Quartz 4

week6-language-as-social-practice

4 min read

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Weekly Readings:

Video Lecture Notes

  • Introduction to Social Practice
    • Etymology:
      • Derived from the Greek prassein (“to do”) and Latin praxis (“a behavior following rules or traditions”).
      • Defined by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) as actions regularly performed within established rules or traditions.
    • Characteristics of Social Practice:
      • Actions are regular, rule-based, and context-dependent.
      • Social practices involve communities, materials, and implicit or explicit knowledge.
      • Examples: Boarding a train, wearing formal attire, teaching, etc.
  • Social Practices and Roles
    • Types of Rules (John Searle):
      1. Regulative Rules: Govern pre-existing activities (e.g., etiquette)
        • Trafikte “kırmızı ışıkta dur” kuralı, zaten var olan araba sürme davranışını düzenler.
      2. Constitutive Rules: Define and create new activities (e.g., the rules of football).
        • Futbol oynama kuralları olmadan futbol diye bir oyun olmazdı. Kurallar, oyunu baştan sona tanımlar.
    • Speaking and writing follow constitutive rules. Expressing yourself, creating social identities, being a part of social life are all thanks to language and its constitutive rules.
      • “Seni seviyorum” yalnızca bilgi iletmez, aynı zamanda bir duyguyu ifade eder ve ifade edilen ilişkiyi şekillendirir.
  • Speech Acts and Language Behavior
    • John Austin’s Speech Act Theory:
      • Language is not just descriptive but also performative.
        • Teşekkür etmek, evlilik töreninde “evet” demek, söz vermek, “toplantıyı başlatıyorum” demek, “şimdi sizi karı-koca ilan ediyorum”
      • Three acts performed during speech:
        1. Locutionary Act: Producing a sentence with specific reference.
          • Bir şey söylemenin dilsel eylemi. Örneğin, “Hava çok soğuk” dediğimizde, bir bilgi aktarmış oluyoruz.
        2. Illocutionary Act: Performing an action (e.g., promising, ordering)
          • Bir şey söylerken gerçekleştirdiğimiz niyet. Örneğin, “Hava çok soğuk” diyerek bir uyarı yapıyor, bir öneri sunuyor, ya da şikayet ediyor olabiliriz.
        3. Perlocutionary Act: Producing an effect on the listener (e.g., persuading, making someone happy).
          • Söylediğimizin dinleyici üzerindeki etkisi. Örneğin, “Hava çok soğuk” dediğimizde, dinleyici ceketini giyebilir veya dışarı çıkmayı erteleyebilir.
    • Ludwig Wittgenstein’s View:
      • Language use is broader than intentional speech; it includes intuitive, unconscious behavior.
      • Language is a “form of life” that reflects social existence.
        • “Allah bir yastıkta kocatsın”, bir dilek olmanın yanısıra, toplumsal bir geleneği hem sürdüren hem de yeniden üreten bir ifade
  • Language as Behavior
    • Sven Sager’s Perspective:
      • Behavior, including linguistic behavior, evolves through internal (cognitive, emotional) and external (social) influences.
      • Language is adaptive and context-sensitive, much like human behavior in other social settings.
  • Communities of Practice (Etienne Wenger)
    • Dil öğrenmek, toplulukların bir parçası olmakla mümkündür. Bir dili öğrenirken sadece kelimeleri değil, o dili kullanan insanların dünyayı nasıl gördüğünü, neyi değerli bulduğunu da öğreniriz. Örneğin, işyerinde yazılan e-postalar bir topluluğun kurallarını içerir. “Merhaba” ile başlayan bir e-posta, bir nezaket pratiğidir. O iş yerinde yazılan e-postalarda belli bir üslup vardır, bu üslup, o topluluğun bir tür sessiz kuralıdır.
    • Premises:
      1. Humans are social beings.
      2. Knowledge reflects competence in valued activities (e.g., scientific research, social rituals).
      3. Knowing comes from active engagement with the world.
      4. Learning gives meaning to our experiences.
    • Key Concepts:
      1. Participation:
        • Involves action, connection, and a sense of belonging within a social group.
        • Combines doing, talking, feeling, and thinking.
      2. Reification:
        • The process of turning experiences into objects or forms (e.g., laws, tools, documents).
        • These objects become central to how meaning is negotiated within communities.
  • Discourse as a Social Practice
    • Definition:
      • Discourse is the interaction between language, power, and social context.
      • Language shapes social realities and is influenced by them.
    • Norman Fairclough’s Contribution:
      • Discourse is a part of social practice, which includes:
        1. Activities (e.g., teaching, governance).
        2. Social relations and identities.
        3. Tools, time, and place.
        4. Values and consciousness.
    • Three Roles of Discourse in Social Practice:
      1. As part of the activity (e.g., speaking in a classroom).
      2. As representation (e.g., reflecting on or recontextualizing practices).
      3. As identity formation (e.g., constructing social roles).
    • Key Terms:
      • Genre: Semiotic modes of action (e.g., interviews, conversations)
      • Order of Discourse: How genres and discourses are interconnected within social structures.
  • Conclusions and Implications
    • Language as a social practice integrates social, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions.
    • This perspective highlights the mutual influence of language and social context, providing a framework to understand discourse in action.
    • Through discourse, we shape and are shaped by our social reality.

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