Naslov
Communicating Identities in Symbolic Space: A Sociolinguistic Approach

Autori
Granić, Jagoda

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
ICA Regional Conference ''Expanding Communication: Old Boundaries and New Frontiers'': Abstracts. Lodz, 9-11 April 2015 / Deckert, Mikolaj ; Pietrzak, Paulina - Łódź : Lodz University Press, 2015, 79-79

ISBN
978-83-7969-611-6

Skup
ICA Regional Conference ''Expanding Communication: Old Boundaries and New Frontiers'' (ICA Lodz 2015)

Mjesto i datum
Łódź, Poljska, 09.04.2015. - 11.04.2015

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
public communication; identity construction; linguistic identity; symbolic space

Sažetak
In the multidimensional space of public communication both individuals and social groups encounter their individual and collective identities. The individuals and the social groups belong to some one of the existing language communities, each of which is determined by two spaces: a communicative space and a symbolic one which can, though they need not, coincide in their volumes and ranges. The symbolic space, which is at first spontaneously constructed, covers all members of the community for whom a particular idiom forms a symbol of commonalty ; it has a strong cohesive, inclusive function. The language that determines a language community has a dual symbolic function: it is simultaneously a language of cohesion and a language of distinction. Since all past periods in which symbolic language commonalty existed are also important for the symbolic space, it is clear that diachrony, in which (in addition to synchrony) the communicative space also extends, is particularly vital for the symbolic space and for (re)construction of collective identities. The symbolic space is highly important for considering the relationship of language and identity. Every identity is a relational notion, a result of equating, a "mental image". We exist through our identity, for by equating we become either Us or Them. Sometimes this identification is intentional, explicit, a primary datum ; sometimes it is implicit, a secondary datum, "in the subtext". But, in their constant interaction, ever new content of identities arises. Identification itself depends on a network of social relationships which determines the various roles and statuses of speakers. Now, all roles and statuses do not belong equally to all members of the language community. Yet they precede each communicative act and hence determine public communication. If a given status is marked by the use of a particular idiom, then the idiom (the language) takes on a symbolic function, marks this status or someone's individual or collective identity. Thus the language comes full circle: it constructs itself as a symbol, becomes both a means and a result of symbolic construction. In the communication process, a speaker uses various signs and creates a message in which the addressees denote not only its content (understandable or less so) but also superposed elements of the speaker's individual and collective identity. The addressees can in Saussurean parole but also in the language system itself recognize different identities. As Crystal says, they can recognize elements of physical, psychological, and stylistic identity which point to an individual identity, but can also recognize elements of geographical, ethnic/national, social, and contextual identity which naturally point to a collective linguistic identity. Each member of a language community has several collective identities due to belonging to several social groups ; some of these identities are more prominent than others in given communication contexts, some of them coincide, some associate together and others exclude each other. In communication of and through identities, one can easily recognize the hierarchy of identities arising from social practice, or the network of social relations that have defined all roles and statuses. Which collective identity will have highest status and thus become doubly contextual depends, to put it symbolically and metaphorically, on its valeur – here understood as the relation between language and its associated identity in the complex symbolic space.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija

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