguedthatcommunicationisnotaneventwherespeakers

merelyactoutpre-givenidentitiesnorfreelyassemblenewones,butthatit

mustbeseenasasiteof‘imposition,collusionandstruggleinwhichpeople

invoke,avoidorreconfigure’theirrelationships,socialidentities,andthe

semioticresourcestheseentail,withapotentiallyseriousimpacton‘people’s

minds,livesandmaterialconditions’(Rampton2006:24).Inthiscontext,italso

becomesnaturaltoinvestigateoccasionswhenspeakersstylise,thatis,

experimentwithlanguage.

Althoughtheyareprobably‘asoldasspeechitself’(Rampton&

Charalambous2010:4),stylisationsonlycameintofocusinthemid1990s.The

interestinthemwastriggeredbytheworkofBakhtin,aliterarycriticwho

positedthatourspeechisalways‘heteroglossic’,thatis,constantlyresonates

withothers’wordsandvoices,sothatwhatis‘(in)authentic’insomeone’s

speechcanoftenbehardtodecide.Bakhtincoinedtheterm‘stylisation’torefer

tothespecificpracticeinwhichspeakersproduce‘anartisticimageofanother’s

language’(1981:361),atypeof‘double-voicing’,eithertomockorcommenton

therepresentedvoice(‘varidirectionaldouble-voicing’),ortoalignoneselfwith

thequalitiesthatareassociatedwiththeoriginalownersofthevoice

(‘unidirectionaldouble-voicing’).

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ApioneeringstudyinthiscontextwasRampton’s(1995)workon

‘crossing’amongmulti-ethnicadolescentsintheUKmidlands.Heanalysedhow

youngstersfromAnglo,AsianandCaribbeandescentexperimentedwith

varietiesthatwerenotusuallyseenastheirown:thosewithAngloandAsian

descenttriedoutEnglish-basedCreole,AnglosandCaribbeansoccasionally

switchedtoPanjabi,andallthreeventuredintoa‘StylisedAsianEnglish’.While

thisoftenoccurredduringjokesandgames,Ramptonshowedthatbeyondthis

playfulness,manyoftheseverbalexperimentswererecurrenteventsin

youngsters’managementofcross-ethnicfriendshipandlocalpeer-groupaffairs,

andthatstylisationscouldalsobeaddressedtoauthorityfigures.Youngstersfor

exampleswitchedtoCreole–avarietytheyassociatedwithverbalagilityanda

lackofdeference–totakeupanassertivestancethattheycreditedtheirCreole

speakingfriendswith.OrtheybrieflyadoptedStylisedAsianEnglishtoprojecta

deferentialanduncomprehendingpersona,asawayofpubliclycriticisingother

adolescentsinastylethatimputeddiminishedcompetencetothem,or,in

interactionwithadults,toevokeproblematicracerelationsthattheseadults

weretheninvitedtosomehowpacify–leadingtomore,orless,enjoyable

relations,dependingonadults’response.Theavailabilityofdifferentstyleswas

notasafe-conductfortheirstylisation,however:atthewrongmomentorinthe

wrongcompany,youngsterscouldseriouslyquestiontheother’srighttouse

whatwasnotseenas‘theirs’.

Inadifferentcontext,thatoflightentertainmentonradio,Coupland

(2001)foundthatradiopresentersplayfullyselectedWelshdialectformsof

Englishtostage‘Welsh’culturalstyles(‘gossipingoverthegardenfence’)and

stances(anti-heroism,pragmatism).RatherthanmockingWelshdialectandits

speakers,however,Couplandarguedthatthesepresentersthroughtheirstylised

performancebothironicallyevokedandself-identifiedwithWelshwaysofbeing,

invitingtheaudienceto‘finditconfirmatory,credentializing,andsolidary–as

wellashumorous’(2001:371).Theperformancecouldthusbeseento bolster

regionalidentificationwithWalesbyculturallyreassessing,andvalorising,the

dialect.

Whatstylisationsmean,then,isamuchmorecomplexissuethansimply

‘fakingit’or‘havinglinguisticfun’.Indeed,stylisationscanbemeantas‘mocking,

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admiring,anend-in-itselforthefirststepinalongerjourney,and[they]may

strengthenboundaries,underminethem,orasserttheirirrelevance’(Rampton&

Charalambous2010:5).Whicheverofthesemeaningsappliesneedstobeargued

onthebasisofethnographicinsights.Acrucialelementintheirinterpretation,as

weshallnowexplain,isthenotionofindexicality,whichplaysanincreasingrole

incurrentresearchonstyle.

CURRENTCONTRIBUTIONSANDRESEARCHAREAS

Acentralnotionincurrentworkonstyleandstylisation,drawnfromlinguistic

anthropology,is(social)indexicality.Thetermreferstothefactthatspeakers

seelinguisticsignformsasindicativeofasocialcontextwithinwhichtheiruse

makessense.Itisrelatedtothelinguisticnotionof‘deixis’,accordingtowhich

speakersneedtoidentifythespecific,contextual,meaningofeach‘I’,‘this’or

‘soon’thatthesewordspointtowhentheyareused.Linguisticanthropologists

arguethatalllinguisticfeatures,however,notjustthedeicticwords,are

indexical,thatis,aretakenbylanguageusersassignsthatpointtoaspecific

contextthatdeterminestheirmeaning:what‘nice’or‘chair’mean(their

‘referentialindexicality’)mustbedecidedonthebasisofaspecificcontextofuse

(Silverstein1976).

Social(also:‘nonreferential’)indexicalityreferstothefactthatlinguistic

features,rangingfromonesoundoversetsoflexemestoawholestyle,canevoke

stereotypicsocialcharacteristics,relationshipsandcontextsofuse.Thismeans

thatwecandeliberatelydeploythemto‘formulateasketchofthesocialoccasion

constitutedbytheactofspeaking’(Agha2007:14),butalsotogiveanindication

ofourorientationtoasocialoccasion.Usingaformalvoice,forinstance,can

suggestthatthespeakerregardstheoccasionasformalortakesanironicstance;

usingavernacularvoiceinaformalcontextmayflaganon-deferential,assertive

stancevis-à-visaparticularauthority,or,alternatively,indicatethatthespeaker

strikesupaconvivialtone(cf.Jaffe2009).

Whethertheaudienceissensitivetothesocialsketchorstanceaspeaker

evokesinthiswaydependsontheirabilitytorecognisethestereotypic

connotationofthelinguisticfeaturesdeployed.Thisabilitydependson

socialisationprocesses(athome,atschool,intheworkplace)wherelinguistic

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andothersignsareassociatedwithparticularvalues.Becausesocialisation

trajectoriesdiffer,linguisticfeatureshavemultiple,evencompetingsocial

meanings:dialectusageisoftenregardedasconvivialbyonegroupbutasugly

byanother,whilestandardlanguagecanbefoundelegantaswellasarrogant.

Thesemeaningsmaymoreoverevolve,aswasthecasewiththemanystandard

languagesthatusedtobeassociatedwithaspecificregionbeforetheywerere-

typifiedasneutralandmodern.Thesocialindexicalityofalinguisticvariableora

stylecanthusbemultidimensional,changing,andcontradictory,i.e.theyhave

whatEckertcalls‘anindexicalfield’:‘afieldofpotentialmeanings[...],anyoneof

whichcanbeactivatedinthesituateduseofthevariable’(Eckert,2008:453;cf.

Ochs,1996).Asaresult,interactantsandanalystshavetodeterminewhich

potentialmeaningisactuallytargetedwhenavariableisused,andneedtobe

attentivetohowlinguisticresourcesmaybegivenadditionalmeanings.

Suchreworkingscanbeincidental,andofnoconsequenceforparticular

variables’widerreputation,butinsomecasestheeffectscanbemuchmore

enduring.Labov(1963)alreadyshowedthatalocaldiphthong/ay/inMartha’s

Vineyardwasreconfiguredfromavariablethatindicatedthespeakerwasa

Vineyardertoonethatindicatedthatthespeakerwasa‘real’Vineyarderrather

thanatouristorimmigratedmainlandpensioner.Morerecently,Johnstone

(2013)describedhowvariablesthatoriginallyindexedtheworkingclassin

PittsburghcametoindexplaceandlocalPittsburghidentity.SeveralDanish

sociolinguistshavearguedthatlinguisticresourcesthatusedtobemainly

associatedwith‘learnerDanish’–theDanishofimmigrants–arebeing

reconfiguredasstandingfora‘street’andthus,acoolurbanspeechstyle(see,

amongothers,Madsen2013;Quist2005),althoughthisnewreputationstill

competeswiththeolder,lessflatteringfameoftheseresources.Agha(2007)

reportsonasimilar,long-termprocessforthestylewenowcall‘Received

Pronunciation’inBritain.Whileinthe16thcenturythiswasarelativelyunknown

speechstyle,associatedwithasmalleliteinsoutheasternEngland,itwas

graduallyreworkedinthe18thand19thcenturiesintoa‘neutral’,idealspeech

styleforthewholeofBritishsocietyandlateragaintransformedintoasymbolof

class.

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AlloftheseprocessesdependonwhatAgha(2007)calls‘enregisterment’.

Thetermreferstoalltheevaluativeactivitiesthroughwhichsetsoflinguistic

resourcesareassociatedwithsocialvalue(like‘elegant’,‘fromPittsburgh’,

‘urban’,‘deficient’)andcometogainculturalrecognitionasdistinctive‘registers’

orstyles.Suchactivitiescancomprise‘linguisticutteranceswhichexplicitly

describearegister’sformsandassociatedvalues;or,utteranceswhichimplicitly

evaluatetheindexicaleffectsofco-occuringforms(as‘nextturn’responsesto

them,forexample)withoutdescribingwhattheyevaluate;suchbehaviormay

includenon-linguisticsemioticactivityaswell’(Agha2004:26).Callingatypeof

speaking‘slang’or‘standard’,andexplainingitasasignofspeakers’(lackof)

civilisationconstitutesanexampleofthefirst;laughingwithsomebody’saccent

illustratesthethirdactivity;thesecondtypecomprisesstylisations.Onecrucial

pointisthatevaluativebehaviourisinescapable:allusageoflinguisticresources

involvesandentailsassumptionsabouttheiradequacyinthecontextathand.

Thisiswhyusingthevernacularcanneverbea‘natural’typeofbehaviour.A

secondpointisthatthisevaluativebehaviourisideological,i.e.,itisinspiredby

viewsof‘good’,‘civilised’or‘attractive’behaviourthatservetodistinguishsocial

groupsandlegitimisetheirunequalranking.Athirdpointisthatthisevaluative

behaviourneedstoberegularforittohaveanyenduringeffect,thatis,toenable

ustorecogniseaparticularconstellationoflinguisticandnon-linguisticfeatures

asa‘register’or‘style’.Muchcurrentresearchintostylingthereforenotjust

looksattheformsthatarebeingused,butincludesananalysisofhowthese

formsaresimultaneouslyevaluated.

Researchintostylisationhasinrecentyearssoughttodemonstratethat

stylisers’behaviourisrelatedtotheirconventionallanguageuse,andthatthey

arenotmerelyconcernedwiththehere-and-nowbutareengagingwithbigger

issues,likesocialclass.Rampton(2006)revealedthattheeverydayspeechof

London-basedyoungsterswascharacterisedbythesamestratificationpatterns

thatLabovfoundinthe1960s;thattheseyoungstersfrequentlystylisedthe

standard(‘posh’)andvernacular(‘Cockney’)stylesthattheireverydayspeech

shiftedbetween;andthatthesestylisationsforegroundedinstitutionalandclass-

basedhierarchies,sometimescontestingthesehierarchieswhileonother

occasionsreinforcingthem(alsoseeMadsen2013;Snell2010).Charalambous

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(2012)describeshowyoungGreekCypriotsduringTurkishclass,facedwitha

teacherintentonbanningallofthepoliticalovertonesthatanengagementin

Turkishcouldevokeinthiscontext,foundinstylisedlanguageawaytocritically

addressCypriotpoliticsandtoreshapethemeaningoflearningTurkishfrom

betrayalintoarevolutionarymove.Inthisview,stylisingbecomesawayof

symbolicallyengagingwithlargersocialissuesthatspeakersdonotknow

anymorehowtotalkaboutexplicitly(asinRampton’scase),orfindtoo

dangeroustodiscussaboveboard(inCharalambous’sstudy).

Inaperspectivethatviewsalllanguageuseasreflexivelyproduced,there

isnoexclusivepreferenceanymorefor‘real’,spontaneous,face-to-facelanguage

use.Alsoscripted,set-pieceperformancesnowfallsquarelywithintheremitof

sociolinguistics.Therehasbeenampleresearchofstyleandstylisationonradio

andtelevision,inmusic,infilm,inadvertising,andinnewmedia.Allofthese

spacesaretreatedas‘site[s]ofsocialactionin[their]ownright’

(Androutsopoulos2012:142)where‘reallife’linguisticstylescanbecreatively

reworkedandmade‘particularlymetalinguisticallyandmetaculturallysalient’

(Mortensenetal.2016:8)byputtingthemondisplayandincreasingtheir

occurrenceonthepublicscene.Mediatedsocialactioncaninthiswayreproduce

traditionalsociolinguistichierarchies,butalso(re)contextualiseindividual

featuresorentirespeechstylesandimbuethemwithnewmeanings(ibid.).

ThusVanHoof&Jaspers(2016)showthatFlemish1970sTVfiction

typifiesdialectasafolkloric,inarticulateworkingclassstyle,andStandardDutch

asaneducatedprestigestyle,whichchimesinperfectlywiththewidespread

pro-StandardDutchpropagandathatFlemingswereatthattimeconfrontedwith.

Atthesametime,someoftheseTVshowsambiguatedandcontestedthis

propaganda.ComedyshowsportrayedStandardDutchspeakersasunworldly

andpatronisinglanguagezealots,whileothercharacters’stylisationsofStandard

Dutchevaluatedthistypeofspeechaspretentiousandeffeminate.Thestyling

andstylisationofvernacularandstandardspeechinthiscasethustestifiedto

boththereproductionandthe‘fracturingoftraditionalindexicalrelations’

(Coupland2014:90).

Bucholtz&Lopez(2011)likewiseshowhowwhiteactors’metaparodic

stylisedperformancesofblacklanguageinHollywoodfilmshavecomplex

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outcomes.Theyobservethatwhitemiddleclasscharactersdrawondeliberately

disfluentusesofarestrictedsetofstereotypicalfeaturesofAfricanAmerican

English(AAE)tolayclaimtopositivelyvaluedstereotypesofyoungworking-

classblackmen–coolness,toughness,sexualself-confidence–thatthey

themselveslack.BucholtzandLopezarguethatalthoughthesemockAAE

performances‘valorize[d]AfricanAmericanlanguageandcultureassuperiorin

somewaystohegemoniclinguisticandculturalforms’(2011:683)and

portrayedtheuseofblacklanguagebywhitesasinauthentic,theynevertheless

reinforcedessentialiseddivisionsbetweenblackandwhitecultureandlanguage,

andultimatelyre-ratherthandestabilisedhierarchiesofrace,class,andgender.

Onlineenvironmentshavealsocomeintofocusofresearchonstyleand

stylisation.Androutsopoulos(2007)forexamplefoundthatGermanyoungsters

onhip-hoprelatedwebsitesfused‘global’hip-hopstylemarkers(lexicalitems

likedissordope,andhip-hopslangspellingvariantslike<z>aspluralmarkerin

beatz)with‘local’Germanvernacularfeaturessuchascolloquialspellings,and

usedtheseas‘resourcesforconstructingnon-mainstreamand“downtoearth”

attitudes’(2007:309)andfordisplayingmembershipofthehip-hopcommunity.

Contrarytoassumptionsofthewebasafreespacewhereconcernsaboutproper

languageareextraneous,scholarshaveshownthatonlineenvironmentsoften

respondtotraditionalsociolinguistichierarchies–withnon-standardwriting

especiallyfoundondiscussionboardswhileprofessionallyauthoredtextson

hip-hopwebsitesusuallydeployamorestandardstyle(Androutsopolous2007).

Webusersthemselvesmaymoreoverpoliceeachother’slanguageaccordingto

standardnorms(Stæhr2015).Focusingonstyleinmusic,Stæhr&Madsen

(2015)describehowintheirrapvideosonYouTubeyoungDanishrappersfrom

minoritydescentgraduallyembracestandard,monolingualpracticesasthey

wishtomovefrom‘gangster’to‘serious’rappers–anevolutioninspiredbytheir

concernwithwidercomprehensibilityandaspirationsforcommercialsuccess.

Thesestudiesshowthat‘[g]lobalcultures,codesandflows’,suchashiphop

styles,‘arenotswallowedwithoutchewing’(Varis&Wang2011:75,citedin

Stæhr&Madsen2015:79)andthatlocalcontextsmustbeethnographically

exploredtounderstandwhatlinguisticresourcesmeantotheparticipants

involved.

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CRITICALISSUESANDDEBATE

Oneissuefordebateiswhetheritisbesttocharacterisestylisationsasamatter

ofartfulperformance(Bauman1975),stimulatedbyanerathatrevelsinirony,

identity,andmass-mediatedentertainment,asCoupland(2007)suggests,or

whethertheiroccurrencemay,atleastinpart,bemoretimeless,everyday,and

mayalsoconstrueother,lessspectacular,socialeffectsthan‘lookatme!’

(Rampton2009).Stylisationsclearlyhaveaperformativequality,giventheir

oftenintensedelivery.Whentheytargetaparticularaudiencebyeffect-seeking

producers(actors,presenters,comedians)inthemassmedia,orwhenthey

occurduringmundaneactivitiessuchasjokeorstorytellingandgames,itmakes

sensetounderstandthemasdesignedforthe‘enhancementof[the]experience’

oftheiraudience(Bauman1975:178).Rampton(2009)arguesthoughthata

performancelensfailstothrowintoreliefthatmanystylisationsconstitutea

typeofinteractionmanagement–whatGoffman(1981)calls‘interactionritual’.

AsGoffmansuggests,speakersusearangeofformulaicutterancestoapproach

orleaveothers,avoidorremedyoffense,saythanks,offersympathy,andsoon.

Theseutterances‘oftenserveabracketingfunction,celebrativelymarkinga

perceivedchangeinthephysicalandsocialaccessibilityoftwoindividualsto

eachother[…]aswellasbeginningsandendings–ofaday’sactivity,asocial

occasion,aspeech,anencounter,aninterchange’(Goffman1981:20-21).Many

ofthestylisationsRamptonfoundappeartodoexactlythis:theyareusedin

greetings,remedies,apologies,expressionsofannoyance,theiroccurrence

respondingtoatemporaryinteractionalhiccup,ortoloominginstitutional

authorityandthesocialstratificationthatthisauthoritypresupposes.

Stylisationsinsuchcasesare‘auxiliaryratherthanfocal,valuedmorefortheir

contributionto[…]maintainingorrestoringnormalsocialrelationsthanfor

qualitiesoftheirown’(Rampton2009:169),andsinceinteractionritual

presumablyisfundamentaltocommunication,theiroccurrencegoesbeyonda

representationofthemasatypicalsignofpost-modernpastiche.

Asecondissueiswhetherstylisationscanbetakenascriticaloflocalor

larger-scaleroutines,representations,andsocialhierarchies.Thisiscertainlythe

wayinwhichagreatmanyofthemhavebeeninterpreted(Charalambous2012;

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Jaspers2011a;Madsen2013;Talmy2009).Yet,asalreadymentionedabove,

Coupland(2001)indicatedthatstylisationscannotjustdenaturalisebutalsore-

authenticatelinguisticpracticesandsocontributetotheirculturalreproduction.

Bakhtin’sdiscussionofunidirectionaldouble-voicingmoreoversuggeststhatina

numberofcases,stylisersdonotwishtocriticizenormock,butintendtoadopt

(featuresof)avoice–English-basedcreole,AAE,thelocaldialect–thattheyfind

attractiveoruseful.Inthisway,stylisersreproducetheassociationsbetweena

voiceandcertainspeakercharacteristics,and,forexample,simplyacceptthe

symbolically‘low’positionofa(dialect)voicebecauseitisthatpositionthat

makesitattractive.Itisimportanttosee,inaddition,thatvari-directional

double-voicingequallyreproducescertainaspectsofthecontextsthatitshakes

up:inproducinga‘StylisedAsianEnglish’tocalldownotheradolescentsor

challengelocalauthorities,theyoungstersinRampton’sworkwereatthesame

timebuildingon,andthusreproducing,thestereotypeofAsianEnglishasan

indexofdeferenceandineptitude.Andwhenspeakersridiculewaysofspeaking

theyperceiveasdisfluent,e.g.throughproducing‘MockEbonics’or‘Mock

Spanish’,thesestylisationsfeedintothenegativerepresentationsofparticular

speakers(Chicanos,Latinos,Blacks)thataudiencesneedtobefamiliarwithto

makesenseofsuchmockpractices(Bennett2012;Hill1998;Ronkin&Karn

1999).Jaspers(2015)arguesthattheinteractionallocationswhereateacher

insertedhisplayfulrenditionsofpupils’homelanguages,inbetweenthemore

importantcurriculum-orientedmoments,implicitlysuggestedtopupilswhatthe

relativevaluewasoftheresourceshestylised,comparedtotheschoollanguage,

andsoreproducedthewider-scalesymbolicpositionsofthelanguagesinvolved.

Thatsaid,theeffectsofstylisationsmaynotbealwayssoeasytopin

down.IndiscussinganAsianAmericanstand-upcomedian’srevoicingof‘Mock

Asian(English)’,Chun(2009)admitsthatsuchrenderingsreproduceracial

stereotypesaboutAsiansandtheircompetenceinEnglish.Sheargues,however,

thatthecomedian’sownAsianbackground,hersuccessfulframingofMockAsian

asjocular,aswellasherknowncriticismofAsianmarginalisationintheUnited

States,allworkedtounhingeasimplereproductionofracialstereotypesand

helpedreframetheuseofMockAsianasacritiqueofthese.AlsoCoupland

(2007:175-176)contendsthataninterpretationofmockvarietiesasracialising

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persemayoverlookthepossibilityofmetaparody(mockingtheparodist)and

thatcontextualisingandframingareparamount.Indeed,whilestylisation‘may

exploitstereotypicalsymbolicevaluations[…]thediscursiveeffectsarelikelyto

bemoresubtlethanthis,dependingonhowsympathetictherelevantpersonas

havebeenconstructedtobe,whetheraudiencesarepositionedto‘laughwith’

ratherthan‘laughat’specificperformers,howcharactersandrelationshipshave

beendevelopedinparticularnarratives,andahostofotherlocal-contextual

considerations’(Couplandetal.2016:35;cf.Auer2007:6).Chun(2013)further

showsthatthesediscursiveeffectscanbemediatedbythewaysinwhich

stereotypedlinguisticsignstravelacrosstransnationalspacessuchasYouTube.

Whiletheironicadoptionof‘black’linguisticsignsbyaChineseAmerican

YouTubestarleftintactthestereotypethatassociatesblacknesswith

hypermasculinityandAsiannesswithdeficientmasculinity,aunitaryreadingof

thisYouTubestar’sstylisingwaschallengedbytherangeofothermeaningsthat

emergedincommentsfromhistransnationalviewership.

Soalthoughlinguisticformsmayquitenaturallyevokestereotypes,they

neverhaveanintrinsicallyracialising,orcritical,meaning,becausethismeaning

alwaysdependsontheir(trans)localcontextualisation.Clearlythough,local

transformationsofstereotypedlinguisticformsalwaysrunupagainsttheir

wider-spreadmeaning,bywhichtheymayagainbeoverruled,thatis,reframed

asexemplaryofthatstereotypingpractice(anexquisitelycriticaljokewith

stereotypedlanguagemaybetakenasasimpleexampleofthestereotype).

Athird,andnotleast,issueiswhetherstylisationshaveanyrelationto

style,thatis,whetherstylisationscanplayapartintheexplanationoflarger-

scalelinguistictrends.Indeed,self-consciousspeechwaslongseentoobfuscate

‘systematicspeech,wherethefundamentalrelationswhichdeterminethecourse

oflinguisticevolutioncanbeseenmostclearly’(Labov1972:208).Asaresult,

variationistsociolinguistshavetendedtofocuson(systematic)styles,while

interactionaloneshaveconcernedthemselveswith(unsystematic)stylisations,

withlittleinteractionbetweenthem.Recentresearchsuggestshoweverthat

thesegroupsofscholarsmaybefocusingontwosidesofthesamecoin,andthat

ananalysisofstyleisnecessaryforunderstandingstylisation,andviceversa.

ThisisarguedonthebasisofAgha’sclaimthat‘overt(publiclyperceivable)

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metapragmaticactivity[i.e.evaluativebehaviourtowardslinguisticsignforms]

…isanecessaryconditiononthesocialexistenceofregisters’(2004:27;emphasis

inoriginal).Ifso,thismeansthat‘reflexivityisbuiltintotheverydefinitionofa

register/style/variety’(Rampton2011:290),andthatexplainingthese

registers/styles/varietiescomprehensivelyrequiresafocusonrecurrentsetsof

linguisticformsandtheevaluativepracticesthatareresponsibleforourability

torecogniseanddeploytheminsociallife.Stylisationsareequally‘real’and

necessary,inthatsense,asstyleisfortheexplanationofvariationinlanguage

(seeRampton2006andSnell2010forexamplesofacombinedanalysis).

Asecondwayinwhichstylisationsmattertostudentsofmoreenduring

stylesisthatsomestylisationscangraduallybecomepartofregularlanguage

use.Suchaprocessisbasedinstylisers’uni-directionaldouble-voicing,thatis,

whentheyadoptlinguisticfeatureswithwhichtheyseektodemonstratetheir

alignmentwiththehabitualusersofthesefeaturesorwiththequalitiesthatare

attributedtothem.Whensuchadoptionsconventionaliseinastyliser’sdaily

languageuse,thetwovoices(thestyliser’soriginaloneandthestylisedvoice)

canfuse,temporarilyandpossiblypermanently.Thus,Cutler(1999)describesa

middleclasswhiteyouth’suseoffeaturesofAAEasawayoftakingpartinan

urban,blackandmaleyouthculture,andhowintheprocess,someoftheseuses

appearedtoleavelong-termtracesontheyoungster’srepertoire.Rampton

(1995)likewisedemonstrateshowusingCreoleresourcesbyadolescentsof

AngloandAsiandescent‘was[…]closetothepointwhereuni-directional

double-voicingshiftedoverintodirectunmediateddiscourse’(1995:223)and

seemedtobecomepartoftheirownintendedsocialidentification.Jaspers

(2011b)similarlyshowshowfeaturesofalocal,white,urbandialectappearto

beappropriatedbyethnicminorityyouthaspartoftheirregular,assertive

stance.

MAINRESEARCHMETHODS,INCLUDINGAPPROACHESTOANALYSIS

Inpracticalterms,thevariationistapproachtostyleinvolvesidentifying

linguisticvariablesandquantifyinghowfrequentlyspeakersuseeachvariantin

particularsituations.Thesesituationsarecarefullyselectedordesignedonthe

basisofdifferencesinformality–e.g.casualconversationsarelessformalthan

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interviews,whichareinturnlessformalthanreadingtests.Thespeakersare

groupedaccordingtotheirdemographiccharacteristics:socio-economicclass,

gender,age,regionalprovenance,etc.Subsequentlythesestudiescomparehow

oftenthesegroupsuseaparticularfeatureincomparisontoothers,andwhether

thedifferencesbetweenthemarestatisticallysignificant–forexamplewhether

therelativeproportionofvernacularvariantsthatworkingclasswomenproduce

differssignificantlyfromtherelativefrequencyofthosesamevariantsproduced

byworkingclassmen,middleclasswomenandmiddleclassmen.Indoingso,

suchstudiesrevealcorrelationsbetweenlinguisticandmacro-socialvariables.

Theimportanceofreplicabilityandwidecoverageinthistypeofanalysis

impliesthatthesocialworldcanonlyhaveaskeletonpresenceintheanalysis:it

incorporatesstandardsociologicalvariablessuchasclass,gender,orage,but

abstractsawayfromlocallyrelevant(andthuslesscomparable)categories,not

tomentionfrompragmaticmeaningswhichcannotbeeasilyquantified.What

Eckert(2012)calledthe‘second’and‘third’wavesinvariationiststudies,aswell

asthestudyofstylisation,canbeseenasanattempttogobeyondthis,andthis

hasrequiredalinguisticethnographicapproachinwhichscholarssubmerge

themselvesextensivelyinlocalnetworks,audio-recordthetargetedgroup,

interviewitsmembers,andexplorewhatspeakersthemselvesfindtobe

meaningfullinguisticdifferencesandhowtheydeploythesedifferencesin

interaction.OnlineethnographerscandothisbycollectingFacebookinteractions

ofaparticulargroup,theYouTubevideostheypost,theircontributionsto

particularfora,andbycombiningonlinewithofflinedata(cf.Stæhr2015).Such

anapproachdoesnotmeanthatanalysescanonlybequalitativeinnature:

Eckertconsistentlyquantifiestheuseofparticularvariablesthatthe

ethnographyhasrevealedtobelocallydistinctivewithotherlocallyrelevant

categories.Similarly,Snell’s(2010)linguisticethnographicstudyofprimary

schoolchildren’slinguisticpracticescombinesaquantitativeanalysisofone

linguisticvariable,thefirstpersonpossessivesingular,withaninteractional

analysisofthewayoneparticularvariant,me,featuresinthechildren’s

stylisations(Snell,thisvolume).

Contextualisationiskey,however:withoutit,allclaimsaboutthe

meaningofstylesandstylisationsriskbeinghighlyspeculative.Indeed,aswe

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indicatedabove,linguisticfeaturescanhaveavarietyofindexicalmeanings.A

carefulanalysisthereforedistinguishesthemeaningsthatafeature‘potentially

indexesfrom[…][thosethatafeature]actuallyindexesinaparticularinstance

ofuse’(Ochs1996:418,citedinRampton2006:303).Thisrequiresathorough

knowledgeofwhichindexicalmeaningsaparticularfeaturecanevokeinthe

contextatissue,nexttoakeenawarenessofparticipants’conventionalandless

conventionalwaysofspeaking.Apossibleapproachistoretracethe

interpretationmadebyotherinterlocutors–whomayidentifywhatthespeaker

does,orproduceotherbehaviourthatprovidesaclue.Askingparticipantsto

commentonlanguageinfeedbackinterviewsmaybeawayofobtainingsuch

cluesifthesearenotintheoriginalrecording.Mostlythough,analystswillhave

torunthefullgamutofoptionsthatethnographicandinteractionanalysishasin

store,thatis,rereadingthefragmentforitspragmaticmeaning,conversation

analyticcharacteristics,participantframework,andpolitenessissues,among

others,andcomparingeachoftherelevantcaseswithothersinordertofinda

patternacrossthedata.

Itisimportantaswelltoavoidinterpretingtheuseofparticularfeatures

asstraightforwardidentityprojection,andtoinvestigatetheinteractional

relevanceofafeatureintermsofhowspeakersevaluatetheinteractionand

theirrelationwithco-participants.Thisisthelinetakenbyscholarsinterestedin

stance(Jaffe2009;Ochs1996),whoinvestigatehowspeakers,inselectinga

certainstyle,positionthemselveswithrespecttotheformorcontentoftheir

utterance,andhowinsodoingtheyalignthemselveswithotherinterlocutors

andtheeventsathand.Usingavernacularstyletoaddressanauthoritymay,for

example,intimatethespeaker’snondeferential,assertivestanceratherthan

beingintendedtosuggest‘I’mlocal’–certainlyiftheauthorityalreadyknows

this.Inthisperspective,linguistic(togetherwithnonlinguistic)features

contributetoarangeoffleetinginteractionaleffectsanddemeanours

(sophistication,hesitancy,decisiveness,…).Ifstancesaretakenuprepeatedlyor

becomeroutinised,thefeaturesthatsignalthemmaybecomeindexesofmore

durable(individualorgroup)identities.Ochs(1992)pointsouthoweverthat

suchaprocessisalwaysconstrainedbymoreestablished,ideologisedcategories

ofclass,gender,andthelike.Analystswouldbewisethereforenottosee

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cumulativestance-takingbymeansofcertainfeaturestooquicklyasproofofa

distinctstyle,buttoexplorehowthesefeaturesarelinkedtothesocialtypes

believedtoconventionallytakesuchstances:dependingonthetimeand

occasion,men’suseofstandardlanguagetocreateasophisticatedstancemaybe

takenasfeminine,classy,orarrogant,leadingtodifferentidentificationsofthe

stanceproducerthat,intheirturn,impactontheopportunitiesfor

conventionalisingthestance.Ideologiesofmasculinitythuslimitmalespeakers’

stylespectrum.

Noanalysisofstyleandstylisation,moreover,canallowitselftoignore

thatstylingandstylisingonlymakessenseinrelationtootherstyles.Styles,as

Irvine(2001:22)pointsout,are‘partofasystemofdistinction,inwhichastyle

contrastswithotherpossiblestyles,andthesocialmeaningsignifiedbythestyle

contrastswithothersocialmeanings’(Irvine2001:22).Studyingstyleand

stylisation,then,dependsonexploringtheuniverseofstylesthatspeakersare

awareof,theirknowledgeofhowlocalstylesdifferfromeachother,andofhow

localstylesinteractwithnon-localonesthatareinstitutionalisedthrough

schoolingormainstreammedia.Understandingasystemofdistinctionequally

requiresafocusonpracticesofdifferentiation,orthewayinwhichstylesare

activelydistinguishedfromeachother,labelled,talkedabout,promoted,stylised

orotherwiseevaluated.Suchsocialevaluationsareinevitablyideological

becausetheyinteractwithideologisedrepresentationsof‘good’,‘civilised’,

‘polite’,‘beautiful’,‘cool’language,andtheserepresentationsarenotuniversal:

thesamestyle(features)maybefound,forexample,‘mainstream’,‘slang’,or

‘fakeslang’,dependingonspeakers’background,age,education,orinterest(cf.

Agha2004).Localusesofstyleandstylisationmustthusbeanalysedforhow

speakersunderstandtheirsocialworld,theperspectivesaboutlanguagethat

existwithinit,andintermsofthelinguistic(andother)featurestheyhave

accessto(cf.Irvine2001:22).

Aparticularchallengeforscholarsinterestedinstylisationsisknowing

whensomethingcanbetakenasastylisation,andwhenitmaybemore

appropriatetocategoriseaparticularutteranceassoundplay.Ingeneral,

stylisationsinvolveamarkeddeviationfromspeakers’conventionalbehaviour,

andconsistofanemphatic,exaggeratedor(over)actedrenderingoflinguistic

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featuresthatfalloutsidespeakers’habitualspeechrange.Thesefeaturesare

oftenmarkersofanout-groupvariety(e.g.AAEstylisedbywhitespeakers),but

theymayjustaswellbelongtoone’s‘own’variety–aswiththeWelshdialect

featuresstylisedbytheradiopresentersinCoupland’s(2001)data,orthe

northernEnglishpossessivemeinSnell’s(2010)data,whichhadfallenoutof

habitualuseintheagegroupshestudied.Typicallystylisationsaremarkedbya

conglomerateofsemioticresources.Theycanberecognizedby‘anincreased

densityofmarkedlinguisticfeatures’(Rampton2006:262),e.g.stereotypical

lexis,oraphoneticrenderingcharacterizedbyovershoot(Bell&Gibson2011:

568).Inadditiontheyareoftensetofffromtheirsurroundingsbyparaverbal

meanssuchassuddenshiftsinpitchlevel,voicequality,volumeorpace

(Rampton2006:262),aswellasbyfacialexpressionsandgestures.Anotherclue

totheiridentificationarethemetalinguisticresponsesproducedbytheaudience

orparticipantstotheinteraction,whomayreacttostylisationsby‘laughing,

repeatingtheutterance,bycommentingon[them],orbyswitchingintoa

differentkindofnon-normaldialectorvoice’(Rampton2006:262).

Instagedperformances,suchasthemass-mediated,scripted

performancesdeliveredbyCoupland’s(2001)radiopresenters,stylisations

oftencompriselongstretchesoftalkandprojectwidelyknownculturalstyles,

stereotypicalpersonaeorevennamedpersons,asaresultofwhichtheymaybe

quitestraightforwardlyinterpretabletoanyoneknowledgeableofthatculture

(e.g.Gibson2011;VanHoof2016).Inspontaneous,non-scriptedinteractions,

stylisationsareoftenfleeting,theirindexicalitiesmorelocal,moreambiguousor

evenopaque.Opacityisafundamentalaspectofcommunication,though,andthe

challengeisthentodistinguishclearerfromlessclearstylisations,andtosee

howthesecanbeinterpretedinasingleframework(Rampton2006:305).Itis

oftenusefultootodistinguishjocularfromless-ornon-jocularstylisations,and

vari-fromunidirectionalones,andtodetermineinresponsetowhatspecific

kindofbusinesstheyoccur(includinglocalandlesslocalaffairs),inorderto

interprethowandwhyspeakersdeploythem.

FURTHERDIRECTIONS

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‘Change’isathemewehavesofaronlymarginallytouchedupon.Itisacentral

endeavourinvariationistsociolinguistics,however,todemonstratelanguage

change,conceptualisedasthechangeofvernacularnormsinagivenspeech

community.Recently,so-called‘post-variationist’studentsofstylehavebeen

castingthenetwiderinarguingforastudyof‘sociolinguisticchange’,thatis,of

changingrelationsbetweenlanguageandsociety(Androutsopoulos2014,

Coupland2014;Mortensenetal.2016),focusingonhowlanguageusers‘may

reallocatevaluesandmeaningstoexistingstylesandvalorisenewones’

(Coupland2010:145).Thisisarguedinparticularinrelationtovarieties

conventionallyreferredtoas‘standards’and‘dialects’:weoftenoverlookthat

thesetermsareactuallyevaluativebecausetheideologicalperspectivethat

makesthistypeofjuxtapositionhasbecomesoentrenchedthatanalternative,

competing,representationisdifficulttoimagine.Yetthereisnoreasonwhy

thesestylescannotbere-evaluateduptotheextentthatitmaybecomepointless

tolabelthem‘standard’or‘dialect’.Agha(2015)infactclaimsthatanumberof

former‘slang’varieties–BahasaGaulinIndonesia,NouchiinCôted’Ivoire,

amongothers–arelosingthatreputationandareinsteadacquiringmiddle-class

respectabilityorarebecomingasignofnationalidentity,andthatmainstream

andnewmediaplayanimportantroleinthisprocess.Couplandandhis

collaboratorssimilarlysuggestthatthesemediamaybeparticularlyaptfor

tracinghowstyleswecall‘standard’and‘dialect’are‘comingtoholddifferent,

generallylessdeterminateandmorecomplex,valuesinalate-modernsocial

order’(Coupland2010:145).Thepracticaladvantageofmediadataisthatthey

allowforareal-timediachronicanalysis,giventhat‘old’aswellas‘newer’media

arerelativelyeasilyaccessibleinbroadcasters’archives,onYouTube,etc.

Movingoutsidetherealmofvariationwithinwhatwecalla‘language’,

Rampton(2011)has,inlinewithareflexiveunderstandingofstyles(seeabove),

proposedthenotionof‘contemporaryurbanvernacular’asastylethatconsists

oflinguisticformsthatoccurinmixedurbanneighbourhoods(acoreofworking

classEnglish,elementsofmigrantlanguagesand‘standard’English)aswellasa

rangeofreflexivepractices(includingstylisations)thatsimultaneouslysetthis

styleofffromothers.One‘style’caninthisviewthusuniteelementsfrom

different‘languages’,andcometobejuxtaposedwithstylesthatareseentobe

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less‘urban’.Ramptonfurthermorearguesthatsuchanapproachisappositetoo

forunderstandingwhata‘standard’varietyis,orcanbecome,inourcurrent

societies.Thisisaninvitation,inotherwords,tobroadenourhorizonbeyond

thebordersofasingularlanguage,andtoseehowstudentsofstyleand

stylisationcouldcontributetodetailingtheemergenceandconsolidationof

(hybrid,multilingual,orpure)stylesthatweconsidertobeurban,cosmopolitan,

orcontemporary,andtoexplorehowthesearesetofffromothers.

FURTHERREADING

Agha,A.,2007.Languageandsocialrelations.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity

Press.

Howpeoplecometodistinguishdifferentsocialstylesofspeaking–or‘registers’

–isthecentraltopicofthisbook.Aghaarguesthatsocialrelationscrucially

dependonpeople’sreflexivecapacitytorecognisethatcommunicativesigns

havesocialeffects.Hebuildsonthisinsighttoarguehowreflexivityleadsto

speakers’recognitionofstereotypicwaysofbehaving,andshows,amongother

things,howonespeechstyle–‘ReceivedPronunciation’–wastransformedfrom

alocalspeechstylespokenbyaprivilegedfewintoawidelyknown,established

standardforBritishsociety.

Coupland,N.,2007.Style.Languagevariationandidentity.Cambridge:Cambridge

UniversityPress.

Thisbookoffersahighlyreadableanalysisofstyle,stylingandstylisation.

Drawingonclassicsociolinguistic,social-psychologicalaswellasanthropological

approaches,Couplandarguesinsistently,usingampleexamples,thatvariationin

languageismoreusefullyexplainedasaformofsocialpracticeratherthanas

behaviourthatisresponsivetoexternalconditions.

Eckert,P.,2012.Threewavesofvariationstudy.Theemergenceofmeaningin

thestudyofvariation.AnnualReviewofAnthropology41:87-100.

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Eckertdiscussesinthisarticlehowthestudyofsocialmeaninghasevolvedin

sociolinguistics,suggestingithasbeencharacterisedbythreewaves:thefirst

wavewasmainlyinterestedinfindingcorrelationsbetweensinglevariablesand

broadsocialcategories;thesecondadoptedethnographicmethodstoshowhow

localcategoriesdrivetheproductionofparticularvariables;scholarsinthethird

wavedeterminethemeaningofvariablesinrelationtotheotherresourcesused,

speakers’useofsemioticresourcesgoingfarbeyondmarkinglocalorlesslocal

categories.

Rampton,B.,2006.Languageinlatemodernity.Interactioninanurbanschool.

Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.

InthisbookRamptonsituatesadolescentlinguisticpracticeinaLondonschool

inrelationtopopularcultureandchangingcommunicativetrends,before

demonstrating,onthebasisoffine-grainedanalysisofaudio-recordings,that

theseyoungsters’stylisationofaschoolforeignlanguage(German)invertedthe

authoritativewayinwhichGermanwastaught,andthattheirplayfulandless

playfulstylisationsofCockneyand‘posh’Englishrevealedtheiron-going

negotiationandconstructionofsocialclass.

Snell,J.,2010.Fromsociolinguisticvariationtosociallystrategicstylisation.

JournalofSociolinguistics14(5),630-655.

Thisarticleshowshowquantitativeandinteractionalanalysescanbeusefully

combinedtoexploretheindexicalityoftheindividualfeaturesthat

conventionallymakeup‘vernacular’speechstyles.Focusingonstylised

instancesofthefirstpersonpossessivesingularmeinethnographicallycollected

interactionsamongprimaryschoolpupils,theanalysislaysbareacomplex

indexicalfieldthatgoesconsiderablybeyondtheconventionalassociationof

vernacularswithinformalityandworkingclassness.

RELATEDTOPICS

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Linguisticanthropology,Interactionalsociolinguistics,Combiningvariationist

andethnographicapproaches,Voiceandheteroglossia,Class,Tracingtextual

trajectories

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BIOGRAPHICALNOTE

JürgenJaspersisassociateprofessorinDutchlinguisticsattheUniversitéLibre

deBruxelles(ULB).Hepublisheswidelyonclassroominteraction,urban

multilingualismandlanguagepolicy.

SarahVanHoofisassistantprofessorofDutchandmultilingualcommunication

atGhentUniversity.Herresearchfocusesonlanguagepolicies,ideologiesand

practicesinthemediaandinpublicinstitutionsinFlanders,Belgium.