The ‘other woman’ in a mother and daughter relationship: The case of Mami Ji

Abstract

This article describes the range of discursive strategies in the socializing messages of a mother and daughter interaction. The analysis draws on the work of Bakhtin (1981) and Tannen (2007) to interrogate the role of a physically absent but discursively present sister-in-law, 'Mami Ji', across three speech events. Following Tannen, we show how the characterisation of the sisterin-law, Mami Ji, has chronotopic value that connects mother and daughter in the present and makes links across family histories. Through the discursive strategies of repetition, dialogue, detail, and translanguaging, 'Mami Ji' becomes an iconic benchmark of how not to speak, how not to dress, and how not to behave. Drawing on material from a linguistic ethnography approach, we present three discourse analyses from a much larger international project that also looked at classroom interaction and break-time conversations. The article contributes to the under-researched topic of the representation of sisters-in-law in discourse, theorises the chronotope in everyday conversation, and demonstrates how mother and daughter solidarity is achieved through opposition to another female family member. (Chronotope, linguistic involvement strategies, translanguaging, socialisation, sister-inlaws, mothers and daughters) I N T R O D U C T I O NMother and teenage daughter relationships are often reported as conflicted, argumentative, and confrontational-'relationship cockpits of gladiatorial combat' (Eagleton 2015:3). Much less is written about how they remain unified, connected, and sustained. Although the mother and daughter in this article face the usual minor tensions and conflicts, more apparent in their interactions is their orientation to sameness and connectedness. We present an interaction analysis of three interconnected speech events and describe how a mother and daughter create solidarity through distinguishing themselves from another woman and family member, 'Mami Ji'. The Panjabi kinship term for sister-in-law on the brother's side is Mami while Ji denotes formal respect. Mami Ji is therefore not the first name of the sister-inlaw in question, but the kinship term used throughout by mother and daughter to refer to a familial relationship.

Constructed dialogue in motivational discourse: functions and cross-cultural specifics

“…In another instance of constructed dialogue reinforcing family connections, Creese and Blackledge (2017) explore conversations between a mother and daughter of Indian descent living in the UK. Their discussions build solidarity between the women as they distinguish themselves from a non-present relative, "Mami Ji," the mother's sister-in-law ("Mami Ji" is a Panajabi kinship term).…”

Stereotypes and chronotopes: The peasant and the cosmopolitan in narratives about migration*

“…Through his analysis of different literary genres, Bakhtin revealed how the “hero” in literary texts is constructed through the author's aesthetic visualizing of time/space. While our focus is on non‐fictional and sociolinguistic interactions of everyday life, we argue that mundane conversations have many of the same features typically understood as literary, and which can be found in Bakhtin's theorization of literary genre (Creese & Blackledge, 2017; Tannen, 2007).…”