Dialect stylization in radio talk

Abstract

Stylization is the knowing deployment of culturally familiar styles and identities that are marked as deviating from those predictably associated with the current speaking context. Dialect stylization involves performing non-current-first-person personas by phonological and related means, sometimes in play or parody. Although these processes may seem to be very local, it is arguably true that dialects are increasingly experienced in reflexive and mediated environments that breed stylization. One of these is light entertainment on radio; this article analyzes data from English-language national radio broadcasts in Wales. Welshness is self-consciously evoked in the data, partly through dialect performance, where the variables (ou) and (ei) are a rich semiotic resource, linked to nondialectal means of evoking Welsh cultural stances and practices. Although stylization is a form of strategic de-authentication, its ultimate relationship with authenticity is complex. As a facet of cultural performance, stylization can be part of a process of cultural reproduction, and I argue that this is the best interpretation of the present data. As a result, sociolinguistics may need to reconsider its assumptions about cultural authenticity.

Skewed Sociolinguistic Awareness of a Native Non-standard Dialect: Evidence from the Cypriot Greek Writing of Greek Cypriot Students

“…Such linguistic behavior was also observed by others (Coupland, 2001, 2007; Eckert, 2001; Tsiplakou, 2011; Tsiplakou and Ioannidou, 2012). This basilectal and hyperdialectal use rendered students’ scripts register-inappropriate.…”

Stylizing stylization: The case of Aigia Fuxia

“…In this sense, stylization(s) of the Aigia Fuxia type do not merely point to context clashes; rather, such extreme instances of stylization induce clashes between assumptions about sociocultural constructs and the ways in which these are coded or indexed semiotically (cf. Bell 2001;Coupland 2001a;Gal & Irvine 1995;Irvine & Gal 2000;Jaworski, Coupland & Galasinski 2004); such clashes may lead to the reconstrual or even subversion of acknowledged indexical orders (Eckert 2008;Silverstein 2003).…”

“…This take on stylization may, however, not do full justice either to the semiotic intricacies inherent in the processes of its construction or to its performative/interpretive potential, which may depend on varying parameters of its contexts of production and reception (Coupland 2001a;Jaworski & Coupland 2004;Rampton 2011). Crucially, stylization markers and processes may be viewed as parts of particular indexical orders (Silverstein 2003), and, as such, may be subject to reinterpretation and reconstrual, given the fluidity of the ideological/indexical field (Eckert 2008).…”

Localizing the Global on the Participatory Web

“…facebook is a web 2.0 environment and a platform for social networking. 8 On language variation and other facets of linguistic heterogeneity in CMC, see Paolillo 1999, Androutsopoulos 2006a, Siebenhaar 2006, Tagliamonte and Denis 2008, Tsiplakou (2009 ; on the limits of variationism, see Coupland (2001) . Media -sharing sites enable people to upload digital content such as photos, videos, and music.…”