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Understanding Social Roles in Language Use

Explore the influence of social roles in language use through power, contact, and affective involvement continua. Learn how formality, vocatives, and nicknames shape communication in various contexts. Apply these insights to user interactions and management decisions in information systems.

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Understanding Social Roles in Language Use

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  1. Critical Issues in Information Systems BUSS 951 Supplementary 5 Tenor: Whose involved in the Text?

  2. Tenor Defined • the social role relationshipsplayed by interactants • examples: student/lecturer, customer/salesperson, friend/friend • you know instinctively that the social role you are playing has an effect on how you use language

  3. Tenor Defined • you are unlikely do speak to the greengrocer the way you speak to a priest • SFL suggests a number of ways for finding out in texts ‘whose involved in the social activity’

  4. Tenor Defined • three different continua are used: • power • affective involvement • contact

  5. POWER equal unequal TenorPower Continuum • power continuum is used to classify situations according to whether the roles we are playing are those in which we are equal or unequal power boss/employee lecturer/student parent/child friend/friend

  6. TenorContact Continuum • contact continuum is used to classify situations by whether the roles we are playing bring us into frequent or occasional contact CONTACT frequent occasional grocer/customer lecturer/student spouses

  7. TenorAffective Involvement Continuum • affective involvementis used to classify situations by whether the roles we are playing bring us into high or low affective involvement(high or low emotional levels) AFFECTIVE INVOLVEMENT high low grocer/customer work situations friends lovers family

  8. Tenor • these aspects are more than just interesting descriptionsof interpersonal aspects of situations • there is a direct claim being made about language and situational context

  9. Tenor • these aspects of our role occupation in a given situation will have an impact on how we use language • in management and information systems we often use terms like formal and informal • but SFL enables us to theorise these terms...

  10. Formal -vs- Informal Situations • informal situationsinclude: • equal power • frequent contact • high affective involvement • formal situationsinclude: • unequal, hierachical power • infrequent, or one-off, contact • low affective involvement

  11. Formal -vs- Informal Situations • the language that we use can vary quite significantly from informal to formal situations • informal situations: • vocabulary used that expresses attitude- fantastic, shitty, unbelievable • attitudinal lexisused for positive or negative evaluation ‘purr’ or ‘snarl’ words

  12. Formal -vs- Informal Situations • formal situations: • tend to keep attitudes to ourselves • when we express feelings we use ‘objective language’: unfortunate, surprising • lexis varies in its degree of standardization: chokies (informal- slang or abbreviations used) or chocolates (formal- neutral or acronyms) • politeness markers used

  13. Tenor Vocatives • vocatives are terms of address- the words that people call each other when for example, they wish to get each others attention: • Dear Sir • Your Royal Highness • Hey You! • choice of vocative reveals important tenor dimensions

  14. Tenor Vocatives • when power is equal, vocative use is reciprocal- • eg. if I call you by your first name, you will call me by mine • where power is unequal, vocative use will be non-reciprocal • eg. you may call your Doctor, Dr. Jones, but he’ll call you by your first name

  15. Tenor Nicknames; Vocatives • when contact is frequent, nick-names are often used • Johnno [Johnathon], Pete [Peter], Shirl [Shirley] • where contact is infrequent, often no vocatives are used • buying bread- no vocatives used

  16. Tenor Vocatives • when affective involvement is high- terms of endearment may be used • Georgie-Porgy, Petie-Pie, Honey Bunch, Darl • where affective involvement is low, we use formal ‘given’ names

  17. Example 1 • Hey, Freddie! Get off your butt and give me a hand here. Shove that chair over closer to the desk

  18. Example 2 • Oh, Dr. Smith. I’m just trying to tidy my office up a bit and I wondered if you’d mind maybe giving me a quick hand to move some furniture? If you’ve got time, I mean. It won’t take a moment. Now if we could just move this chair over a bit nearer to the desk there. Thanks very much

  19. Why bother? • during analysis we could apply these ideas to transcripts of user interaction, systems design, and management decision making • gives us the ability to work out a lot about the social arrangement of situationsand the roles people play in them

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