Folklore and Sociolinguistics

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Can’t use the file because of accessibility barriers? Contact us with the title of the item, permanent link, and specifics of your accommodation need.

Date

2018-01-22

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Humanities

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.

Description

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

Journal

Link(s) to data and video for this item

Relation

Type

Article