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PERSON REFERENCING Chapter 3 in Tracy’s Everyday Talk
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Person Referencing Practices In what ways do reference terms for self and others have implications for speakers and their targets? “Pet Owners vs. Pet Guardians”
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Marital Names (Sally Frand marries Mark Ellis) Sally Ellis Mrs. Sally Ellis Mrs. Mark Ellis Sally Frand-Ellis
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Personal Address Personal address is the label given to terms used to refer to a person in his or her presence Proper Names First name Last name Informal or diminutive versions of first name
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Kinship terms Mother, Mama, Mom Father, Dad, Pop.... Titles Mister... Sir Miss, Mrs., Ms., Ma’am PERSONAL ADDRESS
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Personal address Religious Leaders Rabbi, Father, Pastor Mayor, Professor, Doctor Nicknames and Endearments Sweetie, Honey, Junior Snugglebug
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Personal Address Second-Person Pronouns In English: “You” is the only option German: “du,” “Sie” French: “tu,” “vous”
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Identity Implications of Personal Address: Closeness & Equality (1) Degree of closeness or distance; Informal/close Formal/distant nicknames titles FN title +LN
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Identity Implications of Personal Address (2) Whether the parties are equal or not; Equality is marked in relationships through the use of reciprocal forms of address; For instance, if one uses the other’s FN and the other uses the speaking partner’s title and LN, then a difference in rank is communicated;
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Ethnicity- and Race-Linked References (p. 53) We often have to refer to someone and in a way that distinguishes that person from others; E.g., “Hispanic” has come to refer to the shared language heritage of previously separate groups: Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and Mexican Americans;
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Ethnicity- and Race-Linked References (p. 53, bottom) Ethnic- and Race-Linked labels, like all labels, draw attention to some features and hide others; A New York Puerto Rican and a new immigrant from Chile fall under the label “Hispanic,” and yet they are different in significant ways; Categories are a way to divide the social world. They are lumping and excluding devices;
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Gender-Linked References It is just about impossible to avoid referring to someone by gender (sex); Names, pronouns in English; The generic “he”; “Miss” and “Mrs.”;
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The Membership Categorization Device (MCD) MCD refers to “collections of categories for referring to persons, with some rules of application.” Collections of categories, e.g., mother and baby; male and female; Mother and baby are part of the family category; Categories are associated by a larger context; The same word may be part of different categories, “baby” as a young child vs. “baby” as the youngest offspring;
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The Membership Categorization Device (MCD) Membership categorizations are inference-rich; They are inference-rich because they are part of a larger context with rules of application; The use of membership terms is not necessarily a conscious behavior;
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Inference-Rich Reference A husband asks his wife, who is warming up something in the microwave: “What do you have there?”She replies: “My dinner. This is Sunday.” Explanation: On Sunday family members fend for themselves. They warm up left- overs. “My dinner” implies much.
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The Membership Categorization Device (MCD) Rules One feature of MCD’s is that we expect them to be used together if they can be; “The baby cried. The woman picked it up.” Will be interpreted as likely not the baby’s mother. “The mother picked it up,” would be interpreted as the baby’s mother; Consider “The male cried.” What inferences are implied? In both cases an inference is made;
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The Membership Categorization Device (MCD) Finally, by the membership categorizations devices we use, we build our identities; We altercast others; We frame another and their actions as reasonable, stupid, cruel, and so on; Some choices can be seen as natural and others as choices, depending on the speech community;
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