‘Nobody canna cross it’: language-ideological dimensions of hypercorrect speech in Jamaica

The concept of speaky-spoky, a pejorative label for hypercorrect speech in Jamaica, has thus far been described in the context of shared speech community norms (Patrick 1999). In this article, I analyze a stretch of speaky-spoky discourse and its recontextualization. The theoretical perspectives fro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:English language and linguistics 2016-03, Vol.20 (1), p.129-152
Main Author: BOHMANN, AXEL
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dialects
English language
Globalization
Language
Language ideologies
Sociolinguistics
Speech communities
Theory
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Summary:The concept of speaky-spoky, a pejorative label for hypercorrect speech in Jamaica, has thus far been described in the context of shared speech community norms (Patrick 1999). In this article, I analyze a stretch of speaky-spoky discourse and its recontextualization. The theoretical perspectives from which the data are examined are that of the sociolinguistics of globalization (Blommaert 2010) and of entextualization (Bauman & Briggs 1990; Silverstein & Urban 1996). The method of analysis draws on Goffman's writing on frames (1974) and production formats (1981). I argue that the ideological dimensions and interactional versatility of the speaky-spoky concept have thus far not received enough empirical attention. To address this gap, I propose to interpret speaky-spoky as a dynamic and relational ‘construct resource’ (Fabricius & Mortensen 2013) that speakers draw upon to highlight social meaning in interaction.
ISSN:1360-6743
1469-4379
DOI:10.1017/S1360674315000374