Folklore and Sociolinguistics
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Date
2018-01-22
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Humanities
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Abstract
Folklore and sociolinguistics exist in a symbiotic relationship; more than that, at points—in
the ethnography of communication and in ethnopoetics, for example—they overlap and become
indistinguishable. As part of a reaction to the formal rigor and social detachment of Chomsky’s
theoretical linguistics, sociolinguistics emerges in the mid-twentieth century to assess the role of
language in social life. Folklorists join the cause and bring to it a commitment to in-depth ethnography
and a longstanding engagement with artistic communication. In this essay, I trace key phases in
the development of this interdisciplinary movement, revolutionary in its reorientation of language
study to the messy but fascinating realm of speech usage. I offer the concept of performative efficacy,
the notion that expressive culture performances have the capacity to shape attitude and action
and thereby transform perceived realities, as a means of capturing the continuing promise of a
sociolinguistically informed folkloristics.
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Keywords
Verbal art and speech play; ethnopoetics; ethnography of speaking; performance; speech act theory; semiotics; oral-formulaic theory, Verbal art and speech play, ethnopoetics, ethnography of speaking, performance, speech act theory, semiotics, oral-formulaic theory
Citation
McDowell, John. “Folklore and Sociolinguistics.” Humanities 7.1 (2018): 9
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Article