Discourses of difference

Applied methodologies for evaluating race and speech style

Authors

  • Kate Anderson Indiana University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v2.i2.129

Keywords:

race, speech evaluation, methodology, discourse, membership categorization analysis

Abstract

Questions of how speech style is racially identified have pervaded linguistic research and public concern for decades. However, the types of evidence used in linguistic studies on this topic often restrict application outside of the discipline. Particularly, the dichotomy between privileged linguistic ‘expert’ interpretations of perceptions and lesser valued ‘lay’ reactions to speech raises methodological issues for application. This article discusses alternative methodologies for analyzing how race functions as a linguistic category in evaluative interactions. While linguistic studies often treat race as an unproblematic category attached to speakers, this study proposes a discursive approach that (re)considers how speech becomes ‘racialized’ in lay discourses of difference. Framed by a methodological approach that problematizes epistemological formulations of race, speech, and researcher knowledge, I offer evidence of a discursive approach’s applied usefulness through examples from membership categorization analysis (MCA) of one interviewee’s racial evaluations of speech. I argue that inclusion of a discursive approach to better understand racial speech evaluation promotes application of linguistic research by offering evidence that existing approaches cannot by nature of their epistemological tenets and methodological focus.

Author Biography

  • Kate Anderson, Indiana University

    Kate T. Anderson received her PhD in sociolinguistics from The University of Georgia in 2006 where she also completed the Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies certificate in the College of Education. Her dissertation, 'Race, Speech, Identification, and Ideology: Methodological Inquiry and Innovation', dealt with discursive approaches and alternate methodologies for examining racial speech evaluation and language ideology. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Indiana University where she investigates language as a mediator of identity development and learning in classroom settings.

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Published

2008-01-02

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Anderson, K. (2008). Discourses of difference: Applied methodologies for evaluating race and speech style. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice, 2(2), 129-151. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v2.i2.129

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