LINGUA INGLESE (12CFU) - FEDERICO SABATINI

Legenda: giallo -> slide della lezione; verde scuro -> appunti; viola -> cose diverse dell’anno scorso

LESSON 1
Modalità di esame ed esoneri (frequentanti):
Per i frequentanti sono previste due prove scritte intermedie, una a metà corso e una alla fine. Le prove saranno delle domande aperte sui
contenuti del corso affrontati sino ad allora. Saranno valutate in trentesimi e contribuiranno, proporzionalmente, al programma da portare
all’esame orale (che varierà in base alla media conseguita).
La valutazione di ciascuna prova è basata su una media ponderata tra FORMA E CONTENUTO.

Programma orale per chi ha due esoneri:

Media finale da 27 a 30: portare 2 capitoli del libro e 4 unità/casi studio dalle lezioni, a scelta. Film Spanglish e due a scelta.
Media finale da 22 a 26: portare 3 capitoli e 6 unità/casi studio a scelta. Film Spanglish più tre a scelta.
Media finale da 18 a 21: portare 4 capitoli e 6 unità/casi studio a scelta. Film Spanglish più due film a scelta tra quelli presentati.
I testi/unità/casi studio scelti devono ovviamente essere collegati tra loro e in base ai capitoli scelti.
Chi ha sostenuto due esoneri e ne ha superato solo uno:
-Portare la parte non superata o non svolta e scrivere al docente il quale, in base all’unico voto conseguito comunicherà un programma ad hoc.
Film Green Book e tre film a scelta.

NB.CHI NON SOSTIENE I DUE ESONERI è TENUTO/A APORTARE IL PROGRAMMA DA NON FREQUENTANTE.
NB. Notare che i capitoli del libro trattano anche argomenti che non vengono trattati durante le lezioni. Quelle sono parti che studenti/esse
devono studiare da sole/i avendo già interiorizzato gli strumenti di analisi e la terminologia specifica.

LESSON 2

Analysis and comment on the film Spanglish by James L. Brooks.

Multi modal text 🡪 what is a multi-modal text? A poster. It is a text that combines different forms or modalities of a
language.

Language is everything that allows a message to be transferred from a sender to a recipient.

Poster 🡪 multi modal text that combines a visual message (e.g. a picture of
some people who are the protagonists of the film) and there are several
verbal messages (the title of the film, the informative text, the name of the
actors, the name of the director) then there is a subtitle “a comedy with a
language all its own”.

Then there is a tagline (every family has a hero)

The title of the film is explanatory.
Spanglish is also one of the most wildly spoken varieties in the USA, it is the
language spoken by Spanish speaking immigrants.
It consists of a mixture of Spanish and English.
The text is supposed to be persuasive. Its purpose is to convince us to see
the film.

• There is a woman with a girl, and we can see the back of them, the man is
introducing them to the family. Who is the hero?
The hero in the movie is the woman who works in the family that is called
Flor.

▪ We have a stereotypical picture. We have 2 women, a mother and a daughter that are immediately associated to
Hispanic people only for their hair. Then there is another group. They are smiling, the man (John Clasky) is the father,

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and he is also supposed to be the hero of the family, but there will be a coup de théâtre, because we will find out
that the hero is actually the woman.
What is the film about? Flor Moreno and her teenage daughter Cristina emigrate from Mexico to Southern California
for a better life, and they start working for a family, where the patriarch is a newly celebrated chef with an insecure
wife.
Flor and her daughter are escaping from their world and eventually she is hired by this well off family.
Flor gets hired as a maid, as a nanny, but she has to adjust to this new life with language barriers, with her daughter
becoming a woman and with the eccentric lifestyle of her new employers.

▪ The main point of the plot: when they arrive, Flor doesn't speak any English, and this becomes very funny, very
comical.
At first she refuses to learn English because she doesn't want to adjust to the "dominant culture" and she is suffering
a lot.
She is nostalgic for her Mexican roots and culture. She wants to preserve her Mexican identity as much as possible.
Cristina, her daughter speaks perfect English. She is often used as a translator.
She helps her mother to communicate with the rest of the family.
Language barriers 🡪 one of the intercultural topics.
Flor eventually starts to learn English and she finally becomes able to communicate, although she makes many
mistakes. In the dubbing of the Italian film this linguistic point of interest is almost entirely lost.
There are other plot twists. There is a romantic interest between the family man and Flor.

• What is the limit of this film? 🡪 The highly stereotypical vision of the two cultures, which is something that
happens all the times when it comes to comedies. Some comedies have the power to make us reflect or reconsider
this stereotypical vision, but sometimes they only reinforce the stereotype, or even worst, the prejudice.

• Why is a stereotype negative? Because it is a definition, it defines somebody.

When we face a stereotype, we (more or less consciously) define somebody.
When we have a stereotypical vision of a culture, it is difficult to change our view of that culture, and so, this can
create, in the long run, several and dangerous conflicts.
E.g. if we keep thinking that all English people are cold, we will have a preconception, which is a concept that we
have in mind before, and this unconsciously influences us.
“He appears to be a good man, but to someone with first-hand knowledge of Latin macho, he seems to have the
emotions of a Mexican woman”
🡪 this is a quotation that is objectively very interesting🡪 this sentence is referred to John, the American father. This
quote is not only about a cultural divide (between the American and the Mexican culture) but it also has a lot of
gender issues. She likes John because she doesn't like the typical Latin macho, and she finds in this man (who is
heterosexual) the qualities and emotions of a Mexican woman.
How does the society react to a man who verbally and physically conveys feminine qualities?
The film also deal with gender issues, and this is very interesting for our understanding of alterity.

“Is what you want for yourself to become someone very different than me?”
🡪 Cristina wants to go to Princeton, and the mother doesn't want her to go, because she is far too afraid that she will
become "too" American. She doesn't want her to change.
“Your acceptance, while it would thrill me, will not define me. My identity rests firmly and happily on one fact: I am
my mother’s daughter”

• No sé how 🡪 example of code switching

• 23 sabores blended into one extraordinary taste 🡪 sabores is chosen because it sounds sensual.
• To check/ chequear  🡪 this is not called switching but this is mixing. The two codes are mixed.

Spanglish 🡪 a form of speech used by some Hispanic groups in the USA, in which they mix deformed elements of

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vocabulary and grammar from both Spanish and English.

A “form of speech” means that for some people this is not a real language.
This can be also applied to African American English, which is much more spoken than Spanglish.
Deform has a negative connotation. It makes you think of Spanglish as a third-class language.
Spanglish speakers will be judged or defined negatively 🡪 this is one of the examples of linguistic discrimination.
It also shows one of our attitudes towards languages that is called prescriptive. A prescriptive vision of language. If
you don't speak the standard language, you are considered inferior.

LESSON 3

The film gave us the opportunity to reflect on some issues that are paramount when it comes to a linguistic analysis
of intercultural communication.

Identity is something almost impossible to describe and define.

We briefly touched on concepts such as prejudice and stereotypes and on the meaning of the word “definition”,
which seems like a neutral word but it actually retains a very negative connotation.
Spanglish is a linguistic variety of English and of Spanish that consists in the combination of 2 linguistic codes.
There are many strategies to achieve this kind of language (mixing, switching, calque).
A variety of language such ad Spanglish is not only a linguistic variety but also a cultural variety, because it is
generally spoken by a specific segment of society.
It is a minority language and therefore it is considered a third-class language
English is also negatively judged around the world. People talk about linguistic imperialism.

Linguistic discrimination 🡪 discrimination is paramount for our course.

We will talk about other forms of discriminations related to gender, ethnicity etc.
Discrimination can also be perpetuated through languages.

What is language? What is linguistics? What is discourse analysis?

A language is something that is used to communicate.
Linguistics is the study of a language, the study of the parts of a language and the study of how a language is used by
people.

How does linguistics study a language? 🡪 4 main concepts about a language

1) The relation between the mind and language.
There is a very strong relation between the way we use our mind and the way our mind produces language and vice
versa.
The inside of the brain and the outside of the mouth are constantly together.
There is a continuous and mutual influence. Language can influence our mind and vice versa.

2) Communication and how we do communicate interculturally.

Addresser and addressee or sender and receiver.
Language is very complex.
When the dialogue is confused, chaotic, it can create difficulties, miscommunication and misunderstanding.

3) Conventionality of the graphic system 🡪 The way a language is represented graphically. When we write, there are
specific conventions.
4) Another aspect of linguistics is the history of language.
If you study historical linguistics you have to go back to the very origins of language.

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In the west of the world, we study Indo-European languages. The linguistics tree only applies to those languages.

In the west we have the Old World Language Families 🡪 everything started from these Indo-European roots 🡪 the
languages that we know now have developed from this common roots.

Language (1): a body of words and the systems for their use common to a people who are of the same
community or nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition.
The French language, the Yiddish language, a Bantu language

Language (2): communication by voice in the distinctively human manner, using arbitrary sounds in
conventional ways with conventional meanings; speech

The first reflection on the relationship between humans and language is by Aristotle.
He wrote about the relationship between men and language 🡪 men are social animals.

Language (3): the systems of linguistic signs or symbols considered in the abstract (opposed to speech)
🡪 it is abstract because it is conventional

Language (4): any set or system of such symbols as used in a more or less uniform fashion by a number of
people, who are thus enabled to communicate intelligibly with one another.

Language (5): any systems of formalized symbols, signs, sounds, gestures, or the like used or conceived as a
means of communicating thought, emotion, experience etc…
The language of mathematics, sign language.

Language (6): communication of meaning in any way; medium that is expressive, significant, etc: the language
of flower, the language of art.

Language is a process of free creation. Its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of
generation are used is free and infinitely varied.
Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation. Noam Chomsky 🡪 we have some
common principles and we try to follow the same rules but then everybody speaks his or her own Italian/ Spanish/
English.
Idiolect the variety of the language that is spoken only by one person 🡪 it is an individual's distinctive and unique use

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of language, including speech. This unique usage encompasses  vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

*Mental frame 🡪 more common than mental scheme*

We are able to use language through our fantasy.

There are infinite sets of possibility.
It is impossible to imagine something if we don't have the word for it.

• Multicultural 🡪  there are many cultures 🡪 coexistence of different people coming from different countries.
• Cross cultural 🡪 a society where people from different countries coexist but there is a dominant culture.

Cross
- Indicates action from one individual, group, etc to another: cross-cultural; cross fertilize
- Indicates movement across something (sometimes implying interference, opposition or contrary action):
crosscurrents, crosstalk

Indicates a cross-like figure or intersection (crossbones)

• Intercultural 🡪 a society where people come from different countries but they are equal from a social point of
view. There isn't a hegemonic culture.

!!! Inter
A prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin, where it meant "between" "among" "in the midst of" "mutually"
"together" "during" (intercept; interest)

Used in the formation of compound words (intercom)

From PIE (Proto-Indo-European) enter “between among” (source also of Sanskrit antar, old Persian antar, “among
between” Greek entera (plural) “interior”, enteron (nominative) “intestines” Old Irish eter, Old Welsh ithr
“among, between”

Interest (n)
From Latin
Interest: “it is of importance, it makes a difference”, third person singular present of interesse “to concern, make a
difference, be of importance”.
Literally “to be between” from inter “between” + esse “to be” (from PIE root *es- “to be”) 

LESSON 4

We have to be aware of the difficulties of an intercultural communication.

The two concepts of cross cultural and inter cultural communication are often used interchangeably because they
are perceived as synonymous but they are not the same.

Linguistics requires to be extremely precise when using language.

If we go back to the etymology of the two words ( CROSS and INTER), we find a lot of elements that can help us to
use language precisely.

They both come from a Latin origin 🡪 the two prefixes mean two slightly different things.

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CROSS 🡪 to meet, to intersect. It is a unilateral movement 🡪 action and movement from one individual to another.
E.g. I am Italian and I meet another individual that comes from another group. We study, we work together, but is
that really an interconnected situation?

INTER🡪 together. The same prefix is to be found in the word interest 🡪 inter is something that goes to the core of a
concept.
Inter 🡪 to be of importance, to make a difference 🡪 this is what an intercultural communication should achieve.

▪ Cross cultural communication/situation do not make such a difference, while an

intercultural communication does.

WHY does it achieve such a difference? And how does it achieve such a difference?

The difference between cross and inter can be compared to the difference between the verb to mix and the verb to
blend.

Mix 🡪 the ingredients are still separated.

Blend 🡪 the ingredients are well amalgamated.

Multicultural situation 🡪 there are several cultures together (e.g. a classroom)

Nowadays in NY, many cultures are amalgamated, almost fully blended, it is basically the result of years and years of
mixing, and eventually blending. But even in a city like NY, not all the cultures are really integrated.
There is an enormous number of racist crimes.

In Turin there is a cross-cultural situation 🡪 we encounter many cultures in our everyday life 🡪 the different
communities are still living separately.

What is the difference between multicultural, cross cultural and intercultural? While they
all might be under the same roof, they describe entirely different rooms. The differences in the meanings have to do
with the perspectives we take when interacting with people from other cultures.

Multicultural refers to a society that contains several cultural or ethnic groups. People
live alongside one another, but each cultural group does not necessarily have engaging interactions with each other.
For example, in a multicultural neighborhood people may frequent ethnic grocery stores and restaurants without
really interacting with their neighbors from other countries.

▪ Cross cultural deals with the comparison of different cultures. In cross-cultural communication, differences are
understood and acknowledged, and can bring about individual change, but not collective transformations.
In cross-cultural societies, one culture is often considered "the norm" and all other cultures are compared or
contrasted to the dominant culture.

In Italy we cannot really speak of intercultural communication/situations.

We can still see the differences; we can see that the norm is "Italian".
In Italy we do think of the Italian culture as the norm.
🡪 "Well, I welcome them, I have nothing against them, but they should adapt to our society and culture"
▪ Intercultural communication should be something that achieves collective transformation.

Intercultural describes communities in which there is a deep understanding and respect for all cultures.
Intercultural communication focuses on the mutual exchange of ideas and cultural norms and the development of

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deep relationships. In an intercultural society, no one is left unchanged because everyone learns from one another
and grows together.

A cliché is a stereotypical vision of something 🡪 e.g. when as Italian we go abroad and people think we are all
members of the Mafia.

Cliché🡪 is a preconception and sometimes it can be fueled by public discourses. When we fuel a stereotype, we risk
never to change.

The tasks of linguistics is to dismantle these stereotypes.

Interculturality:
Is the interaction of people from different cultural backgrounds using authentic language appropriately in a way that
demonstrates knowledge and understanding of the cultures. It is the ability to experience the culture of another
person and to be open minded, interested, and curious about that person and culture.

!!! Spencer-Oatley and Frankin' s (2009:3) definition:

An intercultural situation is one in which the cultural distance between the participants is significant enough to have
an effect on interaction/communication that is noticeable to at least one of the parties.

Historic overview of intercultural communication:

The expression "Intercultural Communication" was firstly used by American anthropologist Edward T.Hall in his book
The Silent Language (1959) 🡪 intercultural communication relies on a silent language.

There are two different methodological approaches for intercultural and cross cultural
communication.
Having defined with more precision what culture means, how culture is composed and how it influences our
behaviors, researchers have focused on communication competence in the interaction between people coming from
different cultural backgrounds

Two main approaches are emphasized:

Cross cultural communication vs intercultural communication .
1) What comes out is that cross cultural communication approach is a comparative approach that allows to show
up the differences in the field of communication (informal vs formal behavior, rigid time vs fluid time, expressive vs
reserved behavior...) but does not consent to understand what to do effectively to communicate with different
cultures. -> non spiega come comunicare tra culture diverse

2) In the Intercultural Communication approach, as highlighted by Chen and Starosta (1998) "successful
intercultural interaction centers on communication processes among people from different cultures" . What is
important here, instead of showing the differences in the interaction between 2 people coming from different
cultures, is the ability to establish interpersonal relationships by understanding our counterparts through the
effective exchange of verbal and non-verbal behaviors (Hall 1959, 1966, 1976) -> capire l’altro anche attraverso
discorsi non verbali

In many fields of research, different scholars have repeatedly expressed an acute pessimism towards the possibility
to really achieve an intercultural communication. According to them, this is unachievable, it can be obtained but
does not last 🡪 pessimistic view on the possibility of this intercultural communication🡪 this view is a consequence of
what we constantly experience.

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LESSON 5

Intercultural communication is described as a silent language, which goes beyond the verbal language.

Methodologic differences between cross cultural and intercultural approach 🡪 they are both equally valid for the
understanding of the communication, but they are two different things.

▪ Cross cultural approach🡪 it is valid because it compares different cultures.

▪ Intercultural approach 🡪 it is not only a comparison 🡪 it proposes some solutions in the light of the knowledge that
has been acquired.

According to some scholars and theories, an intercultural society is when a collective transformation can be
achieved, no one is left unchanged, there is a real interest and the ability to adapt to the other cultures.

Communication in intercultural situations is much more than the verbal one.

Pessimist view on interculturality 🡪 it is very difficult even in societies where different cultures have encountered one
another for decades.

!!! Main elements of Hall's paradigm for intercultural communication.

The first element that an intercultural approach should propose is:

1) Systematic empirical study and the classification of nonverbal communication (defined as communication that
does not involve the exchange of words).

2) Emphasis, especially in nonverbal communication, on the out-of-conscious level of information-exchange 🡪 when

we communicate, we are influenced by so many factors that are culturally driven. This happens unconsciously.

3) A non-judgmental view toward and acceptance of cultural differences 🡪clichés are unconscious. They are
preconceptions.

4) Participatory training methods in Intercultural Communication 🡪 courses, studies, field experiences.

Case study by Salo Lee "Italian/Finnish miscommunication"

An experience of the cultural differences that cause misunderstanding and frustration
when a Finnish company collaborated with an Italian one.

While I was working for a company in Finland doing business with the Italians, there were problems in management
and they were intercultural problems.
In fact the main problem was the concepts and how the concepts were understood differently in Finland and Italy.
The company where I worked was a clothing boutique and it ordered clothes from Italy, mainly from Rome.
The problem was that the communication between our boutique in Finland and the persons working in Roma had a
huge problem in communications.
Now that I think about the management problem, I would say that the lack of Intercultural training for the
management staff and the concepts of Time, Space and Context (by Edward T Hall) were complete opposites to each
other 🡪 there was a lack of Intercultural training.

This example is related to the business world 🡪 this is where Intercultural trainings are essential, especially in a
globalized world.
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Today's businesses and management are quite complex due to the globalization and to the fact that in a company
there might be several people from several different backgrounds and variety (it is a N and not an adj.) cultures.
But still, I would say that the most important thing in order to manage well is to Communicate and have the need for
(correct to) communicate well to each other and most importantly have an effective intercultural communication
between co-workers.

This is why the management today must ensure that they are understanding and being understood across cultural
boundaries.

Our Finnish manager wanted to go straight to Business and talk about the orders when the Italians wanted to have a
dinner and take the time to get together first.
Our manager explained to his employees how rude the Italians were because they came physically very close in the
meetings and didn't stick to the point.

All in the entire situation was chaotic and the cultural differences were too much for our Finnish manager.
He had been used to do business only in Finland before and didn't have a clue (colloquial expression) how different
the business between two different countries can be.

The situation kept on going because the Finnish manager didn't want to change his habits and the Italians didn't
even know that something was wrong 🡪 both of them were wrong.
When I started my job in this company the situation was very bad, and in the end, our manager quit his job.
We got a new manager, and, after that, everything started to go well and the connections and communications
between our employees in Italy and Finland were good.

Personal space (two different concepts of personal space)

Hall explains that the normal space that a person needs is not only personal but also cultural driven.
This personal area is considered as one's own territory.
If this space is violated by an unwanted or unwelcome entity, it creates an uncomfortable feeling to the person being
violated.

The amount of personal space varies a lot according to the place of living of the individuals. People living in densely
populated areas tend to have smaller personal space requirements than people living in more rural areas for
example.

Furthermore, the distance between 2 individuals having a conversation in not just a coincidence but a cultural
tendency. Also, body contact is a factor of space.
Whether the Italians touch each other's hands or head or other body parts while talking, is more cultural driven than
people might think, because in Finland for example, people do not normally touch each other. (Hall 1990, 10-12)

Polychronic vs monochronic cultures

There are cultures that have different conceptions of time.
Hall examined how time is seen in different cultures.
In polychronic cultures time can't be saved or restored, the person might as well do something pleasant with it.

Polychronic people take on more tasks at the same time and are fine with doing many things at once, when at the
same time as monochromic people rather complete tasks one by one.
Polychronic cultures are seen as more flexible and able to change their minds more easily than monochronic ones.
Hall also indicates that the polychronic people are quite often not that punctual and consider a lot of things to be on
the same level of importance (Hall 1990, 18-24)
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🡪 In Italy, it is fully acceptable to arrive with 5 minutes of delay, in many other cultures this is considered very rude.

As in Hall's argument, Italy has a Polychronic culture.

There are plenty of things at the same level of importance and therefore these things are done at the same time.
Several overlapping work tasks are being completed. The Italians do not set meetings in order to reach decisions but
to exchange information and discuss a variety of factors influencing the case.

According to Hall, Finland is a monochronic culture. In Finnish culture, it is common to do one thing at a time and
concentrate your actions on only that.
Everything that is done is well considered.
The attention to the time is structured and everything has to be done on time.
Being late or finishing something, not on time is considered rude and impolite.

🡪 different concepts of time

There are some macro elements that we need to consider 🡪

Culture variety factors

!!! 1) High context vs low context

A high context culture is one in which the communicators assume a great deal of commonality of knowledge and
views, so that less is spelled out explicitly and much more is implicit or communicated in indirect ways. High context
cultures include Japanese, Arabs and French.

A low context culture, on the contrary, is one in which things are fully (though concisely) spelled out. Things are
made explicit. Low context cultures include Germanics and Scandinavians.
Italian is an analytic language in which everything is spelled out and everything has to be explicit.

Why are many British people so reserved and not willing to open up themselves? 🡪 What has created this reserved
culture in England? What major historical event? 🡪 the Victorian Age 🡪 the cultural policies of the Victorian age were
incredibly strict in term of morality (+ Colonialism + the Anglican Church)

LESSON 6

Culture variety factors 🡪 these are orienting tools. In order to achieve an intercultural communication, we
need to avoid generalizations 🡪 each group is made of several different individuals.

We have some macro differences:

1) High context vs low context

A high context culture is one in which the communicators assume a great deal of commonality of knowledge and
views, so that less is spelled out explicitly and much more is implicit or communicated in indirect ways.
Many pieces of information are deduced by the context of communication or by subtexts (that in-group members
understand while out-group members do not).

A low context culture is one in which things are fully (though concisely) spelled out. Things are made explicit.
Less room for subtext, in-between-the-lines messages. Context is less relevant than verbal communication (while
this is sometimes advantageous for a successful communication, it can create discomfort in out-group members)

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Low context cultures include Germanics and Scandinavians. High context cultures include Japanese, Arabs and
French.

If we compare the West and the East, the East would be much more HIGH CONTEXT oriented, while the West, would
be much more LOW CONTEXT oriented.
🡪 we could never say that Italian culture is entirely low context and that the Japanese culture is entirely high context
because of the differences among the members of the same group.

Implications and problems

- Japanese can find Westerners to be offensively blunt. Westerners can find Japanese to be secretive, devious, and
bafflingly unforthcoming with information.

- French can feel that Germans insult their intelligence by explaining the obvious, while Germans can feel that French
people provide no direction.

Monochronic vs Polychronic
Monochronic cultures like to do just one thing at a time. They value a certain orderliness and sense of an appropriate
time and place for everything. They do not value interruptions.

Polychronic cultures like to do multiple things at the same time. A manager's office in a polychronic culture typically
has an open door, a ringing phone and a meeting all going on at the same time. 🡪 Italians are supposed to be
polychronic.
Polychronic cultures include the French and the American. The Germans tend to be monochronic.

Implications and problems

A German businessman cannot understand why the person he is meeting is so interruptible by phone calls and
people stopping by. Is it meant to insult him? When do they get down to business?
Similarly, the American employee of a German company is disturbed by all the closed doors, it seems cold and
unfriendly.

Future vs Present vs Past Orientation

Past-oriented societies are concerned with traditional values and ways of doing things. They tend to be conservative
in management and slow to change those things that are tied to the past.
Past-oriented societies include China, Britain, Japan, and most Spanish-speaking Latin American countries.

Present-oriented societies include the rest of the Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. They see the past as
passed and the future as uncertain. They prefer short-term benefits 🡪 this perspective can of course change within
the group.

Future-oriented societies have a great deal of optimism about the future. They think they understand it and can
shape it through their actions. The United States and, increasingly, Brazil, are examples of future-oriented
societies. 🡪 In the US there is the myth of progress 🡪 slogan 🡪 “Yes we can” “Change”- Obama

Although the American culture is supposed to be future oriented, there are simultaneously great differences (e.g.
Democrats vs Republicans).

Make American great again (Trump) 🡪 this statement is obviously past-oriented 🡪 within American culture there are
at least 2 macro groups.

Quantity of time
In some cultures, time is seen as being a limited resource which is constantly being used up. It's like having a
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bathtub full of water which can never be replaced, and which is running down the drain.

You have to use it as it runs down the drain or it's wasted.

In other cultures, time is more plentiful, if not infinite.
In old agricultural societies, time was often seen as circular, renewing itself each year.

In the western societies we have the idea that times flies, because we are deeply influenced by religious factors 🡪 we
have “the sense of an ending”.

Implications
In societies where time is limited, punctuality becomes a virtue. It is insulting to waste someone's time and the
ability to do that and get away with it is an indication of power, power abuse, superiority/status. Time is money.

In cultures where time is seen as plentiful, like India or Latina America, there is no problem with making people wait
all day, and then tell them to come back the next day.

Individualism vs Collectivism

In individualist cultures, individual uniqueness, self-determination is valued. A person is more admirable if he/she is
a "self-made man/woman" or "makes up their own mind" or shows initiative or works well independently.

Collectivist cultures expect people to identify with and work well in groups which protect them in exchange for
loyalty and compliance.

Paradoxically, individualist cultures tend to believe that there are universal values that should be shared by all, while
collectivist cultures tend to accept that different groups have different values.

Many of the Asian cultures are collectivist, while Anglo-American cultures tend to be individualist.

Implications
A market research film conducted a survey of tourist agencies around the world. The questionnaires came back from
most counties in less than a month. But the agencies in the Asian countries took months to do it. The reason was
that, for example, American tourist agencies assigned the work to one person, while the Filipinos delegated the work
to the entire department, which took longer.

Typical problems
A British boss asked a new, young American employee if he would like to have an early lunch at 11 am each day. The
employee said "Yeah, that would be great!" The boss immediately says, "With that kind of attitude, you may as well
forget about lunch!" The employee and the boss were both baffled by what went wrong.

In England, saying "yeah" in that context is seen as rude and disrespectful 🡪 lack of intercultural training

A Japanese businessman want to tell his Norwegian client that he is uninterested in a particular sale. So, he says
"That will be very difficult". The Norwegian eagerly asks how he can help. The Japanese is puzzled. To him, saying
that something is difficult is a polite way of saying "No way!" 🡪 Japanese is a high context culture.

Perceptions of Americans.
Europe and especially England "Americans are stupid and unsubtle. And they are fat and bad dressers"
Finland "Americans always want to say your name: "That's a nice tie, Mikko. Hi Mikko, how are you Mikko."
India: "Americans are always in a hurry. Just watch the way they walk down the street"

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Kenya "Americans are distant. They are not really close to other people. Even other Americans"

Turkey "Once we were out in a rural area in the middle of nowhere and saw an American come to a stop sign.
Though he could see in both directions for miles, and there was no traffic, he still stopped!"

Colombia "In the US, they think that life is only work"

Indonesia "In the US everything has to be talked about and analyzed. Even the littlest thing has to be "Why, why,
why?"

Ethiopia "The American is very explicit. He wants a "yes" or "no". If someone tries to speak figuratively, the American
is confused."

Figurative language ≠ explicit language or denotative language or literal language

� Stereotypes tend to make us understand much more about who judges and less about who is judged

LESSON 7 

Intercultural communication or miscommunication depends on a variety of factors. The verbal language of a culture
is not the only barrier:
There are many other factors that need to be taken into account when we analyze another culture before having the
possibility to interact with it.

What are the do's and don'ts of international communication?

When we deal with an intercultural situation there are few things that we have to bear in mind:

Do's of international communication

- Avoid assumptions, jokes which are misunderstood (differences between British and Italian humor 🡪 there are
certain things that in British culture are considered very funny and for Italian people they are not, and vice versa)
- Use symbols, diagrams and pictures (something that is much more universal)
- Avoid using slang and idioms, choosing words that will convey only the most specific denotative (literal) meaning.
(e.g., break a leg/ in bocca al lupo) 🡪 the two expressions don’t match 🡪 if we use idioms it will be very hard for the
other person to understand what we mean.
- Investigate their culture's perception 🡪 the verbal language is not enough, we should research on the other culture.
- Take cultural and local differences into account.
- Say what you do and do what you say. Make sure that your communication is in line with the audience, use
understandable language.

Don’ts of intercultural communication

- Using the same approach world-wide 🡪 we have to take into account that we communicate also physically, with our
body, with our hands or with our eyes 🡪 that is not shared all over the world.
- Considering traditional knowledge and practices as "backward" 🡪 this leads to extreme forms of discrimination,
racism, marginalization 🡪 there is a general prejudgment 🡪 Islamic culture 🡪 many western people still question
women wearing veils or burqa 🡪 we need to take into account the reasons why some cultures have certain
traditions, or we will never get to the understanding of the other cultures 🡪 the consequence will always be the
failure to achieve an intercultural communication.
- Letting cultural differences become a source of conflict that hinder the process or work
- Fail to ignore culturally-dependent enabling and counteracting forces
- Fail to take language barriers into account

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Don’ts of intercultural communication
Physical communication.
The thumbs up sign in America and most of Europe means that something is good, or that you approve. This sign is
considered rude in many Asian and Islamic countries 🡪 this depends on the context.
Raising your hand up means stop in America or England. In some Asian countries this gesture is used when asking for
permission to speak.

Don’ts of intercultural communication

For example:
- North Americans view direct eye contact as a sign of honesty (idiomatic expression “look me in the eyes”, if you
don’t do this, you are not sincere, authentic) 🡪 the lack of visual contact may lead to misunderstanding, an American
could interpret this as being sneaky.
- Asians view direct eye contact as a form of disrespect 🡪 if you look someone straight in the eyes you are impolite
and rude.

Nodding
Nod your head (yes) / Shake your head (no)
This is something that we do unconsciously.
Head movement is commonly used to communicate positive versus negative response.

However, whereas in US culture, vertical head movement denotes positivity (nodding to say "yes") and horizontal
head movement is associated with negativity (shaking heads to say "no") in Bulgaria and Greece, for instance, this
response patterns is reversed, that is horizontal head movement means "yes" and vertical head movement means
"no"
🡪 Thus, these two cultures spatially "embody" agreement via different movement directions.

🡪 In Somalia a teacher was teaching English, and all her students were shaking their heads during the lesson, she was
puzzled because she thought that they hadn’t understood what she said.

Case Study

Mr. Baseball 🡪 an American baseball player ends up playing with a Japanese team 🡪 the story is about the cultural
clash that this player experiences in Japan. He shows no knowledge at all of the Japanese culture 🡪 exaggeration. He
starts an affair with a Japanese girl, who invites him to have dinner with her family 🡪 dinner etiquette 🡪 it is
something that is highly revealing in terms of cultural clashes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=029kdjdasyM 🡪 Asian and Western dinner etiquette 🡪 this is a major mistake 🡪

there are obviously differences among Asian cultures 🡪 the video should have been called Japanese culture vs
American culture.

- He was trying to imitate them 🡪 they are making a lot of noises while eating 🡪 he tries
to do the same but he exaggerates.

He doesn’t use the chopsticks in the right way.

The girl is serving Sake to the father (the head of the family) but the main character
wants it too, so he shows his empty glass to the girl, and this creates an awkward
situation.

Elements that are typical of Japanese dinner etiquette 🡪 they slurp when they eat (they
make noises while eating, especially while eating noodles) 🡪 it is a way to show
appreciation for the food they are eating 🡪 in Italy this is considered rude.

The American man exaggerates, and he appears as mad or over the top.

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The chopsticks should never be put in that way because it is a sign of bad luck 🡪 they were shocked 🡪 when you put
the chopsticks into the food, you are serving the ancestors 🡪 but if you put the chopstick on the table that is bad
luck.

The man doesn’t know anything 🡪 the Japanese girl should have said something 🡪 at the same time he should have
been aware that he was not in the USA.

The girl offered him some food, but he refuses, without saying anything 🡪 this creates uneasiness.

He wants to be polite, and he imitates the noises that the other people were making, but he overdoes it.

According to the Japanese etiquette, the first person who receives the Sake is the head of the family, but the
American man didn’t know that.

Chopstick incident 🡪 it is a sign of bad luck because of its connection to dead people.

After the uneasiness has grown, they almost explode 🡪 they say “NO!!” 🡪 then the Japanese girl says in English “this
is bad luck”

The head of the family says “teach him properly” in Japanese 🡪 he blames the girl 🡪 at the same time the American
man should have learned by himself 🡪 there was no initial interest 🡪 language barrier 🡪 he didn’t understand
Japanese and the Japanese culture.

The way the main character sits on the floor is not correct 🡪 he is not put together 🡪 he is not used to that and that
position is uncomfortable for him 🡪 he should adapt to the Japanese culture and at the same time they should have
been more flexible 🡪 there should be a mutual understanding

LESSON 8

Do’s and don’ts of intercultural communication🡪 what we need in order to try to achieve a real communication that
goes beyond the cross-cultural encounter 🡪 this process requires the knowledge of the other person, group, or
country 🡪 it is not an easy task at all 🡪 it is a long and never-ending journey.

Normality🡪 it is a very peculiar concept 🡪 it means to follow a norm 🡪 we always have to remember that norms are
not natural, but they have been created by human beings.

A norm is what makes something “normal” 🡪 what is normal for us can be the opposite for somebody else.

YouTube video: Asian and Western Dinner Etiquette- Differences

Neither the Japanese family nor the American man were cooperative 🡪 they were focused on their own way of
communicating. They have two different approaches.

The title of the video was misleading 🡪 it contributes to a stereotypical vision of that culture 🡪 Asian is a
generalization (e.g., when people compare Italian and Spanish culture taking for granted that they are the same, but
they are obviously not / Scandinavia is made up of 3 main countries, and they are very different from one another)

Asia is a huge continent made of different countries with different cultures and history.

Comments that reveal people's attitude towards otherness.

Some comments reveal an attitude that goes against any possibility of the realization of a real intercultural
communication.

1) This was so uncomfortable for me and I ‘m not even from Japan🡪 there was some tension at the table
2) Every asian has a different table manner. For south east asian you could eating using your hands on local
restaurant, of course after washing your hand and we never use chopstick as our main eating tool 🡪 this comment
15
underlines the differences between Asian cultures
3) That Westerner can be seen as a very offending person because of him unwilling to follow the way of the country
that he's in 🡪 maybe he didn't mean to be offensive.
4) Never polite to sound like a HOOVER VACUUM!
5) Slurping the noodles is considered good manners in Japan as it shows you enjoy the meal, so don't roast the
Japanese guys in the video, though their slurping is a bit over the top 🡪 this comment shows a different level of
understanding
6) That asian etiquette doesnt go for Korea. Japanese purposefully make all those sounds to express the idea that the
food is delicious. To them, thats the polite manner, and I think its perfectly understandable. Meanwhile, in Korea, if
you bring your bowl to your mouth or make those slurping sounds, or even talk too much, you are considered a rude
lowclass idiot, which is also understandable. Anyway, please dont think Japanese etiquette is a representation of all
Asian manners
7) Very stereotypical look at Japanese manners and 'manner'. I've been to Japan and I seriously doubt there are
many who would react in such a harsh way to another's lack of knowledge. They might laugh a bit perhaps, but
frown so much on the poor man.. naah!
8) It's disgusting to smack and slurp and wipe your mouth with your hand ... No napkins used ever

Double defensive position 🡪 some Japanese people were saying that that video does not reflect the reality, and that
is not representative of all Japanese people and culture, many other comments instead are defensive by means of
attacking the differences🡪 they label something different as disgusting.

Our culture and habits are a result of centuries of evolution.

Self-criticism should be replacing this defensive positions.

🡪 This division (us versus them) creates a further and much more dangerous division between what we call the in-
group members and the out-group members.

Intercultural communication starts from the study of the differences between cultures 🡪 the differences can also be
intracultural (intra 🡪 within the same culture) 🡪 everything has to do with the unwillingness to get to know the other
person who is different from us

!!! 4 main issues in relation to intercultural discourse:

1) intercultural competence:  a continuous and life-long journey to increase people's skills in being proficient in
intercultural (between different cultures) and intracultural (within one culture) knowledge which can improve the
ability to interact with people with different cultures. Appropriate intercultural communication includes behaviors
that suit the expectations of specific culture, the characteristics of the situation, and the level of the relationship
between the parties involved in the situation
2) achieving understanding 🡪 this is also a life-long experience
3) understand the sense of identity
4) managing rapport 🡪 rapport is much more than a simple relation 🡪 it means that something has been achieved.
This is a concept that required a never-ending learning experience.

Rapport is a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned are "in sync" with each
other, understand each other's feeling or ideas, and communicate smoothly.
🡪 it is the aim, the purpose of intercultural communication, it is different to achieve but it is possible 🡪 we have to
avoid prejudice.

▪ !!! The word stems from the old French version rapporter which means literally to carry something back, and, in
the sense of how people relate to each other means that what one person sends out the other sends back (a relation
that can be summarized as me towards the other person and vice-versa; me towards the world and vice-versa )
🡪 The participants must engage in reciprocal behaviors such as posture mirroring (🡪 it is a general and metaphorical
concept 🡪 it means to adapt or to be flexible) or in increased coordination in their verbal and nonverbal interactions.
16
Techniques that are generally beneficial in building rapport:
1) Matching your body language (I.e. posture, gesture, etc)
2) Indicating attentiveness through maintaining eye contact if the culture accepts eye contact
In conversation, some verbal behaviors associated with increased rapport are:

3) Sharing personal information of gradually increasing intimacy (or "self-disclosure") and referring to shared
interests or experiences. Why gradually? 🡪 if you come from a low context culture (Italian) and you interact with a
Japanese person and you start to open up, this is not acceptable 🡪 common sense is very important.

Methods:
Coordination
Coordination (or mirroring) 🡪 getting into rhythm with another person or coordinating one's verbal or nonverbal
behaviors.

Emotional mirroring 🡪 empathizing with someone's emotional state by being on "their side".

Posture mirroring 🡪 matching the tone of a person's body language not through direct imitation, as this can appear
as mockery, but through mirroring the general message of their posture and energy.

Tone and tempo mirroring 🡪 matching the tone, tempo, inflection, and volume of a person’s voice

Commonality 🡪 the technique of deliberately finding something in common with a person or a customer in order
to build a sense of camaraderie and trust (through references to shared interests, dislikes and experiences). By
sharing personal details or self-disclosing personal preferences or information, interlocutors can build commonality
and thus increase rapport.

Face management (to manage our face 🡪 face is a metaphor for the way we appear🡪 the way people see our face
and the way we see people seeing our face)
Face-negotiation theory is primarily based on the research of Brown and Levinson. In this theory, face is a metaphor
for self-image, which originates from two Chinese conceptualizations: lien (translation: face) and mien-tzu
(translation: a social mask).

Lien is the internal moral face that involves shame, integrity and honor issues.
Mien-tzu, on the other hand, is the external social face that involves social recognition position, authority,
influence and power.
🡪 There are some communication behaviors (such as bad language) that are practiced or avoided for two reasons
(one is the internal moral face, something that prevents you from using bad language, for reasons that are related to
our upbringing, reasons that are cultural but then there is the external social face 🡪 even if someone loves swearing,
that person still has to behave himself 🡪 that person can see the way other people see him)
The external face concept can be seen as the social mask of Pirandello.

We feel comfortable and at ease with what we say and how we say it🡪 we have a way of expressing ourselves 🡪 we
need to be confident and follow some patterns 🡪 there are situations that are clashing with our private space (social
situation at work, if we go to a trial 🡪 there are different factors that prevent you from being entirely yourself 🡪 we
are part of a society and we have to follow some rules 🡪 if you attend a trial and you insult the jury you get
arrested 🡪 you have to adapt to different situations 🡪 what makes us at ease may be uncomfortable for many other
people)

LESSON 9

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Face🡪 metaphor for the way we present ourselves to others.

The Chinese has created his very useful distinction where the social face (the mask you wear) sometimes can be in
contrast with the way we feel about ourselves 🡪 there are many factors that contribute to the success or to the
failure of communication.
We behave according to our own personal ethics or ideas.
We can also change our faces whenever we enter a social or public situation 🡪 this can vary according to different
cultures.

Video: avoid stereotypes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfwkbuEeTSw

Example of a cultural clash 🡪 the video is an encounter between a young man and a young woman, they are jogging
in a park, the boy approaches the girl and he says something about her identity.

1) Watch the video and summarize its content

2) What makes communication a failure?
3) What are the most offensive expressions used?
4) Do you align with the girl's reaction?
This is not an example of rapport 🡪 it is not an example of intercultural communication.

"Your English is very good" 🡪 attitude of superiority 🡪 it is a patronizing attitude.

She is serving him back with the same dish by behaving in the same way 🡪 what could she have done in order to
overcome that situation?

He assumes that the girl is not American just because of her features.

▪ You should never react to violence with violence

▪ In America people are always subjected to this kind of behavior 🡪 there should be some kind of cooperation.
▪ Being white is considered the norm 🡪 American culture is the norm, everything else is not.
▪ He assumes that she is either Japanese or Korean.

He approaches the woman, he smiles at her and she smiles back, so she is willing to start a conversation
"Where are you from?" 🡪 question based on her features.

She is from San Diego (“we speak English there”) 🡪 sarcasm.

He then starts to spell out the words, assuming that she doesn’t understand 🡪 “where-are-you-from?” 🡪 I was born
in Orange County 🡪 I mean before that 🡪 before I was born? (sarcasm again) 🡪 Where are your people from? My
great grandma was from Seoul 🡪 Korean, I knew it, I was like she’s either Japanese or Korean, but I was leaning more
towards Korean 🡪 he bows 🡪 he is worsening the situation 🡪 she is annoyed.

She asks him where he is from 🡪 She mirrors all his mistakes 🡪 the communication doesn't work.

� I’m just American 🡪 he is surprised at her question (he is blonde, tall, very pale 🡪 he represents the “norm”) 🡪 so
you are Native American?

"No, just regular American" 🡪 she is also a "regular American" because she was born in Orange County 🡪 this implies
that there are 2 main groups in the USA,  one that is regular and one that is irregular 🡪 it is a form of indirect
stereotype.

18
From a semantic point of view, it is a matter of fact (he was actually born in America)

She starts listing all the British stereotypes 🡪 "’ello governor"/ top of the morning to ya 🡪 typical cockney expression,
very old-fashioned and uncool 🡪 British people themselves use this expressions as a joke
Mind the gap
Beware Jake the ripper
Bloody hell
Cheerio
"I think your people's fish and chips are amazing" 🡪 this expression reveals that “your” people are not “mine”
🡪 US VS THEM
Acquiring intercultural competences is a lifelong journey.

Stereotypes in (Intercultural) Communication

ETYMOLOGY: stereotype (n.) 1789, "methods of printing from a plate" from French stéréotype (adj.) "printed by
means of a solid plate of type" from Greek stereos "solid, firm" + French type "type".
Meaning "image, perpetuated without change” is first recorded in 1850. Meaning “preconceived and
oversimplified notion of characteristics typical of a person or group” is recorded from 1922.

e.g., If you are homosexual you like Madonna, if you are a woman you are a bad driver.

Explicit stereotypes
Explicit stereotypes are perpetuated by those people who are willing to verbalize and admit to other individuals their
ideas. It also refers to stereotypes that one is aware that one holds and is aware that one is using to judge people.
People can attempt to consciously control the use of explicit stereotypes (face management) 🡪 I think that
Romanians are criminals, and I do not hesitate to say it. I hate homosexual 🡪 BUT there are some contexts where
people hide themselves 🡪 sometimes people feel the need to pretend to be open-minded towards immigration or
homosexuality.

Implicit stereotypes
Implicit stereotypes are those that lay on individual's sub-consciousness, that they have no control or awareness of.

🡪 In social psychology and socio-linguistics, a stereotype is any thought widely adopted about specific types of
individuals or certain ways of behaving intended to represent the entire group of those individuals or behaviors as a
whole.
These thoughts or beliefs may or may not accurately reflect reality.

🡪 You think you don’t have a stereotype, for example you don’t associate Romanian to criminality but society,
culture, your family have influenced you.

LESSON 10

A basic encounter between 2 people can present different problems for the achievement of an intercultural
communication 🡪 the video was a clear example of miscommunication or failure to achieve an intercultural
communication 🡪 the 2 people belong to the same group 🡪 they are both American.

The other is who I perceive to be different from me (because of their features, their voice, and their accent)

In intercultural communication the other is potentially everyone (even if they belong to your social, cultural or
geographic group) 🡪 this type of communication is very similar to an inter-personal communication.

19
Regular American🡪 indirect offensive expression 🡪 difference between me (a regular American) and you (non regular
American)

A very practical example of discourse analysis🡪 we analyzed a multi-modal text (video= made of visual language
and verbal language) and we singled out some of the expressions used, some of the gestures, the reactions of the 2
people and we drew some conclusions in order to understand social and cultural mechanisms 🡪 dynamic of power 🡪
The boy assumes to be in power because he belongs to the hegemonic culture in the USA.

We analyze society through language.

What is language?

Veicolo attraverso cui noi cambiamo la società -> il cambiamento dipende dal nostro
modo di utilizzo

Relationship between language and communication 🡪 we need to go deeper.

What does linguistics say about language?

Discourse analysis is one typology of applied linguistics.

!!! Language, a system of conventional spoken, manual, body, or written symbols by means of which human beings,
as members of a social group and participants in its culture, express themselves.

!!! The functions of language include communication, the expression of identity, play, imaginative expression, and
emotional release (David Crystal)

Language changes, it is in constant evolution, and it is conventional and made up of a high number of variety
🡪constant introduction of new words, constant change of meaning of so many words.

Queer used to mean eccentric, different 🡪 then it has become a synonym for homosexual 🡪 it is now a reclaimed
term used by the LGBTQ+ community 🡪 they wanted to stress that what used to be offensive, is now used to claim
their rights 🡪 one word has changed drastically.

In Italy we say albero, in English people say tree, in German Baum 🡪 why is arbitrariness important? 🡪 it can create
several misunderstandings.

If we don't use language carefully and precisely, even the way we express our identity can be misunderstood 🡪 that is
the core problem of intercultural communication.

Many definitions of language have been proposed. Henry Sweet, an English phonetician and language scholar,
stated: "Language is the expression of ideas by means of speech-sounds combined into words. Words are
combined into sentences; this combination is similar to that of ideas into more complex thoughts or ideologies".

Relation between language and mind (something that we take for granted) 🡪 enormous power of the smallest
particles of language 🡪 if we consider oral language these particles are sounds (vowel and consonants) 🡪 these are all
conventional 🡪 conventional symbols (Japanese language, Chinese language, Greek language🡪 these languages do
not share the same alphabet) 🡪 every single particle is important and has a powerful influence (even a single A
instead of an O can embody complex cultural/social/political systems🡪 it is not irrelevant)

Even a single word can make huge differences.

!!! The American linguists Bernand Bloch and George L.Trager formulated the following definition: "A language is a
system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates" 🡪 because of this arbitrariness
sometimes the communication doesn't work, but at the same time language is fundamental for the cooperation and
the communication of a social group.

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Language varieties

1) Geographically different systems of communication that may impede but do not prevent mutual
comprehension are called dialects of a language (i.e. Manchester Dialect). Dialect -> regional variety

🡪 Dialects are a cultural resource.

They are a part of our cultural heritage.

🡪 BUT we need to use a Lingua Franca (a language that can be understood by everyone) 🡪 a Lingua Franca is a
language of compromise.

2) Similarly, the term sociolect refers to the speech patterns employed by a specific segment of society (i.e.
Received Pronunciation vs Cockney)

RP is the English of the Queen, the English used by the BBC, it is considered very posh 🡪 it is a signal that you are well
educated🡪 there are some American celebrities that have abandoned their accent and started to speak with a RP 🡪
the effect can be comic, unnatural 🡪 people want to acquire that kind of English because it is considered posh.

Cockney is spoken in London and Southern England, and it is not only a geographical dialect, but it is also related to
uneducated people that belong to the working and middle classes.

🡪 our accent is our identity

3) This is different from ethnolect, which is the language patterns employed by ethnic groups who may also belong
to different segments of society (i.e. Afro-American English, Jamaican English, Singlish).

4) In order to describe in detail, the actual different speech patterns of individuals, the term idiolect, meaning the
speech habits of a single person, has been coined. 🡪 we all speak differently 🡪 it is also a matter of associating
certain (different) meanings to a word 🡪 people have developed different speech patterns, different ways of
constructing language.

The science of language is known as linguistics. It includes what are generally distinguished as descriptive
linguistics and historical linguistics.

� language is an important vehicle for the understanding of societies, cultures and people's mind

Historical linguistics 🡪 the focus is on the origin and the evolution of words 🡪 we go back to the etymology of a word
to see how society has changed a word or how words have changed society.

e.g. Slut 🡪 Shakespeare used the term slut without any sexual connotation 🡪 the word originally meant "dirt" 🡪 it was
referred to maids, that worked in the kitchen and because of that they used to be dirty 🡪 this term was referred to
someone unclean🡪 from a dirty person to a dirty minded person 🡪 their soul is dirty 🡪 sex is often associated with
something dirty.

Descriptive Linguistics (descrive il modo in cui ognuno usa la propria lingua) can be divided into theoretical
linguistics and applied linguistics (especially for social uses) that has several sub-disciplines:

Sociolinguistics/Anthropological Linguistics/Psycholinguistics/ Neurolinguistics/ Forensic Linguistics/ Discourse

Analysis

!!! Discourse (n.)

ETYMOLOGY: late 14c. "process of understanding, reasoning, thought" from French discours, from Latin discursus
"a running about" in Late Latin "conversation" in Medieval Latin "reasoning", noun use of past participle of
discurrere "to run about, run to and from" coprire tutti gli elementi di un discorso, in Late Latin "to go over a
subject, speak at length of something"

Discourse (from Latin discursus, "running to and from") denotes written and spoken communication such as:

21
 1) A conceptual generalization of exchange within each modality and context of communication
2) The totality of codified language used in a given field of intellectual enquiry and of social practice, such as
legal discourse, medical discourse, religious discourse, anthropological discourse etc.

Michael Foucault: "Discourses are systems of thoughts composed of ideas, attitudes, courses of action, beliefs and
linguistic practices that systematically construct the subject and the worlds of which they speak"🡪 the power of
language in constructing systems of thoughts. È quindi il modo in cui viene influenzata la società dal discorso

Discourse analysis, or discourse studies, is the approach to analyze written, vocal or visual language use, or any
significant semiotic event in a given field (politics, advertising, gender, history, interculturality)

Discourse analysts not only study language use "beyond the sentence boundary" but, within "naturally occurring
language" they aim at revealing dynamics of power, as well as the socio-psychological and socio-cultural
characteristics of a person or of a group through analysis of their language , linguistic choices and ways to express
themselves and talk/write about the others.

1) A Discourse does not exist per se (in itself), but is related to other discourses, by way of inter-discursivity 🡪 we
cannot separate a text saying "this belongs to intercultural communication, this one to political discourse 🡪 they mix
together🡪 in one speech we can find elements of intercultural discourse, political discourse

2) Discourse Analysis features the questions and answers of What is the text about? and What is not the text
about? and "How is the text written/produced/transmitted?
These are conducted according to the meanings of the concepts used in the given field of enquiry, such as
anthropology, ethnography, and sociology; cultural studies and literary theory; science, feminism etc.

LESSON 11

The language itself lends to a combination of discourses 🡪 when we talk about intercultural communication we may
easily end up talking about gender differences or racism 🡪 inter-discursivity
When we carry out a discourse analysis we need to ask ourselves what is the text about and also what the text
doesn’t say.

Discourse analyst Norman Fairclough argues that the ability to understand how language functions, to think about
it in different ways, is crucial to understanding society, culture and other people.

� Language is a tool to understand how societies work, how cultures are constructed and perpetuated.

Fairclough argues that to understand power, persuasion and how people live together, a conscious engagement
with language is necessary.
That is, critical thinking about language can assist in resisting oppression, protecting the powerless and building a
good society.

� Through language we express our identity, our opinions and ideologies and we interact 🡪 when we interact, we
have the power to persuade other people 🡪 there are many possible strategies to persuade people 🡪 advertising
is the most evident example of persuasive discourse 🡪 it is meant to persuade people into buying a product.
Every time we engage with languages, we do have this power 🡪 Why is discourse analysis is human science but
also a social science? 🡪 because through language we can change the way people see the world and the way the
world develops.
� Critical thinking about language is the objective of all courses about language.

Critical discourse analysis:

An interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse, or put simple talk in the text, that views language as a form
of a social practice. Scholars working in the tradition of cda generally argue non-linguistic social practice constitute
one another and focus on investigating how societal power relations are established and reinforced through
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language use. In this sense, it differs from discourse analysis in that it highlights issues of power asymmetries,
manipulation, exploitation, and structural inequities in domains such as education, media, and politics

Fairclough developed a three-dimensional frame work for studying discourse:

1) analysis of (spoken or written) language texts

2) analysis of discourse practice (processes of text production, distribution and consumption)
3) analysis of discursive events as instances of socio-cultural practice. Particularly, he combines micro, meso and
macro-level interpretation:
1) micro-level: various aspects of textual/linguistic analysis, for example syntactic analysis, use of metaphor and
rhetorical devices.
2) meso-level or "level of discursive practice": studying issues of production and consumption, for instance, which
institution produced a text, who is the target audience, etc.
3) macro-level: intertextual and interdiscursive elements and tries to take into account the broad, societal currents
that are affecting the text being studied.

Fairclough's Model of CDA:

• Text (the objects of linguistic analysis)

• Discursive practices (the production, distribution and consumption of texts)
• Social practices (the power relations, ideologies and hegenomic struggles that discourse reproduce, challenge or
restructure)

Although the primary purpose of language is to facilitate communication (transmission of information from one
person to another), sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic studies have drawn attention to a range of other functions
for language:

Language expresses a national or local identity (a common source of conflict in situations of multiethnicity around
the world).
Also important is the range of functions seen in imaginative or symbolic contexts, such as poetry, drama and
religious expression.
🡪 Language performs a variety of functions 🡪 it is everywhere. DIFFICILE FINO A QUI DA ETIMOLOGIA DISCOURSE.

What is culture?
Language creates culture and culture creates language 🡪 it is a mutual relation of influence

•How would you describe culture?

1) It is something that we don't normally question. We take it for granted because we were born within it.
2) Culture is everything you learn during your lifespan.

Culture
Language
Medical care
Working schedules
Clothes and dressing
Manners
Jokes
Celebrations
Folk Art
Food
Child-rearing Methods
Religion

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All of these elements are in constant need of language🡪 language is what allows to create religion, food 🡪 everything
is described by language.

We associate one element (religion, food) to a culture 🡪 typifying 🡪 we simplify the reality in order to better
understand what surrounds us 🡪 if we think of China we think of specific food, specific manners, specific working
schedules 🡪 we facilitate our understanding of a reality (e.g., other cultures) by associating elements that are
different from our reality or our culture 🡪 this can create stereotypes 🡪 there is no place for individuality (English
people are stiff, Chinese people are workaholic, Italians are members of the Mafia) 🡪 oversimplification of the reality
that surrounds us.

!!! Define (v.)

late 14c., deffinen, diffinen, "to specify; to fix or establish authoritatively:" of words, phrases, from Old French
defenir, definir "lo finish, conclude, come to an end; bring to an end; define, determine with precision," and directly
from Medieval Lati diffinire, definire, from Latin definire "o limit, determine, explain." from de "completely" (see de.)
+ finire "to bound, limit." from finis "boundary, end" (see finish (v.)

Stereotypes in (Intercultural) Communication

ETYMOLOGY: stereotype (n.) 1789, "methods of printing from a plate" from French stéréotype (adj.) "printed by
means of a solid plate of type" from Greek stereos "solid, firm" + French type "type".
Meaning "image, perpetuated without change” is first recorded in 1850. Meaning “preconceived and
oversimplified notion of characteristics typical of a person or group” is recorded from 1922.

Stereotipi fanno parte del processo dell’othering -> alterizzazione

Explicit stereotypes
Explicit stereotypes are perpetuated by those people who are willing to verbalize and admit to other individuals their
ideas and opinions. It also refers to stereotypes that one is aware that one holds and is aware that one is using to
judge (in a negative way) people. People can attempt to consciously control the use of explicit stereotypes (face
management) -> this creates the bridge from explicit to implicit stereotypes, bc people wants to save their face ->
espliciti perchè la persona vuole dire cosa pensa degli altri, giudicandoli

judgement =/= opinion, perché dai un parere senza offendere

•Explicit stereotypes🡪 typical of racist people "I don't like Mexican because they are criminals" 🡪 people admit what
they think, and they state their opinion.
You can have certain stereotypes in mind (e.g. you think gay people are against nature), but you live in a context
where what you think is not accepted and where people are working towards inclusiveness 🡪 for reasons of face
management you omit what you want to say and you don't state your opinion.

Implicit stereotypes
Implicit stereotypes are those that lay on individual's sub-consciousness, that they have no control or awareness of.
Abbiamo questa convinzione in testa -> impliciti perchè stanno nel subconscio, incontrollabili

🡪 In social psychology and socio-linguistics, a stereotype is any thought widely adopted about specific types of
individuals or certain ways of behaving intended to represent the entire group of those individuals or behaviors as a
whole. -> stereotipo come pensiero adottato su una persona o su un Gruppo, in modo da rappresentare questi come
marcati da tale caratteristica
These thoughts or beliefs may or may not accurately reflect reality.

Implicit stereotypes 🡪 they are unconscious and people have no control or awareness of them 🡪 oversimplified
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notions of a group.

Stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination

These 3 categories are understood as related but they are different, but connected and sometimes one is the
cause of the other:

1) Stereotypes are regarded as the most cognitive component and often occur without conscious awareness.
You see a Mexican person and you immediately associate all the elements that you know of the Mexican culture to
that person.
2) Prejudice is the affective component (rabbia, paura) of stereotyping.
It defines someone 🡪 e.g., thinking that every single Italian is a good cook 🡪 you apply some cultural paradigms to an
individual 🡪 a stereotype can be positive or negative, but it always dangerous because it is a limitation.
3) Discrimination is one of the behavioral components of prejudicial reactions. -> actions
I think that all Romanians are criminals 🡪 I need a plumber, but I don't hire that particular plumber because of his
nationality 🡪 and this is when discrimination occurs.

� In this tripartite view of intergroup attitudes, stereotypes reflect expectations and beliefs about the
characteristics of members of groups perceived as different from one's own, prejudice represents the
emotional response, and discrimination refers to actions.
� Stereotipo: credenza
� Pregiudizio: emozione negativa
� Discriminazione: azione

Consequences
Stereotyping leads to racial, sexist, homophobic (etc.) prejudice when people emotionally react to the name of a
group, ascribe characteristics to members of that group, and then evaluate those characteristics. (Discourse
analysis tries to reveal how this happens)

Possible prejudicial effects of stereotypes are:

1) Justification of ill-founded prejudices or ignorance
2) Unwillingness to rethink one's attitudes and behavior
3) Preventing some people of stereotyped groups from entering or succeeding in activities or fields.

Case study

Disappointed that Grazia UK edited out & smoothed my hair to fit a more Eurocentric notion of what beautiful
hair looks like. #dtmh = don't touch my hair 🡪 it is common to see people that touch black people's hair 🡪 you give
them a compliment but at the same time you are pointing out that they are different 🡪 in this case DTMH is a
metaphorical expression 🡪 do not cancel my hair
🡪 implicit stereotype

Urban Dictionary 🡪 “Usually used by people of color when white people keep touching their hair because white
people think this is a petting zoo and
colored people are animals”.

Lupita Nyong’o🡪 actress, model and Oscar

award winner

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LESSON 12
Racism
Racism is prejudice and discrimination against an individual based solely on one's membership in a specific
racial/ethnic group (such as toward African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, European
Americans).

🡪 The USA have a long history of immigration, but still these problems haven't been overcome.

What are some stereotypes of various racial or ethnic groups? Research suggests cultural stereotypes for Asian
Americans include cold, sly, and intelligent; for Latinos, cold and unintelligent; for European Americans, cold and
intelligent; and for African Americans, aggressive, athletic, and more likely to be law breakers. (Devine & Elliot,
1995; Fiske, Cuddy, Glick & Xu, 2002; Sommers & Ellsworth, 2000; Dixon & Linz, 2000) 🡪 today these stereotypes
haven’t changed.

In one case of alleged harassment by the police, several East Haven, Connecticut, police officers were arrested on
federal charges due to reportedly continued harassment and brutalization of Latinos.
When the accusations came out, the mayor of East Haven was asked "What are you doing for the Latino
community today?" The Mayor responded, "I might have tacos when I go home, I'm not quite sure yet" ("East
Haven Mayor",2012) 🡪 verbal stereotype 🡪 he’s a political figure

This statement undermines the important issue of racial profiling and police harassment of Latinos, while
belittling Latino culture by emphasizing an interest in a food product stereotypically associated with Latinos 🡪 in a
short sentence we can find different implicit and explicit stereotypes leading to prejudice

Children spontaneously listing black stereotypes.

� This research was published in 2015, they tried to figure out the nature of those stereotypes🡪 from a sociological
and linguistic point of view 🡪 multidisciplinary research 🡪 hundreds of children stated ideas and adjectives that
came to their minds when they were shown images of black people.

26
What are black people like? How to they behave?
They listed their own ideas 🡪 how is it possible that a child has developed these ideas?

1) Stereotypes increase with the age of the participant

2) All of them are negative stereotypes, the only positive one is "blacks are good athletes" 🡪 the only positive
stereotype is inferior in terms of numbers
3) Black are violent 🡪 the majority of children associate violence with black people
4) Black are less intelligent than Whites.
5) There is a chain of reaction🡪 if they are less intelligent, they can't succeed in school, they will never get a good job 
🡪 they will always remain poor 🡪 you can then become a criminal 🡪 one action is connected to the other.

Cinema 🡪let’s think of what are the typical roles in which black people are cast 🡪 how cinema and media represent
black people

Exercise

“As I have made clear so often in the past with every fiber of my being, I embrace my natural heritage and despite
having grown up thinking light skin and straight, silky hair were the standards of beauty, I now know that my dark
skin and kinky, coily hair are beautiful too. Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfills me as it is an
opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the
way they are. I am disappointed that @graziauk invited me to be on their cover and then edited out and
smoothed my hair to fit their notion of what beautiful hair looks like. Had I been consulted, I would have
explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage with the intention that
they appreciate that there is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black
women's complexion, hair style and texture”  🡪 this is a thought-through post 🡪 she denounced something that she
finds very offensive for her and for the black community.

On the one hand Grazia UK chose a black model, that are still underrepresented in magazines but on the other they
converted her to the norm, to what is considered normal.

Normalization 🡪 she is portrayed on the cover as tribal woman 🡪 this underlines on the one hand that the hair was
not attractive before but on the other that she was made into a tribal woman 🡪 this imagine can fuel a stereotypical
vision of black women 🡪 if we encounter otherness we have to make it fit into what we like 🡪 many black women
keep straightening their hair 🡪 for our society that kind of hair is not pretty enough 🡪 but beauty is relative 🡪 every
country has its own beauty standard.

The magazine edited out her hair without consulting her 🡪 it reveals the way woman are treated.  

In NY or LA there are specific shops dedicated to black people

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� From a stereotype you develop an affective component that is a prejudice and then you may end up thinking
that all black women are unattractive unless they wear a wig, or they straighten their hair

Every fiber of my being🡪 she wants to say that she now accepts her heritage and she doesn’t want to fit in the
European standard 🡪 she is proud to show her natural hair.

DER Fremde

MASCULINE OR FEMININE NON declined as adjective(= Unbekannter, Ortsfremder) stranger; (= Ausländer) foreigner;
(ADMIN, PoL) alien; (= Tourist) visitor stranger noun[C] US I strein•dzer/ someone not known or not familiar: After
being away so long, my sister seemed like a stranger. A stranger in a particular place is someone who has never been
there before: Sorry, I can't direct you - I'm a stranger here myself.

DER FREMDE / THE STRANGER / LO STRANIERO (SIMMEL)

The stranger, for Simmel, is a member of the group in which he lives and participates and yet remains distant from
other - "native" - members of the group. In comparison to other forms of social distance and difference (such as
class, gender, and even ethnicity) the distance of the stranger has to do with his "origins." The stranger is perceived
as extraneous to the group and even though he is in constant relation to other group members, his "distance" is
more emphasized than his "nearness. That is, the stranger is perceived as being in the group but not of the group

The stranger – Albert Camus

The title character is Meursault, an indifferent French settler in Algeria described as "a citizen of France domiciled in
North Africa, a man of the Mediterranean, yet one who hardly partakes of the traditional Mediterranean culture."
Weeks after his mother's funeral, he kills an Arab man in French Algiers, who was involved in a conflict with one of
Meursault's neighbors. Meursault is tried and sentenced to death.

"'In our society any man who does not weep at his mother's funeral runs the risk of being sentenced to death." I only
meant that the hero of my book is condemned because he does not play the game (Camus, 1955) HE DOS NOT
COMMUNICATE "NORMALLY" (in order to understand what normality in language is, one need to deeply reflect on
the nature of language's arbitrariness)

LESSON 13

The linguistic sign

● Human's capacity to create signs that mediate between them and their environment
● A sign is made up of two parts, two components, a signifier and a signified

Segno -> media tra uomo e ambiente ed è fpormato da significante e significato (forma/parola e contenuto/oggetto)
-> relazione tra queste due parti

Signifier 🡪 "rose" 🡪 what is meant to produce meaning

Signified 🡪 🡪 the concept

● A sign: neither the word nor the object but the relation between the two
🡪 Arbitrariness of the linguistic sign.

Apparently there is no reason why the combination of the letters R-O-S-E should produce the concept of that
particular flower

The arbitrariness of language can create several problems and fascinating reflections on the way we, as human being
interact and connect.

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The non-arbitrary nature of signs
• For native speakers, linguistic signs are the non-arbitrary, natural reality they stand for.

Example: daisy (5 letters) / margherita (10 letters) 🡪 2 different signifier produce the same concept 🡪 conventional
nature of the signifier

Are there words that are not arbitrary?

- All languages are conventional and they deeply influence one another.
- All languages rely on this concept of arbitrariness 🡪 tree/albero/Baum 🡪 different words, same concept -
There are words that are not arbitrary although linguistic signs are also cultural signs.

What are some words that are not arbitrary? 🡪 So that the relation between the signifier and the
signified is evident.

An onomatopoeia (adjective: onomatopoeic" or "onomatopoetic") is a word that phonetically imitates, resembles

and suggests the sound that it describes 🡪 in this case the relation is not arbitrary because there is a match between
signifier and signified.
Common occurrences of onomatopoeias include animal noises such as "oink", "miaow" (or "meow"), "roar".
Onomatopoetic words are not the same across all languages; they conform to some extend to the broader
linguistic system they are part of; hence the sound of a clock may be tick tock in English, tik tik in Hindi 🡪 this
specific feature of language is often used in poetry or in songs, these words are useful to create phonosymbolic
effects or to give musicality or rhythm to the song 🡪 onomatopoetic words can facilitate the reader/listener to
imagine the meaning of a poem/song.

BUT there are striking differences between different languages. In Italian a dog abbaia, in English it barks, in English
the sound produced by a dog is Woof, in Spanish is Guau, in Icelandic is Voff

How come that there are those differences? The animals are the same and they make the same sounds anywhere

How can animals sound different in different languages? 🡪 this happens because linguistic signs are also cultural
signs and there are many reasons why for an English person the cock makes this kind of sound (cock-a-doodle-doo)
and for an Italian person the sound is different.
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Different ways to scream

Ai (Icelandic) / Oy (Russian) / Eeek (English)

How come that we scream in different ways? 🡪 this kind of sound is supposed to be universal

The meaning of signs

● Denotative
Ex: Rose denotes a sweet-smelling flower

● Connotative
Ex: Rose connotes love, passion and beauty.

Cultural differences 🡪 when we associate the apparently conventional symbol of a rose to love, passion and beauty
we do this because we are influenced by something that was present before, that we were already given 🡪 the risk of
misunderstanding is very high due to this arbitrariness and the way we associate meanings to one single word.

!!! Idiom/idiomatic expression

A group of words established by usage (we already have a set of these expressions available for us, we have been
learning these expressions since we were born and we take them for granted) as having a meaning not deducible
from those of individual words (e.g. over the moon, can't judge a book by its cover).
Categorized as formulaic language an idiom's figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning.
It is estimated that there are at least twenty-five thousand idiomatic expressions in the English language.
🡪 So many idiomatic expressions in English come from Shakespeare

Over the moon 🡪 sopra la Luna 🡪 calque 🡪 in Italian we say “al settimo cielo” 🡪 they are expressions created over time
and deeply related to one specific culture

1) Avere gli occhi foderati di prosciutto= to have one's eyes lined with ham= can't see the wood for the trees (to be
unable to see what is distinctly in sight; to miss the details of an issue, to be prejudiced)

2) Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben (Don't praise the day before evening)= "Don't count your chickens
before they're hatched" (in the roost) 🡪 you should not be so sure of the positive outcome of an event.

Proverb
A simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on common sense or
experience. They are often metaphorical.

"You can't have your cake and eat it"

An early recording of the phrase is a letter on 14 March 1538 from Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, to Thomas Cromwell, as
"a man can’t have his cake and eat his cake"

In Jonathan Swift's 1738 farce "Polite Conversation", the character Lady Answerall says "she cannot eat her cake and
have her cake"
Meaning🡪 to have or do two good things at the same time that are impossible to have or to do at the same time:
You can't have your cake and eat it- if you want more local services, you can't expect to pay less tax.

Paradoxical double meaning 🡪 linguistic ambivalence ("to have" used instead of "to eat")

Italian: “Volere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca” 🡪 to want the barrel full and the wife drunk
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(Federico De Roberto, 9th chapter of I Vicerè)

What does it reveal about the Italian culture?

- It reveals the importance of marriage in our culture.

- It is from a male point of view
- The man wants all the wine for himself but also a drunk wife 🡪 if a wife gets drunk she changes her behaviors, she is
more flexible, she loses her inhibitions, and she becomes also sexually available in a much easier way
- If you get drunk, you change your face management, because you lose control
- A drunk wife sleeps more
- She can be manipulated easily
- If you get drunk you are happier, you change positively, you are not annoying.
- Role of the wife who traditionally is considered more respectable than a woman that is not married -
Some men don't want a wife (a human being with her own thoughts and rights) but a toy

Originally we had this saying that is highly revealing of the subordination of women 🡪 it is legitimate to want a drunk
woman so that she becomes less frigid, less talkative and ready to have sex 🡪 it implicitly reinforces the stereotypes
of a woman seen as too talkative, boring, frigid 🡪 this expression was created in the past but it is still used.

It this proverb related to rape culture? Yes, this statement justifies the actions of men, it is a legitimation of the
desire to change wives, and it is one of the element that contributes to this kind of culture.

In other languages…

� In these proverbs there is no sex and no gender involved

Albanian🡪 To take a swim and not get wet

Chinese🡪 You can't have both the fish and the bear's paw (bear's paw is considered a delicacy in ancient China)
German🡪 One cannot dance at two weddings (at the same time)
French🡪 To want the butter and the money from (selling) the butter
Spanish🡪 Wishing to be both at mass and in the procession
Russian🡪 Wanting to eat a fish without first catching it from the waters.
Portuguese🡪 Wanting the sun to shine on the threshing floor, while it rains on the turnip field.

LESSON 14

Each word can have several meanings -> polisemia

Language is something personal: we have a native language –> the most significant example is using bad words in
your language (cock =/= cazzo)

!!! Meaning is conceived as a form of action and is

produce differently. We talk about language as a
form of interaction. Language alone doesn´t mean
anything (e.g. the meanings of the word BITCH are
numerous). The word alone is just a human sign, but
then when we say a word, an expression, a sentence
in a society, in a group, that word acquires a real
meaning.

Words are always pronounced in a context 🡪 the

context is not just represented by the environment
but it is also represented by the people 🡪 we all have
our ways of seeing the world, we have a different
31
background, different families, ideas…

CASE STUDY ASIAN ETIQUETTE 🡪 The context is not only given by the dinner scene but also by their personality, their
identity.

The understanding of a message can become very problematic 🡪 it depends on a variety of factors (e.g. the
arbitrariness of language 🡪 bitch can be used for several reasons: you have to express the meaning you want to give
to the word in the clearest way possible 🡪 this becomes problematic especially when people have different
backgrounds and different contexts of life)

Understanding comes from the combination of the situation in which people are involved + the context of culture 🡪
from this 2 main elements understanding can happen or quite the opposite.
In order to better understand these concepts we use 2 main theories: (the first one is by Chomsky and the second is
by de Saussure)

Meaning -> situazione del contesto + situazione culturale = understanding, questo perché quando parliamo e
pronunciamo una parola in isolamento, questa non significa nulla o può avere più significati -> solo nel contesto
acquista senso, formato da persone con idee ecc

Noam Chomsky
To have Competence in a language means to have knowledge of the grammar -> conoscere la grammatica -> langue

� We perform/build a language

Performance refers to the way individual speakers actually use language. It is possible, therefore, for a speaker to
have grammatical competence of a language, but lack communicative competence of that same language because
they are unaware of rules of social relationships, taboo or other cultural conventions.
Knowing how to greet someone or what constitutes appropriate "small talk" are examples of this competence.
Communicative competence has also been called "sociolinguistic competence" or "pragmatic competence ". ->
sapere come usare la lingua -> parole

You can be proficient in a language but at the same time you can miss the knowledge of a culture and you don´t use
the language or a specific word in the appropriate way 🡪 this is the reason why so many mistakes and
misunderstandings can occur. -> gli errori dipendono dal fatto che puoi conoscere una lingua ma non sapere come
usarla in contesto
- This theory by Noam Chomsky goes back to one of the first theory in linguistics that is by de Saussure (who also
proposed the difference between signifier and signified).

LANGUE VS PAROLE (de Saussure/Structuralism)

Parole 🡪it is not just a single word 🡪 in the light of the distinction between langue and parole Chomsky developed
another theory that is the distinction between competence and performance and the gap that can exist between
them.

Linguaggio -> langue (grammar system) e parole (personal usage)

For Saussure, LANGUAGE can be divided into LANGUE and PAROLE.

The former is the general abstract grammatical language system, the latter the individual use of language. They are
closely linked since speakers draw on LANGUE to produce Parole.

Langue is the system, what you read in the grammar books.

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Parole is the way a person use Langue (the general, abstract, complex system of a language that is valid for
everybody) 🡪 linguistics focuses on PAROLE 🡪 linguistics studies the way people perform Parole

Langue is the system that makes Parole possible. We can think of language as competence and parole as
performance in Chomsky's terms (although the 2 concepts are different)

Every instance of language in the world, all actual utterances, is Parole.

As speakers, we perform parole acts (=speech acts). We rely on shared understanding (accounted for by langue), but
as individuals we can do things with language that haven't done before (e.g. experimental language) 🡪 language used
by Montale, Joyce, advertising, political propaganda🡪 the way people craft ideologies with language 🡪 everyone can
use language in a creative way 🡪 it happens every day.

2 important distinctions:

● Literal or DENOTATIVE language uses words exactly according to their conventionally accepted meanings or
denotation. Ex: proverbs -> denotative perchè le parole sono usate col loro significato letterale
● Figurative language or CONNOTATIVE LANGUAGE uses words in a way that deviates from their conventionally
accepted definitions in order to convey a more complicated meaning or heightened effect. -> connotative perchè le
parole sono usate con significato diverso e più complicato

A ROSE is a beautiful flower, figuratively speaking a rose can become a symbol, a metaphor, an analogy.

Ex. I love sunshine

You are my sunshine (I mean that you make me happy, you are the light and the warmth that makes my life better)

Ex. Pig/Bitch (they are 2 animals 🡪 literally speaking a pig is a pink animal, but if we use the same name figuratively,
the meaning changes: if a woman calls a man in the street pig, she means that he is vulgar, rude, dirty or a pervert)
Today it is almost impossible to use the word bitch in a literal way. The first meaning we have in mind is that of an
easy woman.

2 other important distinctions:

● Semantic Meaning refers to the meaning of words in a language and the meaning within the sentence . -> senso
delle parole nella frase, senza pensare al contesto

Semantics considers the meaning of the sentence without the context

Semantics is just the meaning that the grammar and vocabulary impart, it does not account for any implied meaning.

(e.g. I call someone an asshole 🡪 without the context you can’t understand if that word was meant to insult someone
or if it was used as a joke)

● Pragmatic Meaning looks at the same words and grammar used semantically, but within context. In each situation,
the various listeners in the conversation define the ultimate meaning of the words, based on other clues that lend
subtext to the meaning. -> pensare al contesto

Context 🡪 made by people in a special, cultural and social situation🡪 they create another meaning that is that only
belongs to that moment.

33
Ex. Asshole (with an angry tone to a man in the bus)
Asshole (with a laughing tone to a friend)
What is the semantic meaning of asshole? 🡪 if you look it up in a dictionary, asshole is an offensive word used to
express anger or to offend somebody 🡪 its meaning can change according to different situations 🡪 there are different
layers of meaning 🡪 the real meaning of a word in sociolinguistics is not the semantic meaning, cause it represent a
part of the body, that is just the starting point. A linguist is supposed to analyze all the elements of a particular
context and to interpret the meaning.

John Austin on speech acts ("How to do things with words")

He uses the combination of the verb DO and the noun THINGS (concrete)

A mayor or a priest that proclaims a couple husband and wife by using language 🡪 through the use of words
something happens: the social status of that couple is changed forever🡪 “I hereby declare you husband and wife”.

The 3 components of a communication, that are always together, from a pragmatic point of view are:
1) Locution- the semantic or literal significance of the utterance -> significato letterale di un’espressione
2) Illocution- the intentions of the speaker -> intenzione comunicativa
3) Perlocution - how it was received by the listener, the effects and consequences of the previous two. -> quello che
arriva al destinatario

CASE STUDY🡪 The American boy used the adjective regular to better define his Americanness "I am a regular
American" the semantic meaning of regular (the locution) is neutral word, it is not offensive. Its opposite is irregular.
What was the intention of the boy when he said “I am a regular American”? (illocution) 🡪 he means that he was born
in the USA and that he doesn´t have any exotic ancestors.

The girl was annoyed by his words (perlocution) 🡪 she reacts promptly as she seems to have a strong personality, but
the word “regular” could have hurt someone else 🡪 people could end up feeling inferior and they can feel like a
misfit.

!!! The "rules" of language: linguistic stereotypes + prescription vs description

(prescriptivist approach or descriptivist approach)

Prince Charles, at a British Council launch of a five-year program to preserve "English English", said "People tend to
invent all sorts of nouns and verbs and make words that shouldn't be” -> si inventano parole e verbi che non
dovrebbero esistere (The Times, 24 March 1995) 🡪 highly prescriptive approach that doesn't allow any differences 🡪
spread of linguistic insecurity.

Prescriptive approach -> if u prescribe, u give a series of rules (like ones from doctors): when a linguist makes their
job, they describe language, including error mistakes

In the preface to his Dictionary (1755), Samuel Joboson writes, "sounds are too
volatile and subtle for legal restralnts; to enchain syllables, and to lash the wind,
are equally the undertakings (netivities) of pride, unwilling to mensure it»
desires by its strengths. Yet, the history of the language is full of all manner of
attempts to govern English and specify what it should be"

Prescriptivism is the term used for approaches to language that set out rules for what is
regarded as good or correct usage -> prescrittivo perchè prescrive le regole corrette di una
lingua

Descriptivism is an evidence-based approach to language that describes, in an objective

manner, how language is being used. Most contemporary academic linguistics are

34
descriptivist, but prescriptivist approaches abound in schools, style guide, comment thread and parental chidings. ->
descrittivo perchè descrive come la lingua è usata

What kind of perlocution can this create? 🡪 linguistic insecurity. This implies that there is only a specific English that
is accepted.

All native speakers make mistakes, when we perform our language we can be absentminded, or we can be very bad
at grammar 🡪 when someone makes mistakes, it is common to see people reacting and offending them 🡪 many
people have the urge to offend other people because they make mistakes 🡪 people attack other people because they
don’t have any other counter-arguments 🡪 this is a strategy that most people use to feel superior (maybe they don’t
have anything to say, they don’t have an opinion but they criticize people for their mistakes) it is also a way to
destroy the argument of the other person 🡪 if you can’t use the grammar properly then you can’t express an opinion.

Every single word is important.

Meme (multimodal text) 🡪 made of a visual message and a verbal message

Even American English is considered as non-standard and everything that is different from British English is labeled
as mere mistakes 🡪 this creates a hierarchical order, starting from what is considered “good” vs what is “bad”.

LESSON 15 L
Achilles here personifies a well-structured argument to defeat a stranger on the
Internet and then there is a typo

What is the pragmatic of this message?

🡪 you can be very logical, very intelligent, you can have a good point but then there is a
typo (misprint) 🡪 so you don't win the argument 🡪 but typos are actually very common

*This meme will also be used in the section of this course that is devoted to a specific
kind of metaphor (cognitive metaphor)*
What is the first thing that we notice? 🡪 we don't normally have a cooperative approach
🡪 we don't want to exchange opinions, our purpose is often to defeat the other person

We are always engaged in intercultural communication because everyone is different and has his/her own ideas and
opinions 🡪 the encounter of 2 human beings that interact.
We tend to attack people if they make a mistake 🡪 we like to feel superior and we often assume that if you can’t
speak properly your opinion is not valid.

What do you suppose someone with Prince Charles’ point of view would say about
these words?
a) Ginormous (adj): bigger than gigantic and bigger than enormous
b) Woot (interjection): an exclamation of joy or excitement
c) Chillax (verb): chill out/relax, hang out with friends
d) Emoticon (and all the web related language)
e) Covidiot (noun)

Ciaone🡪 Semantic meaning 🡪big ciao / Pragmatic meaning 🡪 it is used

when someone says something impossible and paradoxical.

35
We use a lot of English words but we actually have the Italian equivalent 🡪 why do people use Anglicisms? 🡪 people
use them to sound more international and cosmopolitan 🡪 we use language for our face, to appear in a certain way.
Language is not in our control, it changes constantly.

OkCupid 🡪 An online dating site, give advice to its users on how to use language in order to get more replies. They
analyzed half a million messages making first contact to see how successful they were in getting a reply and
developed some "rules" for the people using the website. Their first rule is: be literate

"Netspeak, bad grammar, and bad spelling are huge turn-offs.

Our negative correlation list is a fool's lexicon: ur, u, wat, wont, and so on.
These all make a terrible first impression. In fact, if you count hit (and we do!) the worst 6 words you can use in a
first message are all stupid slang"

I'm lovin' it 🡪 one of the most financially successful slogans in the history of
advertising 🡪 it is a grammar mistake 🡪 it is now part of our vocabulary

This do/don´t + be is not just a mistake, but it is part

of the grammar of African-American English 🡪 it is a
variety of English spoken by millions of people in the
word.

Don’t used instead of doesn’t 🡪 this can create

linguistic discrimination 🡪 if you can not speak
English properly, then you are ignorant, you lack of
intelligence.
HUFIeifHW

L
Prescriptive grammar has spread linguistic insecurity like a plague among English speakers for centuries, it numbs us
to the aesthetic richness of non-standard speech, and distracts us from attending to genuine issues of linguistic
styles in writing.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/8Gv0H-vPoDc 🡪 the video is addressed to people who don’t use grammar properly
🡪 a prescriptivist approach can be dangerous

WORD CRIMES
Everybody shut up! (Woo!)
Everyone listen up!
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey (Uh, woo!)
Hey, hey, hey (Woo!)
36
If you can't write in the proper way (Woo!)
If you don't know how to conjugate (Woo!)
Hey, maybe you flunked (failed) that class (Hey, hey, hey)
And maybe now you find (Hey, hey, hey)
That people mock you online (Hey, hey, hey)
(Everybody wise up!)

Okay, now here's the deal

I'll try to educate ya (Woo!) (Ow!)
Gonna familiarize
You with the nomenclature (Woo!) (Meow!)
You'll learn the definitions (Hey, hey, hey)
Of nouns and prepositions (Hey, hey, hey)
Literacy's your mission (Hey, hey, hey)

And that's why I think it's a good time (Woo!)

To learn some grammar (What)
Now, did I stammer?
Work on that grammar (Woo!)
You should know when
It's "less" or it's "fewer" (Woo!) (Oh, yeah)
Like people who were (All right)
Never raised in a sewer

I hate these word crimes

Like "I could care less" (Hey, hey, hey)
That means you do care (Whoa)
At least a little
Don't be a moron (Hey, hey)
You'd better slow down
And use the right pronoun (Hey, hey)
Show the world you're no clown
(Everybody wise up!)

Say you've got an "i-t"

Followed by apostrophe "s" (Woo!)
Now, what does that mean?
You would not use "it's" in this case (Woo!)
As a possessive (No, no, no!)
It's a contraction (Yeah, yeah, yeah!)
What's a contraction?
Well, it's the shortening of a word or a group of words
By omission of a sound or letter (Woo!)

Okay, now here are some notes

Syntax you're always mangling (Woo!)
No X in "espresso"
Your participle's danglin' (Uh-huh)
But I don't want your drama (Hey, hey, hey) (Uh-huh)
If you really wanna (Hey, hey, hey) (Uh-huh)
Leave out that Oxford comma (Hey, hey, hey) (Uh-huh)
Just keep in mind that
"Be", "see", "are", "you"
Are words, not letters (Woo!)
Get it together (Hey, hey)
Use your spell checker
You should never
Write words using numbers (Woo!) (Hey, hey)
Unless you're seven (Yeah-ay)
Or your name is Prince
(Everybody wise up!)
37
I hate these word crimes (I hate them crimes)
You really need a (Woo!) (I hate them crimes)
Full-time proofreader (I mean those crimes)
You dumb mouth-breather (Woo!)
Well, you should hire (I'll hire)
Some cunning linguist (Woo!)
To help you distinguish
What is proper English
(Everybody wise up!)

One thing I ask of you (Okay)

Time to learn your homophones is past due (Woo!)
Learn to diagram a sentence, too
Always say "to whom", don't ever say "to who" (Woo!)
And listen up when I tell you this
I hope you never use quotation marks for emphasis (Woo!)
You finished second grade, I hope you can tell
If you're doing good or doing well (Woo!)
You better figure out the difference
Irony is not coincidence (Woo!)
And I thought that you'd gotten it through your skull
About what's figurative and what's literal (Woo!)
Oh, but just now (Just now), you said (You said)
You "literally" couldn't get out of bed (Woo!) (What?)
That really makes me want to literally
Smack a crowbar upside your stupid head

I read your e-mail (Yeah, yeah)

It's quite apparent (Woo!)
Your grammar's errant
You're incoherent (Woo!)
Saw your blog post (Hey, hey)
It's really fantastic (Oh, woah)
That was sarcastic (Oh, psych!)
'Cause you write like a spastic (Woo!) 🡪 a person with a serious condition 🡪 we reduce someone with a form of disability to someone who is
inferior

I hate these word crimes (Everybody wise up)

Your prose is dopey (Woo!) (Hey)
Think you should only (Woah, woah)
Write in emoji (Woo!)
Oh, you're a lost cause (Hey, hey, hey)
Go back to preschool (Woo!)
Get out of the gene pool (Hey, hey, hey) 🡪 this is very offensive 🡪 if you make mistakes it means that you are not worth living 🡪 excess of
prescriptivism 🡪 this can lead to linguistic prejudice, stereotypes and discriminations
Try your best to not drool (Woo!)

Never mind, I give up (Woo!)

Really now, I give uoop (Woo!)
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey
Go away!

COMMENT ON THE VIDEO – CASE STUDY

“I tried to educate you” -> power assimetry higher-lower: I’m in the position to educate you; there’s a texture
cohesion, bc in the end video says “I give up”
“Unless you are 7” -> non saper scrivere e quindi usare i numeri come un bambino di 7 anni
“Lost cause” -> essere una causa persa, ecco perché alla fine give up -> very strong potential perlocution

38
“You shuold get out of a gene pool” if you make a grammar mistake -> you shouldn’t reproduce: in the past reffered
to Jewish people
“You write and speak like a spastich” -> discriminating by being ironic, offending s/o who doesn’t know grammar ->
double discrimination even if u want to be funny

“Everybody shut up” -> imperative expression, diventa ordine paternalistico

“flunked that class” -> impersonal expression
“Peepl” instead of people -> there are so many spelling’s problems and mistakes
“Moran” -> very offendive expression in a context, or used in a colloquial and friendly way
This songs shows mistakes that english people do with language
“Litterally” is used in a figurative way -> over emphasazing something, common in colloquial american english

LESSON 16

Linguistics is not interested in giving out rules, but in order to avoid misunderstandings grammar is fundamental 🡪
we should avoid mistakes in order to achieve an efficient communication.

The excess of prescriptivism 🡪 when we end up using grammar as an argument for the potential discrimination of
some category of people, this can generate problem of linguistic insecurity.

Nowadays there are several cultural minorities and not everyone speaks the standard variety of a particular language
🡪 in an intercultural environment you have to give people tools to improve themselves.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/eo5KBhutwxU (Come usare “pittosto che” in modo corretto)

🡪 persino tu imparerai le basi della grammatica e non sembrerai più uno scimpanzé che si atteggia a filosofo -> fai un
errore per sembrare più colto. Piaga sociale. Il suo uso errato causa fitte celebrali e anche morte 🡪 Mauro è uno
stupido 🡪 maledetto bifolco ignorante -> usa termini per insultare 🡪 la grammatica è un soggetto in via di estinzione 🡪
piuttosto che è sinonimo di invece di, anzichè e non di oppure 🡪 il video termina con un uomo intubato in ospedale.

They compared the wrong use of “piuttosto che” to the spread of COVID in Italy -> mappa coi punti rossi k
represents i centri della pandemia in Italia

All the narrative is constructed by following the same narrative we used to watch on TV at the beginning of the
pandemic 🡪 the tone is really aggressive 🡪 “EVEN YOU ´ll be able to understand grammar” 🡪 patronizing attitude.

!!! Language and power

People who speak the standard variety of British English will be thought to be more educated and more capable
than others.
This may give them access to better employment, institutions with power or even a better education.
This is because of the attitudes that people have about language.

While the speakers gain from being able to speak the standard language, and so have a degree of power , it’s not
the case that they – as individuals- are controlling others. Rather, having competence in a prestigious language in
itself beneficial.s

People speaking for example Afro-American English have to use the standard variety in order to be accepted 🡪 they
have to change their identity.

It is possible to insult, persuade, command, compliment, encourage or make a promise using language . While
these can be seen as individual acts, when repeated over time, the culmination of such linguistic acts might change
the way a person sees an issue

39
People are constantly attacked whenever they make mistakes 🡪 linguistic acts (or speech acts) have the power to
change the way people see an issue.

Power of language 🡪 power of persuasion, even when the illocution (original intention of the speaker) was not to
persuade but just to express an opinion 🡪 strong relation between language and our mind🡪 they are mutually
influenced 🡪 if we listen to the same story over and over again we will end up thinking it is true.

Political language and debate about immigration 🡪 through language politicians convince us to vote for them . The
more we listen the more we get convinced 🡪 in this case the illocution (intention) is definitely specifically persuasive.
Thus, while language is important in the exercise of power at particular moments, we also need to understand that
language can have an influence across long stretches of time. -> lingua come strumento di potere che può
produrre risultati nel lungo arco di tempo

I can be commanded to do something now, but I can also be influenced to think and behave in a certain way pretty
much all the time 🡪 once an idea enter in your brain through language, it stays there.

Ideologies and worldview

🡪 LANGUAGE CONSTRUCTS IDEOLOGIES, very complex phenomena -> ideologia è un fenomeno complesso da
spiegare, connesso al linguaggio, e formato da diverse componenti: si basa sulle scelte che vengono fatte con la
lingua -> è quindi il veicolo di rappresentazione del mondo -> a worldview

We can see the lack if linguistic skills as a form of ideology.

Like language, an ideology has a structure, made up of several components
This structure can be mapped and understood by paying attention to the way the choices are made in language.

That is, language created and represents ideological concerns.

🡪 language is the vehicle for representation, especially of the world

We can think about ideology as a way of structuring the manner in which language is used to communicate a more
general message involving values and beliefs; in short, a worldview.
🡪 Through specific lexical choices we create a specific worldview

Worldview of Nazi grammar 🡪 very strong, excessive, arrogant, worldview linked to ignorance.

There are ideas we take for granted, values that we hold and ideas that we believe in that seem perfectly natural.
It is this common sense, this seemingly natural and normal way of thinking and acting that we can talk about in
terms of the dominant ideology or hegemonic ideology. -> ideology is a way of talking about a whole set of ways
of thinking and acting
🡪 Can we, through language, understand that, in the dominant ideology, something might be wrong or at least
reconsidered?

What does normal mean? 🡪 something that follows the norm (created by human beings) 🡪 norm, originally,
etymologically, meant a square (tool used to create perfect angles). If you deviate from the norm, you are not
following the dominant culture or ideology
🡪 To be square minded

Heterosexual🡪 also called straight.

If there is a square, there is a norm, and people who are out of the square (the out-group) don't follow the norm and
so they are not part of the hegemonic culture (the in-group)

Linguistics diversity: the first part of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

Because of the arbitrary relationship between signifier and signified, and because signs take their meaning form
their relationship to other signs, there is no single way for languages to describe reality.
40
- The word can be described in any number of ways and languages differ in terms of the signs that comprise them.
Sapir was an anthropological linguist and as such, encountered the different ways languages represent the world.
🡪 Conventional nature of language 🡪 arbitrary relationship between signifier and signified.

🡪 We can think of all the English expressions related to alcohol (hangover, the hair of the dog) 🡪 culture-bound
expressions

!!! Linguistic relativism and determinism. The second part of the Sapir-Whorf

The hypothesis of language relativism is that our language has a bearing on the way we think, that is, that the
terms of our language have some kind of effect on the categories of thoughts available to us.

The strong version of the hypothesis, linguistic determinism, is often called "the prison house view of language"
(because you are deeply influenced by language); that is the limits of language are limits of the world.

� If you don’t have a word for it, you cannot see the concept
� Think of the different words Inuit have to describe snow 🡪 we only have one 🡪 we don’t even visualize those
differences in the same ways as Inuit people do 🡪 they have the words to describe that particular reality in their
mind.

Impossibility of language of fully describe an experience 🡪 language is limited 🡪 there are some emotions and feeling
that cannot be expressed.

Linguistic determinism

The influence of language in gender 🡪 Hungarian 🡪

genderless language.
There is no gender 🡪 you understand the gender
from the context.
Google makes assumptions.

What is the assumption? 🡪 stereotypical images

related to masculinity and femininity.

How does a Hungarian person see the word of

masculinity or femininity?
🡪 They may have a higher level of inclusivity.
🡪 When Hungarian people read or hear this third
person pronoun they just think about a general third
person, they don't focus on his/her gender 🡪 they
are used to this worldview.
In Hungarian culture non-binary people have less trouble defining themselves 🡪 strong relationship between
language and thoughts.

The idea that language influences the way we behave is most obvious in the case of
common metaphors in different cultures 🡪 conceptual/cognitive metaphors (or
extended metaphors)
They are not traditional metaphors (e.g. you are my sunshine) 🡪 we conceptualize a concept by means of another
concept.
Lakoff and Johnson ("Metaphors we live by", 1980) argue that our thought processes are structured along
metaphorical lines: i.e. when we describe a verbal argument we are likely to use words such as "attack" "defend"
41
"won" "lost" and so on.

🡪 Argument is war: we use the language of war to describe arguments. They argue that this metaphor (ARGUMENT
IS WAR) actually structures how we think about arguments. -> the words we use are thus evidence of the way we
think

Argument is war: This metaphor is reflected in our everyday language by a wide

variety of expressions:

Your claims are indefensible.

He attacked every weak point in my argument.
He shot down all of my arguments.
If you use that strategy, he will wipe you out.
I have never won an argument with him.
His Criticisms were right on target.

• The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.

It is not that arguments are a subspecies of war. Arguments and wars are different kinds of things 🡪
(verbal discourse and armed conflict) and the actions performed are different kinds of actions.

But ARGUMENT is partially structured, understood, performed, and talked about in terms of WAR.

The concept is metaphorically structured, the activity is metaphorically structured, and, consequently, the
language is metaphorically structured.

Argue (presuppone una controargomentazione) vs counterargue vs outargue

(finire una discussion vincendola) (people don’t normally want to
counterargue 🡪 argue someone out 🡪 people want to defeat the other person,
they don't want to find a compromise)

This deeply influence the way we approach the concept of arguing/having a

debate 🡪 the conceptualization of argument as war here is evident thanks to
the lexical choice of the verb “defeat” 🡪 this set of words and expressions that
we use when we refer to arguments has made people believe that when we
argue, the ultimate goal is not the counterargument in order to construct a
positive discussion or find a compromise. We want to win.

During the corona virus pandemic the public narrative was cognitively structured in this metaphor🡪 doctors and
nurses were compared to soldiers 🡪 images related to the field of heroic war.

LESSON 17

Time is money -> idiomatic expression che si trova nelle società capitalistiche
dell’occidente
In many languages in the western world we conceptualize time in terms of money
You are wasting my time

There are cultural differences in the way we perceive time.

42
This gadget will save you hours/ That flat tire cost me an hour

How to you spend your time these days? (In Hungarian you don't say "to spend time" but to "FILL time" che
significa riempire)

I have invested a lot of time in her

You need to budget your time

Is that worth your while?

I don't have enough time to spare for that

You don't use your time profitably

🡪 this concept has a lot to do with our capitalist society

Make your hours full 🡪 How can this influence people's relationship with time? 🡪 they can feel less anxiety about
time 🡪 they should do something out of it.

● In the western world we fear "the sense of an ending" 🡪 time is something that should not be wasted 🡪
One of the possible consequences of this Hungarian🡪 time is something that should pass otherwise we get bored🡪 if
you fear time
Language does influence the way we perceive births, aging deaths…

Happy is up, sad is down

I am felling up. That boosted my spirit. My spirit rose. You are in high spirits.
Thinking about her always gives me a lift.

I am feeling down. I am depressed. He is really low these days. I fell into a depression. My spirits sank.

Physical basis🡪 Drooping Posture typically goes along with sadness and depression, erect posture with a positive
emotional state.

There are some Australian aboriginal languages that don’t follow this pattern 🡪 they physically conceptualize
negative emotions and states of mind with going sideways🡪 then they are sad they move sideways.

1) Every language choice, whether consciously or not, demonstrates an ideology.

2) We all have habitual ways of thinking about the world and this is reflected in the habitual choices we make in
language.
Because it is habitual, we don't think about the values expressed by the choices.
Our language is ready-made for us.
If you think about language, then we can understand the value that we may communicate, and the possible
perlocution

Case study 🡪 When the boy used the adjective “regular”, he didn’t mean to offend her 🡪 but the effect of his words
was negative (perlocution), because she felt irregular, just because of her feature.
If the boy had used language more carefully, he would have known that he was expressing a value that was harmful
or offensive for the girl.
43
3) To be able to think about these issues of representation we need tools such as cognitive metaphorization or
transitivity analysis to describe these choices.

How a concept is narrated in the text. What are the images, the terminology that are used?

We constantly use this metaphorization process that then creates standard and hegemonic narratives 🡪 there are
many ways with which we conceptualize women 🡪 the most common conceptualization of women is “woman as an
object” 🡪 we use words that connect the image of a woman to an object.

4) Linguistic Choices are very often ideological: they rely on certain assumptions about what is correct or standard
(or hegemonic). They way that correctness is defined is itself an ideological act as well as a way of exerting power.

When we objectify a woman by saying that she is a “cookie” or “bocconcino” or we conceptualize a woman as a
prey, we are conceptualizing the woman as an object

• Cognitive metaphor 🡪

Arguments is war
Time is money
🡪 we use other domains to talk about something that is not apparently related

Transitivity Analysis is concerned with who does what to whom/what

Transitive verb: it is a verb that has an object 🡪 eat

Non transitive verbs are verbs that stand alone 🡪 walk

Who does what to whom? 🡪 linguistic choices and the way we position the words.

The syntagmatic axis describes the order in which words are placed. Orizzontale

The paradigmatic axis is used to refer to all the other words that could have been chosen verticale

These sentences semantically describe the same

action🡪

The action is eating

The agent of the action is a dog
And the object of the action is dog food
The first 2 (A and B) have this pattern
In A the speaker calls the dog by his name
In B the speaker used the possessive adjective "my"
(different illocution)

CD
Passive form
C 🡪If you scoff you eat in a specific way
There are other pieces of information (greedy)

We welcome children (Tate Gallery) 🡪 We care, other people don't.

Children are welcome in the museum (Saatchi Gallery) 🡪 Children become central, they are the protagonist of the
sentence, the focus.

44
Linguistic choices are revealing of the attitudes of the 2 museums 🡪 the concept is the same

When it comes to sensitive issues we can really understand the power of language 🡪 we can persuade people into
believing in something.

Agent deletion
In number 2 the agent has been deleted, maybe because they wanted to focus on the children

1) Woman was raped in Brixton (The Observer 2017)

South of London🡪 it is inhabited by many black people, especially Jamaican.
We don't know by whom

The author could have added the agent:

2) Woman was raped in Brixton by a teen
Had the journalist decided to add the agent the reader would have understood that in Brixton there are dangerous
teenagers.

3) Woman raped in Brixton by a black teen (The Sun 2017)

What is the difference in the possible perlocution of sentences 1 and 3?

The title is very persuasive.

The title can reinforce the stereotypes that people already have.

People can focus on the fact that this person is black 🡪 by reinforcing the stereotype, we reinforce the prejudice
which then may lead to the reinforcement of discrimination against black people 🡪 2 different political orientation
(one is more conservative than the other)

Deletion of responsibility or implied accusation and stereotyping

Technique used especially during trials

● Italian are not allowed to run in the park

● The Italian Prime Minister does not allow runners in the park 🡪 the agent here is present 🡪 this can generate anger
in the reader.

45
This book is a collection of titles by Jane Gilmore 🡪 she collected different titles that were sexist, on the basis of the
syntagmatic order that were highly sexist 🡪 she fixed the title 🡪 these titles could maintain and reinforce stereotypes
and also make some men get away with their action.

Gilmore wants to sensitize people to this phenomenon 🡪 journalists can manipulate the way we see facts

There is no agent

The journalists always put the blame on the woman

LESSON 18

The author choose to use the verb swamp 🡪 it is not just normal water, indeed the water in the wetland is dirty, full
of bacteria and diseases🡪 these meanings are in the mind of a native speaker🡪 from a cognitive point of view some
specific ideas are stimulated.

Britain is being swamped (present continuous) 🡪 it is an ongoing process

Title 🡪 cognitive metaphor

1) First cognitive metaphor 🡪 Immigrants are associated to an army (invaded + army) 🡪 the connotation (the
pragmatic meaning) aims to express anything that is related to an army, to an invasion and as a consequence to fear

2) Second cognitive metaphor 🡪 Immigrants as a flood 🡪 where are the words that are referring to this flood?

46
 ▪ Swamped 🡪 wetland full of bacteria, it is muddy, dangerous, unpleasant, smelly

▪ The word “tide” also contributes to the metaphor of flood

▪ Overwhelmed belongs to the same semantic field

🡪 Idea of being exposed to a catastrophe. There are no solutions.

3) Third cognitive metaphor 🡪 analogy between immigrants and illegality 🡪 all the immigrants are illegal 🡪 there are
no legal immigrants 🡪 an immigrant can’t be legal

Use of the passive form 🡪 what is the possible perlocution?

Who is the subject of the verb? 🡪 Britain that is presented as a victim, it is hopeless, unable to react 🡪 the readers
tend to pick the side of Britain.

“The officers are overwhelmed with work”.

The national identity is still the main topic, it is something to protect and that is threatened

▪ Word order is important

The narrative is suggesting that all the immigrants are illegal.

By using the expressions “work for a pittance” “desperate for a job” “slaving behind bars” the author shows
sympathy towards immigrants

By using the possessive adjective “OUR restaurants” the author implies that immigrants are stealing jobs from locals
🡪 “our” reinforces the reference to Britain🡪 “OUR” conveys a sense of belonging

By using certain words the author suggests that their national identity should be protected

Illegal written between inverted commas 🡪 in this case it is a quotation. Maybe the author is quoting some official
reports

2191 “illegals” 🡪 very precise number 🡪 VS tens of thousands more 🡪 very imprecise number 🡪 these figures are
threatening 🡪much higher than the actual datum (2191) 🡪 the aim is to increase the fear in the reader 🡪impossibility
to react.

Use of “desperate” and “slaving” 🡪 apparent sympathy

“Sneak in” 🡪the author could have used the word enter 🡪 “sneak in” 🡪 it is an action seen as deceptive

Agent deletion 🡪 Who do they work for? Who are their employers? 🡪 the Brits 🡪 immigrants are often paid off the
books 🡪 English people are guilty of this 🡪 the author does not denounce the people who employ them and treat
them as slaves

Opposite to biased/ prejudiced communication there is:

“Political correctness:”

For some, it seems reasonable to think that language can be used in a way that doesn’t discriminate or demean.

This position is often referred to as “political correctness” 🡪 e.g. “slaving behind bars” “work for a pittance”

▪ Politically correct words are used when we don’t want to sound xenophobic, sexist, or homophobic 🡪 when we
want to manage our face 🡪 face management

The following are some examples of politically correct language:

What social meanings are being created by the new terms?

47
- Colored person🡪 nigger, Afro-American, black person🡪 both the illocution and the perlocution change

- Senior Citizen 🡪 over 50, old person

- Differently abled🡪 disabled was considered offensive

- Vertically challenged 🡪 dwarf

- Ethnic minorities

- Hearing impaired 🡪 deaf

🡪Euphemisms

Words used in order to make some concepts more acceptable (they have the same semantic meaning)

LESSON 19

In the article the author wanted to sound politically correct, more tolerant 🡪 “slaving” “desperate” 🡪these
expressions apparently reveal sympathy

Saying nigger, dwarf, is not acceptable 🡪 there are many example of exaggerated euphemisms 🡪 used to hide the
truth 🡪 “operatore ecologico” 🡪 for reasons of face management we think “spazzino” is not acceptable 🡪 this fuels
and reinforces stereotypes

Language and politics

In linguistics when we talk about language and politics we don’t only refer to proper political language 🡪 i.e. the
language spoken or written by politicians 🡪 in linguistics when we talk about language and politics we talk about all
languages or linguistic choices meant to persuade, to convince the other.

Politics is everywhere 🡪 the boy and the girl in the video “avoid stereotypes” did some political action. They both
tried to persuade the other person into believing that their worldview was correct🡪 that was an example of indirect
political communication.

▪ Language and politics is related to the language of politicians but it can be applied to all text types (written text,
cinema, advertisement)

Persuasion, convincing people 🡪 our mind is full of ideologies.

“Politics is everywhere” 🡪 quote by Thomas Mann

“Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell (1946) 🡪 use of euphemistic
language as a politically correct strategy that he was suggesting back in 1946 🡪
without being a linguist he has contributed enormously to the knowledge that we all
have in linguistics 🡪 he pointed out some real political language, that are also used in
daily life 🡪 after the 2WW 🡪 he was referring to a specific historical context 🡪 the
concepts that George Orwell argued and analyzed can be considered as timeless.

Orwell believed that the language used was necessarily vague or meaningless
because it was intended to hide the truth rather than to express it. This unclear
prose was a “contagion” which has spread to those who did not intend to hide the
truth, and it concealed a writer´s thoughts from himself and others.

Orwell encourages concreteness and clarity instead of vagueness, and individuality

over political conformity 🡪 the article we read was not clear 🡪 vague numbers = tens
of thousands immigrants. Who is employing them?

48
“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought” (George Orwell) 🡪 relation between language
and thoughts

In the book “1984” the party creates a new language🡪 it was meant to be as simple as possible 🡪 everything was
reduced to a minimum 🡪 only denotative meanings and no ambiguities 🡪 the aim was to make the people´s thoughts
very basic so that they couldn’t understand what was going on around them.

“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of
solidity to pure wind” – George Orwell

🡪 if we use language in a specific way, we can do and achieve anything.

Language can be a weapon for peace or for war.

Orwell presented one of these strategies 🡪 the use of euphemism 🡪 strongly connected to politically correct
language.

Euphemism: an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that may be found offensive or suggest
something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse; while others use bland, inoffensive terms for
things the user wishes to mitigate. Euphemisms are used to refer to taboo topics (such as disability, sex, excretion
and death) in a polite way, or to mask profanity 🡪 to mask something that is considered vulgar or unacceptable.

For some people saying “differently abled” only stresses the difference 🡪 they are different from the hegemonic
appearance 🡪 having a disability is not considered the norm 🡪 people tend to treat them with extra kindness 🡪 some
people prefer to be called “handicapped” because it is more direct, clear🡪 there are so many architectural barriers
that make them different and less able to do what other people do 🡪 the society makes them unable to do what “the
norm” does.

Sex is often unspeakable

Menstruation🡪 it was something that could never be expressed 🡪 it often makes the audience uncomfortable

This can create a sense of uneasiness 🡪 some years ago advertisement presented menstrual blood as blue 🡪
euphemistic image

It is a social construct 🡪 who decides that menstruation is a taboo? 🡪 in some societies menstruations are seen as a
gift, as a symbol of fertility.

Death is a taboo because it scares us. There are many ways to talk about death 🡪 it is the end of a process 🡪 some
cultures are free to talk about death 🡪 it represents a beginning 🡪 Native Americans, especially Navajo 🡪 they have
another perspective 🡪 the taboo is what has been constructed, it is not natural, but instead, it is created by
societies.

We can create taboos about gay marriage, domestic violence 🡪 many women feel guilty about it because the
narratives suggested by the media tend to present this pattern.

Dysphemism is an expression with connotations that are offensive either about the subject matter or the
audience, or both.

Orthophemism (Greek “ortho”- “proper, straight, normal”) refers to neutral expressions.

Example:

Orthophemism 🡪 faces / vagina/ penis / homosexual (gay?)

Euphemism 🡪 poop, poo/ fanny/ willy/ fancy, nancy boy (?) 🡪 we often use baby talk to create euphemistic
expressions.

Dysphemism🡪 shit / cunt/ dick, cock/ faggot, nancy boy (?)

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(?) 🡪 question marks to show that these words depend on the context 🡪 the word “gay” can be used as a neutral
word to describe someone´s sexuality but it can also be used in a negative way 🡪 we negotiate social meanings in
different ways 🡪 a word, that is originally neutral can become offensive (or vice versa), 🡪 the language is able to
reveal how different societies deal with otherness, homosexuality, gender…

▪ From this perspective historical linguistics is paramount:

Faggot🡪 word used in “Ulysses” by James Joyce 🡪 the female protagonist of the novel refers to another woman as
“the old faggot” in the Twenties, faggot had no references to homosexuality 🡪 it meant an old, useless woman 🡪 it
was an offensive word for women 🡪 it is now used to refer to gay people.

There is a huge difference between female and male homosexuality 🡪 in Italian and English there are so many
dysphemistic, euphemistic, orthophemistic words to express male homosexuality. As to lesbians, we have the
orthophemistic word lesbian, in English we have the word dyke (dysphemism) 🡪 it is offensive 🡪 we can also use the
word “butcher”. In Italian we can use the word “camionista” 🡪 but there isn’t a long list of dysphemistic expressions
for lesbians as there is for homosexual men 🡪 what does this reveal of our society? 🡪 being gay is seen as an attack to
the idea of masculinity built throughout the history 🡪 this threaten our patriarchal culture

Pornography 🡪 there are many lesbian oriented films meant for a heterosexual male audience 🡪 2
women having sex can be considered as exiting, but the same does not apply for 2 men.

Male stereotypes are more entrenched than the female one and so a gay man is seen as worse than a gay woman,
so he is more "deserving" to be insulted and therefore the language is more prolific.

Straight🡪 you don’t deviate 🡪 the opposite of gay

Dysphemism as oppressive language

The principal Gianluca Dradi : "Ciò che offende non è la falsa

attribuzione di una condizione, ma il fatto che uno studente del
mio Liceo l'abbia pensata come a un'offesa. Non la farò
cancellare: resti lì come una ‘pietra di inciampo' per
l'intelligenza umana".

“Mi piacerebbe però che fra qualche tempo l’autore,

ripassando davanti a quel muro, possa ravvedersi e vergognarsi
di aver pensato che quell’epiteto fosse un’offesa. Il bullismo
omofobo e non solo è una vera piaga che colpisce soprattutto
gli adolescenti che vivono periodi di fragilità."

Dysphemism is sometimes motivated by fear and

distaste, but also by hatred and contempt.
Speakers resort to dysphemism to talk about
people and things that frustrate and annoy them
that they disapprove of and wish to disparage,
humiliate and degrade. Dysphemistic
expressions include curses, name-calling, and
any sort of derogatory comment directed
towards others in order to insult or to wound
them 🡪 frocio is hardly ever an orthophemistic or
euphemistic expression 🡪 it is meant to insult
someone.
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Some gay people use the words “finocchio, frocio, faggot” among themselves 🡪 because they know from the context
(pragmatically) that these words are not meant to offend the other person.

LESSON 20

When we use language specifically for persuasive reasons (for example in politics) we take into account the possible
reaction (perlocution) of our audience beforehand 🡪 (avoid stereotypes, the boy was not aware that he was
offending the girl) 🡪 anticipation of the possible perlocution 🡪 this requires linguistic knowledge

Sometimes even a euphemistic expression can be perceived as offensive 🡪 when we use euphemisms in order to
avoid certain topics, we make that specific concept a taboo.

Typical examples of euphemistic expressions used to replace orthophemistic (neutral)

expressions

Torture 🡪 over the last decades it has

been used in political discourses and in
news discourses too 🡪 it has been
replaced with the expression
“enhanced interrogation”🡪 the
semantic meaning is the same but the
pragmatic meaning changes drastically
🡪 the word torture is perceived ad too
strong, something that goes against
human rights, that is shocking.

▪ The aim is to reduce the impact or

power of unacceptable events.

As George Orwell wrote in “Politics

and the English Language” (1946)
those euphemistic expressions do not
call up mental images of the event🡪
what is the pragmatic effect, the perlocution? 🡪 we don’t visualize the image (in this case torture) 🡪 we don’t realize
the seriousness of the event we are witnessing.

• The aim is to reduce the impact of the image🡪 it is a strategy to justify some unfair, dangerous events.

Pregnant 🡪 in many western cultures is often substitutes with a long list of other expressions (bun in the oven🡪 the
womb is compared to an oven)🡪 pregnancy is often considered as something unspeakable🡪 it is related to the sexual
sphere. Society has made pregnancy a taboo🡪 it is supposed to be something to hide.

Sex 🡪it is something that we tend to conceal, it is often considered a private issue.

Illocution 🡪 what does a journalist want to convey when he/she decides not to use the word “torture”? 🡪 for
example he/she may want to justify Americans, who have been torturing their enemies or prisoners 🡪 it is a silencing
strategy 🡪 it is said in a softer way🡪 it is a way of altering the truth, so that people are willing to accept it.

Poor🡪 when a politician/journalist decides not to use the word “poor” to describe for example an area of a city but
the word is replaced with “underprivileged” 🡪 e.g. “all the population of Packham is made of poor people” or instead
“most of the population in Packham is underprivileged” 🡪 what is the difference in the perlocution? What is the
difference between these 2 sentences? 🡪 2 different images 🡪 underprivileged= with respect to someone else, it is

51
vague 🡪 the word poor has no ambiguity 🡪 it is more specific🡪 if a journalist doesn’t want to directly attack the
government for not having taken care of those people, he/she could use the word “underprivileged”.

“War on terror” became a pervasive euphemism for the war on militant Islam

A metaphor of war referring to the international military campaign that was launched by the U.S. government after
the September 11 attacks in the U.S. in 2001, U.S. president George W. Bush first used the term “war on terrorism”
on 16 September 2001, and then “war on terror” a few days later in a formal speech to Congress

🡪 The war was not narrated as if it were against Iraq or the Middle East, but as it were against “terror”

The term was originally used with a particular focus on countries associated with Al-Qaeda. The term was
immediately criticized by such people as Richard. B. Myers.

WHY? 🡪 The expression “war on terror” conceals the actual event

U.S. president Barack Obama and his administration on a number of occasions expressly rejected the term War on
Terror, as being inaccurate and misleading.

“Terror” is a feeling, an emotion, it does not define the enemy explicitly; it refers to enemy activity on the emotional
level, singling out violence as its core sense. The invasion of Iraq was called “a liberation” “a broad and concerted
campaign”. The war was also defined as “tearing down the apparatus of terror” “confronting dictators” and
“regime change” (to justify the invasion for a humanitarian reason)

9/11🡪 euphemistic expression the attack on the Twin Tower (unspeakable event)

This narrative increases the hate towards all Islamic countries and cultures

If the narrative says that the American army fights against terror, people will accept it, because no one likes terror
🡪 war on Iraq

Language used to justify something that was unjustifiable

The war on terror has brought a number of euphemisms in political narratives intended to justify illegal treatment of
American citizens or detainees from other nations.

- “unlawful combatants”= prisoners of war

- “enemy combatants”= “criminals”

- “prison abuse”= coined after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in 2004 in order to avoid the word “torture”, which
clearly characterized what some American soldiers did in one of the prisons of Saddam´s former regime

“Abuse is a misdemeanor or mistreatment, while “torture” denotes a violent crime which involves an infliction of
severe physical pain as means of punishment or coercion.

🡪 The word “abuse” is vague, imprecise, “torture” is more specific, it conveys a specific image, it denotes a violent
crime 🡪 we can manipulate an event by using specific lexical choices (that in these case are euphemistic)

Dysphemism

“I´d bomb the SHIT out of ISIS” (Trump´s speech, describing his foreign policy) 🡪 it is a vulgar expression 🡪 creative
language (“beat” is replaced with “bomb”) used to be persuasive 🡪 it is a strong expression.

🡪 at some point politicians started to use dysphemistic expressions.

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▪ It is used to emphasize the degree of an action that you are describing:

- His dad would beat/knock/kick the shit out of him if he disobeyed.

- You scared the shit out of me.

🡪 For reasons of face management we tend to translate the expression “fuck it up” with “mandare in malora” (but
the pragmatic meaning is not the same)

🡪 “Fucking” is a vulgar intensifier

🡪 Many people prefer this type of language because they find it direct, clear and transparent. It seems less
hypocritical than politically correct language.

Persuasive discourse strategies

TO PERSUADE (very distant from the concept of rapport)

Verb (used with object)

1. To prevail on (a person) to do something, as by advising or urging: We could not persuade him to wait

2. To induce, to believe by appealing to reason or understanding; convince: to persuade the judge of the prisoner´s
innocence.

Etymology

▪ Persuade (v.)

1510s, from Middle French persuader (14c.), from Latin persuadere “to bring over by talking”

53
▪ Persuasion (n.)

Late 14c, “action of inducing (someone) to believe (something); argument to persuade, inducement” from Old
French persuasion (14c.) and directly from Latin persuasionem (nominative persuasio) “a convincing, persuading”,
noun of action from past participle stem of persuadere “persuade, convince” from per “thoroughly strongly” (see
per) + suadere “to urge, persuade” from PIE *swad- “sweet, pleasant”

- In order to persuade, to convince we need to make our argument sweet, pleasant 🡪 we need to please the
audience 🡪 we need to bear in mind this illocution of pleasing the audience 🡪 we need to anticipate their needs (their
perlocution)

Advertisements and politics are the most persuasive discourses 🡪 their aim is to persuade the audience.

▪ Convince (v.)

1520s, “to overcome in argument” from Latin convincere “to overcome decisively” from com-, intensive prefix (see
com-) + vincere “to conquer”. Meaning “to firmly persuade” is from c.1600. Related: convinced, convincing,
convincingly.

Persuasive strategies

The common goal in persuasive texts is to influence the reader´s/audience´s view on certain subject- whether that
means changing their opinion completely or simply strengthening an already existing view.

In order to best accomplish this, speakers/writers use a variety of arguments and strategies, most of which can be
summed up into three main rhetorical appeals: ethos, logos and pathos. When used effectively, these 3 appeals
can be powerful tool for achieving the persuasive goal.

🡪 These 3 appeals come from the work of Aristotle

Persuasive discourse 🡪 all the text types that are meant to a specific perlocution (that is to convince)

Persuasive discourse can be used for both ethical and unethical purposes.

▪ There are many ways to persuade a person, but we can summarize them 🡪 3 main rhetorical appeals are deriving
from the work by Aristotle: ethos, pathos and logos

LESSON 21

▪ Ethos or the ethical appeal, means to convince an audience of the author’s credibility
or character.

An author would use ethos to show to his audience that he/she is a credible source and is worth listening to.

Ethos is the Greek word for “character”. The word “ethic” is derived from ethos.

Ethos can be developed by choosing language that is appropriate for the audience and for the
topic (also means choosing proper level of vocabulary), making yourself sound fair or unbiased,
introducing your expertise (e.g. your studies), and by using correct grammar and syntax (BUT you
can also sound credible by using a grammar that is not correct)

🡪 You have to sound unbiased, credible

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1) Ethos (Ethical Appeal):

“Persuading the audience by using the character/credibility of the speaker/writer”.

Ethos is related to the persona or reputation associated with the speaker/writer. This persona is constructed based
on the credentials and reliability of the author. For instance, in a speech ethos is what signifies to the audience that
the speaker knows what they’re talking about 🡪 you need to sound trustworthy and credible.

▪ Pathos or emotional appeal, means to persuade an audience by appealing to their

emotions.

Authors use pathos to invoke sympathy from an audience; to make the audience feel what the author wants them
to feel.

A common use of pathos would be to draw pity from an audience. Another use of pathos would be to inspire anger
from an audience; perhaps in order to prompt action. Pathos is the Greek word for both “suffering” and
“experience”. The words empathy and pathetic are derived from pathos.

🡪 fear, anger, love, affection, disgust 🡪 all human emotions.

Pathos can be developed by using meaningful language, emotional tone, emotion

evoking examples, stories of emotional events, and implied meanings.

❖ Ethos, pathos and logos can be achieved by using so many other persuasive strategies, such as: metaphors,
alliterations, tone of voice, contrasts.

Pathos (Emotional appeal): “Persuading the audience by appealing to their emotions”

1) Some of the more obvious examples include speeches or texts which use visual aids such as images or videos and
thus require a MULTIMODAL ANALYSIS. In these situations, it is common for such visuals to depict scenes that are
meant to invoke a strong emotional response in viewers.

2) The same response could be achieved through storytelling, i.e. a story that appeals to the emotions of the
audience.

3) Attempting to connect with the audience on a personal level (EGO-TARGETING) = Speakers/ writers often use
this strategy in situations where there is an obvious divide between speaker and audience (age, ethnicity, financial
status). This strategy can create connection between the two sides in which the audience feels that their beliefs
and values are being considered and therefore becomes emotionally involved 🡪 the aim is to make people feel
important by flattering them🡪 they feel emotionally involved because they think they are important 🡪 the audience
feels empowered on many levels 🡪 (the ego of the audience)

▪ Logos or the appeal to logic, means to convince an audience by use of logic or

reason.

Logos is the Greek word for “word”, however the true definition goes beyond that, and can be most closely

described as “the word or that by which the inward thought is expressed, Lat. oratio (it contains the word ratio); and,

the inward thought itself, Lat. Ratio. (1) the word “logic” is derived from logos.

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 Logos can be developed by using advanced, theoretical or abstract language, citing

facts, using historical and literal analogies, and by constructing logical arguments.

🡪 The word logos is by itself incredibly revealing, because it means logic, but also

language 🡪 we articulate logical thoughts by means of language and vice versa.

Logos (Logical Appeal): “Persuading the audience by using reason to justify the speaker’s argument”

Logos is the logical appeal based largely on facts or logic and attempts to appeal to a person’s ability to reason.

Here are 3 easy ways of using the logical appeal, logos, effectively:

1) To provide a foundation for your argument (e.g. by saying that you are an expert on that topic)

2) This strategy uses a fact or event that can be compared to the current subject to prove its logic. This strategy

follows an “if”/”then” logic- “if” this is true “then” would this not also be true? 🡪 E.g. if you welcome an army of

immigrants, then they will steal our jobs 🡪 cause and effect

It can be explicit (in the article we read about Britain, all the text was logical🡪 everything was meant to suggest that

if we accept immigrants then the consequences will be dangerous) or implicit.

3) Logos gives the audience a tangible comparison and is especially useful because it is extremely difficult to argue

with sound logic 🡪 if I use sound logic to win an argument, then my opponent is cornered.

Donald Trump

If/then logic 🡪 sound logic

(On Iraq) “We build a school, we build a road. They blow up the road. They blow up the school. We build another

school, we build another road, they blow them up. We build again, in the meantime, we can’t get a fucking school

built in Brooklyn.” 🡪 here the if / then logic is implicit. He uses short sentences that are logically constructed 🡪 this

speech was meant to convince people of the danger of terrorism.

▪ One element of pathos 🡪 the use of fucking is a pathos-charged element 🡪 by using fucking you express a very

negative emotion 🡪 within the implicit logical structure, there are some emotion-related elements that are pathos-

56
charged. In addition, the repetition of “we build.. they blow up” is a strategy to attach the ethos of the other (the

others are bad, US VS OTHERS)

- Another pathos element 🡪 he talks about schools, because they are related to children 🡪 elements that are

fundamental for the community 🡪 he doesn’t mention children but he mentions that they blow up schools 🡪 people

can visualize children dying.

🡪 the 3 elements can be together, sometimes we have pathos, ethos and logos in one single word

INTERTWINED APPEALS

For example, a cosmetics advertisement might use all three. They point out the science behind the efficacy of the
cosmetic (logos), employ a celebrity to deliver the message (ethos: a trustworthy speaker) and the advertisement
appeals to the desire to look better (pathos).

🡪 Advertisements can make people fear ageing

▪ Which of the following statements is an example of pathos, ethos and logos?

A) As a medical doctor with twenty years of practice, I´ve seen the effects of smoking firsthand 🡪 the first one is
more ethos-oriented. It presents the doctor’s experience.

B) If you don’t quit smoking today, everyone you know and love will die because of your habit 🡪 this one is more
pathos-oriented. It underlines the emotion of love and the fear of death

C) Research has linked smoking with a higher prevalence of certain types of cancer, including lung cancer and
leukemia 🡪 this one is more logos-oriented 🡪 it talks about researches 🡪 it is more formal.

Logos, pathos and ethos can overlap.

Example 1: Democratic Presidential Candidate Acceptance Speech by Barack Obama. August 28 th, 2008.

“I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will
rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran
from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of
the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease. And I will
restore our moral standing so that America is once more the last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of
freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.”

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ETHOS ELEMENTS:

▪ I will 🡪 used repeatedly 🡪 he is showing that he is there personally.

▪ I will build 🡪 semantic field (that can also be seen as an extended metaphor) given by the repetition of similar
words: build, renew, restore, I will build new 🡪 he will do it personally.

WILL🡪 immediate future 🡪 there is always the prefix RE or the adjective NEW 🡪 the idea of reconstructing 🡪 America
needs to be reconstructed because America has been destructed.

▪ Responsibly 🡪 this is ethical

▪ Moral standing 🡪 a reference to ethos. Ethics and moral are very similar concepts, although very different.

▪ Ethos is also given by the topics that he points out, that are at the same time pathos-charged🡪 nuclear weapons,
Russian aggression, terrorism and nuclear proliferation, poverty and genocide, climate change and disease 🡪 these
topics are pathos charged, but at the same time, pathos overlaps with ethos because Obama says that he will defeat
them.

▪ Obama doesn’t say the war but THIS war, to underline that it is ongoing

▪ The frame of the discourse is given by “I will…”

▪ After the three part list we return to ethos: “And I will restore our moral standing”

PATHOS ELEMENTS:

▪ OUR 🡪 pathos-charged element 🡪 ego-targeting 🡪 by using the term “our” many times people in the long run don’t
feel the difference. I am one of you, so we are all together.

OUR is equal to AMERICA. He could have used “American moral standing” or “American military” (same semantic
meaning but a totally different pragmatic meaning) 🡪 idea of belonging

▪ War and fight belong to the same semantic field and are pathos elements

▪ Conflict is a pathos-charged element

▪ The more we move on through the text the more pathos oriented it becomes

▪ After the colon we can find a three-part list 🡪 using a three-part list is one of the typical strategies used in political
discourse, although it is used in many other cases 🡪 you organize a concept (in this case the threats of the 21 st

58
century) with three sub-concepts (that in this case Obama reinforces by using couples) 🡪 Why is this persuasive? It is
a matter of parallelism

- Rhythm of the sentence “last, best hope…”🡪 all the words used are monosyllabic or have 2 syllables 🡪 a rhythmical
effect, a hammering effect.

▪ Topics such as freedom, peace, a better feature is pathos-oriented 🡪 these 3 elements are ranged in a three-part
list. They are reinforced by a climaxing three-part list verbs: called to, long for, yearn for 🡪 a climax of emotion

LOGOS ELEMENTS

▪ (If) I rebuild our military (then) we will meet future conflicts 🡪 it is implicit

▪ I will … so that / I will… to

🡪 the text is inherently logical

All the text is structured following a logical argument, that is not explicit, but all the future will/intentions of
reconstruction will have as a consequence that America IS once again that last, best hope 🡪 why did he use IS instead
of WILL? Why there is a drastic change? 🡪 a different temporal pattern 🡪 present simple VS will 🡪 to emphasize that
America IS great now, we are making America a better place right now 🡪 indirect form of ego-
targeting 🡪 he wants to give an idea of continuity 🡪 IS represents a permanent state, temporal continuity.

- The logical appeal is hidden everywhere

▪ To be once again 🡪 ethical attack against the previous administration 🡪 a subtle way to suggest that before him,
something went wrong (Bush)

▪ All the text is built on this cause-effect pattern.

SUMMARY:

• This text is definitely ethos-oriented (one is the ethos of the speaker i.e. Obama 🡪 the aim of the speech is to show
that Obama is a credible person)

• It is a text written to be spoken

• What makes the text memorable is the obsessive repetition of the pronoun “I”🡪 he is showing his responsibility,
the fact that he himself is eager to change.

• Will 🡪 it is an immediate future, showing certainty

• Ethical issues 🡪 ending the war

• Nothing in this text is a coincidence🡪 the aim is to provoke a reaction

• The emphasis is on “I”

• Massive repetitions of verbs that start with the prefix RE 🡪 a new start

Comment on the persuasive strategies employed by Obama.

"I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will
rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran
from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of
the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease. And I will
restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of
freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future."

The speech by Obama is a highly persuasive text because it especially focuses on the speaker’s credibility in order to
foster “ethos” in the audience. Ethos is one of the main appeals or techniques used in persuasive discourse. It is
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related to the persona or reputation associated with the speaker/writer. This persona must appear as reliable, so
that the audience easily trust him/her. Here, Obama speaks in the first person and communicates a series of
promises to American people, showing that he knows what he is talking about and that he is convinced things will
“surely” change and improve. To achieve this effect, he repeats the verb “I will” many times and this obsessive
repetition attracts the attention of the listeners. In addition, the concept that frames the text and that will stay in the
people’s minds is the idea that Obama will “re-shape” American society and culture. In fact, almost all the verbs he
uses start with the prefix “re” (“rebuild/build new, renew, restore”), in order to indicate the whole process of
renovation and reconstruction he intends to carry out. He also speaks of “responsibility” (“responsibly”) and of the
restoration of the American moral standard, which are other obvious references to ethos. The register he uses,
moreover, is quite formal (although not too formal but understandable and somewhat familiar), so that he sounds
professional and mindful. In addition, Obama also targets the ego of the listeners (or: “In Addition, the text presents
ego-targeting”) through the use of the possessive adjective “our” (for example, “our military”, “our moral
standard”). This engages the audience because it clearly recreates a sense of belonging, suggesting that they are all
part of the same social group, despite any kind of difference (age, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, wealth,
social status). In other words, they are all “united” because they all want to achieve the best for “their” country.
Moreover, the text also appeals to the pathos of the audience since it is able to evoke strong emotions in them.
This happens thanks to the reference to serious problems such as “terrorism, nuclear proliferation; poverty and
genocide; climate change and disease”. The evident three-part list here, that is typical of political speeches, also
reinforces the “logos” of the text, thus demonstrating that ethos, pathos and logos are often inextricable. In this
case, pathos permeates the whole text and the whole argument. At the end, for instance, the lexical choices are very
emotive, with an evaluative superlative (“best”) to describe the feeling of “hope” and with the repetition of the
concept of “wishing” (achieved by the two synonyms “long for” and “yearn for” and inserted in another three-part
list). Similarly, logos indirectly informs the whole structure of the passage: since he “will restore and rebuild”, (then)
America will become the “best hope” for everyone.

To conclude, the very last climaxing sentence can be considered as an evocative and musical sentence (as well as
emphatic, sentimental, emotional). This is very appealing for the audience and it does reflect the original meaning of
the word “persuasion”, which, coming from Indo-European languages through Latin, etymologically means to
convince somebody by using “sweetness”.

LESSON 22

Example 2: I have a dream by Martin Luther King Jr, August 28 th, 1963

“I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come
fresh from narrow jail cells (we can almost visualize them). Some of you have come from areas where your quest—
quest (repeated) for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police
brutality (consequence of the quest)🡪 metaphor🡪 this strategy is often used by MLK🡪 STORM and WIND🡪 2 nature-
inspired images. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned
suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia,
go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation
can and will be changed.”

▪ In rhetoric, an anaphora is a rhetorical device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings of
neighboring clauses, thereby lending them emphasis. In contrast, an epiphora is repeating words at the clauses’
ends 🡪 “some of you” is repeated 3 times.

The text is pathos-oriented

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 - The speech has a strong effect on
the audience, he wants to show
that he understands them.

- MLK wants to show that he

understands his audience.

- MLK seems to continuously talk

to the audience, he is always
engaging the audience.

- Repeated use of present perfect

- The quest for freedom had a

logical consequence 🡪 being left
battered and staggered 🡪 it is
logical and illogical at the same
time because it is against human rights.

- All the words have specific meanings

- Battered means repeatedly beaten 🡪 the image that is called up when we listen to this word is also a cooking
term 🡪 image of something that is constantly turned upside-down and beaten repeatedly. The verb “batter” was
chosen to use a word with a higher pragmatic force. Beaten wouldn’t have created that image of repetition. Who
was the agent of these actions against Afro-American people? 🡪 the storms of persecution (one of the metaphor)🡪
use of a NATURAL IMAGE IN ORDER TO BE PERSUASIVE.

The construction is binary 🡪 battered by STH + metaphor

🡪 Staggered by STH + metaphor 🡪 staggered also means “to be profoundly surprised” 🡪 2 meanings that can be
activated in the minds of the readers.

MLK uses 2 metaphors 🡪 he is associating police brutality with winds and persecution with storms.

🡪 extreme conciseness of the image 🡪 combination of 2 domains: the natural event + the real concept 🡪
straightforward and concise

Metaphors are persuasive because they facilitate visualization.

SOME OF YOU 🡪 ego-targeting 🡪 he is creating pathos 🡪 he is showing that he is mindful of them.

The audience was mainly Afro-American

▪ Veterans 🡪 they have a lot of experience of suffering 🡪 the word veterans is associated to war 🡪 but they haven’t
been in a war, they were staggered, battered, the war was imposed on them, but they have managed to survive the
war that they didn’t want. 🡪 they managed to turn that suffering into something creative.

Why is suffering creative? 🡪 in spite of the violence they were experiencing, they managed to find a solution, to cope
with that situation, and they got something out of it.

- Creativity 🡪 BLUES 🡪 singing as a form of resistance

- Go back is repeated many times 🡪 hammering repetition 🡪 often used as a persuasive strategy (imperative form) 🡪
normally used to give orders 🡪 in persuasive discourse this is a way to avoid the monologue effect. Here the
imperative in never used to give an order 🡪 it is a way to give pieces of advice.

- Suffering is qualified as unearned 🡪 this concept goes back to the concept of slavery 🡪 they worked for free 🡪 they
didn’t earn money.

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 - The situation can and will be changed 🡪 used in the passive form 🡪it gives an idea of a movement that can’t be
stopped 🡪 there is no need to ego-target them any further (i.e. he doesn’t say YOU) 🡪 he decides to use the passive
form instead 🡪 the situation that seemed unchangeable WILL BE changed 🡪 it is implicit that the agent is “YOU”

- Ethos is almost constantly mixed with pathos

- Quest 🡪 pathos + ethos 🡪 also used to make them feel right.

- Every word is triggering emotions.

- Emotion that MLK wanted to provoke in the audience 🡪 PRIDE 🡪 people shouldn’t be ashamed.

ETHOS ELEMENTS

▪ “I am not unmindful” (double negation, verbose) 🡪 precise lexical choice. He could have chosen a more linear form
“e.g. I am aware”🡪 what is the pragmatic meaning? 🡪 by using this expression he reinforces his ethics and he
distances himself from the other people (that have been perpetuating violence against black people)🡪 implicit,
indirect contrast🡪 ethical enhancement🡪 ethical attack on the lack of ethos of “the others”.

▪ Persecution, brutality and unearned suffering are both pathos and ethos oriented 🡪 it is difficult to disentangle
pathos and ethos

▪ Somehow 🡪 it suggests a possibility, not a guarantee 🡪 but then there is CAN and WILL. Why does he use
somehow? 🡪 it is not the kind of vagueness denounced by George Orwell, it is an ethical vagueness

PATHOS ELEMENTS:

▪ He is sharing all the negative emotions that these people have🡪 he has witnessed all these suffering experiences of
segregation and violence.

▪ He is continuously talking to his audience, ego-targeting them, they are engaged in a dialogue although they don’t
talk to him (some of YOU🡪 example of ego-targeting)

LOGOS ELEMENTS:

▪ Great functions as an evaluation

▪ Since I am not unmindful, then, YOU trust ME, then I give you my advice 🡪 continue, go back knowing that
somehow things can change 🡪 logical prediction of a positive future

- Present perfect 🡪 when there are repercussions 🡪 the action can be finished but there are some repercussions on
the present

PERSUASIVE DISCOURSE STRATEGIES / ATTENTION-GRABBING DEVICES

1) EGO-TARGETING (personal pronouns -we, you-; possessive adjectives -our, your-, imperative forms -go back to
Alabama-, rhetorical questions: «nespresso, what else?»)

2) Humour, irony, sarcasm, satire (see Donald Trump)

3) Lexical choices: evaluative language («creative suffering», «great trials»); superlative adjectives, exaggerations,
hyperboles (the last BEST HOPE), adverbs of manner («I will end this war responsibly»; emotive words that increase
both pathos and ethos: «I am not unmindful»; those who long for lives of peace»)

4) Figures of Speech /rhetorical tropes: metaphorization and figurative language (storms of persecution; winds of
police brutality)

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5) Repetitions, anaphora, alliteration (I will; some of you; trials and tribulations)

6) Contrasts (implicit or explicit; us vs them) and three-part lists

PERSONAL PRONOUNS – EMPATHY

Personal pronouns or possessive adjectives, such as we and you, or our and your, are often employed to achieve the
goal of EGO-TARGETING (highly and subtly persuasive):

By using we and you, the author establishes a direct relationship with the reader. By creating a personal
relationship with the reader the text becomes highly persuasive: the addressee is drawn into the text and EMPATHY
is established, generating identification, loyalty, pathos and/or ethos.

METAPHORIZATION

Metaphorization is the most widely-exploited strategy used to derive new and specialized meanings from general
language. Metaphors are essential because they say concisely what in other words would need long elaborate
descriptions or difficult paraphrases.

The advantages of using metaphors are

1) Terminological transparency (semantic association with a clearly codified concept, i.e. peace, love, joy, «you are
my sunshine»)

2) Terminological conciseness (the term immediately reflects information to the addressee: «google is a heaven for
workers»)

3) Exploiting images from the real world to represent concepts that are difficult to explain (my father has always
been a guiding light for me)

The IMPERATIVE is another typical feature of Persuasive Discourse and is mainly employed in websites, leaflets,
advertisements. The communicative purpose of the imperative is not that of giving orders but rather to urge
readers to avail themselves of the chances they are offered

EX. «Enjoy a pleasant stay at our special Airport Lounge» (Easyjet); «continue to work; go back to Alabama etc. (M.L:
KING)

Contrasts

Implicit /explicit EXAMPLES

1) “I am not unmindful” (this is also a litotes, i.e. expressing something by negating its opposite (“he’s not bad
looking! /” ; “I am not a bad teacher”

2) “They work for a pittance in our restaurants”

Three part lists and parallelism

Three part lists are very common in persuasive texts. They have a pleasing rhythm and as such are easy to
remember. They are easy to identify as they have the structure ‘a, b and c’:

“I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation;
poverty and genocide; climate change and disease”.

It is also a feature of parallelism. Indeed, a three part list is a particular form of parallelism.
The parallel syntactic structure encourages a reader to consider the entities in the same place in the same way.
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LESSON 23

1) How would you describe the language used?

2) What is the synergy between the verbal and visual messages?

3) What are the paralinguistic elements used? In this case: Typographical devices. Why are
they used?

4) What is most striking in this very popular meme, in your opinion?

Popular meme created by supporters of Donald Trump, soon after the election.

- There is a cowboy who is apparently ready to jump on his horse, he is looking at us

- This text is logos oriented

- He seems tired, angry 🡪 he is tired of those rioters

- There is a continuous chain of cause- effect dynamic 🡪 there was a particular reason why people voted for Trump 🡪
the consequence is that HE is going to fight the rioters 🡪 the ultimate consequence is that WE, THE PEOPLE have had
enough 🡪 persuasive strategy 🡪 WE is both inclusive (it creates cohesion among Trump’s supporters) and exclusive
(it excludes all the people that are not part of that group) 🡪 we (ego-targeting 🡪 if we is considered as inclusive).

▪ WE THE PEOPLE 🡪 precise lexical choice 🡪 reference to the Constitution of the USA 🡪 we= Americans, cowboys 🡪
cowboy = visual metaphor for someone that is really American.

- We the people 🡪 it is a contrast 🡪 we are the people VS they are not Americans (rioters, people who don’t support
Trump)

- Within the logical argument “riots” is an emotive word 🡪 it creates pathos.

- It is a logical argument based on facts 🡪 he was elected because there were riots.

- We the people: group identification (pathos) 🡪 used to increase unitedness 🡪 they are real members of the
community, they are not privileged, they are not violent 🡪 they are portrayed as honest workers (ethos)

- Have had🡪 present perfect (similar to MLK) 🡪 it is an ongoing process.

- Shit 🡪 pathos and ethos element 🡪 typical of populism.

- Rioters don’t even deserve to be called Americans

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- A cowboy is practical

- A cowboy is down-to-earth, he is trustful

- Protective of his country

🡪 Elements that create both pathos and ethos.

LESSON 24

- Language help us realize how people perceive and negotiate questions about gender and ethnicity and especially
power asymmetry.

LANGUAGE AND ETHNICITY

- Anna Duszak “Us and Others: Social identities across languages, discourses and cultures”

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- Philip Gleason “Speaking of diversity: Language and Ethnicity in Twentieth-Century America” 🡪the USA are a
privileged field for discussing these topics 🡪 it is a nation made of different groups. BUT there is always a hegemonic
group.

- In our mind we have the idea that there is always a NORM 🡪 something is normal and what deviates from it is not
the norm.

Ethnicity in Culture

Identity with or membership in a particular racial, national, or cultural group and observance of that group’s
customs, beliefs and language.

Note: many minority groups in the United States maintain strong ethnic identity, especially in cities, immigrants are
often attracted to ethnic communities established by people from their own country, communities in which many
traditional cultural features are maintained.

🡪 melting pot

1) A pot in which metals or other substances are melted or fused

2) A country, locality, or situation in which cultural assimilation results in blending the heritage and traditions of
previously distinct ethnic groups

- Intercultural communication 🡪 everybody gains from the other, there is a mutual enrichment.

Ethnic- meaning(s)

From GREEK ethnos “band of people living together, nation, people, tribe, castle” also used of swarms or flocks of
animals, namely “people of one’s own kind”.

In GREEK ethne translates Hebrew goyim, plural of goy “nation”, especially of non-Israelites, hence especially
“foreign nation not worshipping the true God” (they were not following the norm) and ethnikos is used by
ecclesiastical writers in a sense of “savoring of the nature of pagans, alien to the worship of the true God”

Earlier in English, as a noun, it meant “a heathen, pagan, one who is not a Christian or Jew” (c.1400). In modern use,
“member of an ethnic group” from 1945.

Heathen = in Contemporary Urban English

1) A person who is a non-believer or not religious

2) Uncivilized, barbarian, a person who lacks moral or culture principals (Urban Dictionary) 🡪 there is not a religious
connotation anymore.

- We use the term “ethnic” to point out something different

▪ Ethnicity has to do with a group sharing sociocultural characteristics- a sense of place, ancestry, a common history,
religion, cultural practices, ways of communicating, and often a language

- It is different from RACE, ethnicity is often socially and culturally constructed.

Who’s ethnic?

▪ Origins that precede or are external to the state

▪ Group membership that is involuntary

▪ Ancestral tradition rooted in a shared sense of peoplehood

▪ Distinctive value orientations and behavior patterns

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▪ Influence of the group on the lives of its members

▪ Group membership defined by how members define themselves and how they are defined by others

Ethnic tends to be reserved and addressed to groups that are at some level thought of as “marked” or “other” 🡪

1) What happens as a result is that the terms “ethnic” and “ethnicity” typically only refer to minority groups

2) In short, groups we describe in terms of “ethnicity” are very often “the other”; invoking an oppositional
relationship of a “them” to an “us”

Varieties of Language and Ethnicity

▪ The separate identity of ethnic groups is not only signaled by different language

▪ Ethnic affiliation can also be signaled by different varieties of the same language

▪ Ethnic group differentiation may act as a barrier to the communication of linguistic features in the same way as
other social barriers

▪ Individuals who are black, for example, are much more likely to be aware of the fact that they are “black” than they
are to recognize that they are, say, “lower middle class”

▪ This means that ethnic-group membership and identity may be an important social fact for them which can be
signaled by persistent linguistic differences.

🡪 Language is a tool, it reveals a lot.

• In the UK, for instance, the idea that immigrants should learn English as soon as possible is seen as “common
sense”.

- As a politician remarked, “A community of broken English is no community at all” (Pickles 2013). In this case,
funding was proposed to help people learn English. The idea that learning English is “common sense” signals that
this is part of the dominant ideology.

🡪 The underlying argument is that a community should be linguistically homogenous; that it can’t be a community
otherwise.

🡪 Prescriptivism can lead to dangerous consequences

VIDEO: Little Britain Meera https://youtu.be/YpiAhxaE_oI (until min. 2)

Little Britain is a popular TV series that made fun of some of the stereotypical images and habits of English people.
The English lady is organizing a fat-fighting group and she is racist (it is always indirect racism)

- “Exercise” 🡪 no, I can’t understand, one more time…

- “Fish and chips” 🡪 sorry say it again. Must be some sort of dish that we don’t get over here “curry”

- “Low in fat” 🡪 “say it again.” “She said low in fat” “All right don’t patronize her” “Well done”

- “Couldn’t understand a word, sorry, she is Asian, I should have warned you”

- “I love the red dot. It is brilliant” 🡪 patronizing attitude

- At the restaurant: “Just point at what you want”

- “Can we have a volunteer? Sorry, I was thinking of the English people”

- “Yes yes yes” “Was that a yes? We‘ll never know. We need an interpreter really”

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LESSON 25

Meera has a very strong Indian accent, and the English teacher pretends not to understand her 🡪 the teacher has a
cockney accent (it is NOT Standard English either)

- “Exercise” “What’s that, my love?” 🡪 patronizing expression 🡪 you pay a compliment because you want to
underline that you are not racist, but by doing so, you stress the differences

- Race and ethnicity are not the same

- Race can be considered as the ensemble of physical traits

- Ethnicity is more related to society, culture and history

▪ When completing paperwork that asks for race, you may be asked to identify yourself as belonging to one or more
of the following categories:

- White

- Asian

- Black and African American

- American Indian or Alaska Native

- Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

🡪 BUT the differences within each group are enormous.

▪ Racist discourse is a form of discriminatory social practice that manifests itself in text, talk, speech and
communication in general.

Van Dijk argues that there are two forms of racist discourse:

(1) Racist discourse directed at ethnically different Others 🡪 you talk to someone that you consider different

(2) Racist discourse about ethnically different Others 🡪 division between “us” and “the others”

One of the most obvious ways that racist discourse manifests itself is in pejorative words about the other

Overt versus Covert Racism

▪ Overt Racism= discriminatory behavior in which those in the majority engage in open, hostile acts of aggression
against racial minorities consciously and unapologetically
▪ Covert, Intentional Racism= discriminatory behavior that is intentional but is covered up so that one can deny that
one is racist (for reasons of face management many people pretend not to be racist) 🡪 e.g. article “Britain invaded by
an army of illegals” 🡪 “they work for a pittance”, “slaving behind bars”.
▪ Covert, Unintentional Racism= discriminatory behavior that is unintentional but serves to perpetuate ongoing
racist acts or traditions. Often practiced by individuals who would deny being racist and who would be shocked to
realize that they were engaging in racist acts 🡪 the boy in the video “avoid stereotypes”

Forms of racism

▪ Individual racism: racism that is addressed to one person

- Overt example= An Arabic student who is brutally murdered out of hate

- Covert example= An employer who decides not to hire an Asian American employee because he/she believes that
the employee might drive away business, but tells the person that there are no more openings available.

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▪ Institutional racism: racism perpetuated by institutions

- Overt example= A country club that has clearly written rules which preclude any non-White members

- Covert example= An academic curriculum that only emphasizes European history and does not address the history
of other ethnic/cultural groups.

▪ Cultural racism:

- Overt examples= The extermination of Jews in the Holocaust. The enslavement of African American

- Covert examples= The unrealistic and stereotypical portrayal of ethnic minorities in the media.

Racist discourse about ethnically different others

Explicit denial: “I am not against immigration. I am against a forced invasion of illegal aliens who are now arriving
here expecting everything for free”.

🡪 it contains all the lexical choices that constitute the narrative against immigration

- “I am not against immigration/ I am not racist but…” 🡪 it is only a social mask

Van Dijk identifies three further ways that people use to construct racist discourse about the “other”:

A) Difference- the “other” is not like “us”

B) Deviance- the “other” behaves in a way that “we” feel is amoral

C) Threat- the “other” is dangerous

Example

Our= it is both exclusive (it excludes the foreigner) and inclusive (it includes the Brits)🡪 it reinforces a contrast
between the in-group and the out-group

Every terrorist, crook, screwball and scrounger= it makes every single person responsible 🡪 this image multiplies the
threat /All= is a group

- Our traditions 🡪 ego-targeting 🡪 it includes British people by excluding all the rest.

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 - Us VS them 🡪 they are a threat 🡪
they are not willing to work, they just
want to steal.

- Whose speech is the author

reporting? (“generous”) 🡪 the
Romanian migrants

- This is an example of racist

discourse.

- Example 7.2 🡪 The words used by

the journalist are reinforcing the
“othering” process 🡪 the process that
makes the others look different, or
even a threat.

LESSON 26

- Covert/latent racism 🡪 they may sound as compliments

Latent racist/prejudiced expressions + explicit denial

- I am not a racist but…

- I really love African people!

- Black people really can dance!

- I have nothing against…

- I have many gay friends!

- Gay people are so cool!

- Gay men are so funny/nice/elegant/sensitive

- She has got balls!

🡪 These sentences are a clue to covert racism/sexism

🡪 These expressions point out the differences between “them” and “the norm”

▪ Structural racism (razzismo sistemico) 🡪 a form of covert racism that is perpetuated in cultural and linguistic
behaviors🡪 e.g. actors and actresses always being casted in the same role, the way black people are represented by
media.

Normal (adj.)

C. 1500, “typical, common”; 1640s in geometry “standing at a right angle, perpendicular”, from Late Latin normalis
“in conformity with rule, normal” in classic Latin “made according to a carpenter’s square”, from norma “rule,
pattern”, literally “carpenter’s square” a word of unknown origin. Meaning “conforming to common standards or
established order or usage, regular, usual” is attested from 1828.

Meaning “heterosexual” is by 1914

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 - An advertisement
company created a series
of inclusive posters 🡪 their
illocution was to show how
inclusive they were
towards Afro-Americans 🡪
the picture shows an Afro-
American, his skin is
scratched and it revels the
skin of a white person with
blue eyes 🡪 the synergy of
the image with the
sentence is quite weird
“everyone is normal
inside” 🡪 illocution “we
don’t see the color” 🡪 they
are giving the wrong message 🡪 according to this narrative, being white is the norm.

- Being a white-skinned, blue-eyed person is what is considered the norm

- How could this happen? It is very difficult to dismantle centuries of messages and narratives of this kind 🡪language
always plays a crucial role!!

- Some people have privileges, and some don’t 🡪 there are obstacles that white people don’t have.

- “You are just an anti-racist racist” 🡪 a racist pretending not to be racist

- MEME (on the right) 🡪 primarily based on LOGOS.

- Many racist advertisements,

posters 🡪 at that time these
messages were “the norm”

- Idea that the black boy is dirty

and that he can become clean
when he becomes white. White is
associated to tidiness, black is
associated to filth 🡪 the “othering”
process was evident

- When the boy becomes white, he

also becomes happy 🡪 having a
black complexion is not positive
and shouldn’t make you happy

1) This soup is meant to

enhance your skin 🡪 Dove
matched the “before and
after skin” image with the
image of 3 women (an Afro-
American, a Latina and a
Caucasian), implying that a
soft skin has to be white.

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2) GIF 🡪 a black woman takes off her T-shirt and becomes a white-skinned, red-haired woman.

3) For normal to dark skin 🡪 this implies that having dark skin is not normal

- A poster advertising an estate

agency 🡪 juxtaposition of US vs
OTHERS.

The man on the left is a dancer,

the one on the right is an estate
agent.

“If you are eager to perfect your

pirouette, Mark is your man,
but if you are looking to buy or
sell chat to Notting Hill’s only
dedicated flats…” 🡪 example of
covert racism 🡪 division
between black and white people and between what kind of career you should pursue 🡪 idea of predestination 🡪
some people were born to dance, other to sell houses 🡪 Self-fulfilling prophecy

- Racially prejudice 🡪 prejudiced

- It is a form of covert racism 🡪 it reinforce and normalize the stereotype

- Rachel’s opinion is pathos-charged

▪ Lee Jussim

Professor of Social Psychology, author of “Social Perception and Social Reality”:

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Self-fulfilling prophecy: A process through which an originally false expectation leads to its own confirmation. In a
self-fulfilling prophecy an individual’s expectations about another person or entity eventually result in the other
person or entity acting in ways that confirm the expectations.

Self-fulfilling prophecies are important to the understanding of intergroup relations.

Inaccurate social stereotypes may lead to their own fulfillment. For example, members of groups stereotyped as
more intelligent, competent, or likeable can, through the operation of self-fulfilling prophecies, actually become
more intelligent, competent or likeable than members of groups stereotyped as less intelligent, competent or
likeable.

Thus, self-fulfilling prophecies may contribute to the maintenance not only of stereotypes themselves but of the
group differences and inequalities that give rise to those stereotypes 🡪 this especially happens if some people are
more fragile than others.

- If a black boy, who was born for example in The Bronx, is constantly being told that he is filthy, that he is a criminal,
he will eventually think that those ideas are true 🡪 he internalizes the prejudice 🡪 the effect can be seen in the long
run.

- If girls keep seeing films where women’s only desire is to get married, they will end up thinking that that’s what
they are supposed to do in life 🡪 at a wedding, the bride tosses the bouquet, and all the women in the room will
desperately try to catch it 🡪 need to fulfill a cultural expectation VS a man is never pushed to get married.

🡪if you don’t get married you will become a spinster (pragmatic meaning = it always conveys a negative meaning) 🡪
women might feel the urge to get married

LESSON 27

Self-fulfilling prophecy 🡪 this can be seen in many domains of our social and cultural life.

How can this happen? 🡪 through persuasive discourse.

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It is often said that Londoners are rude 🡪 stereotype

Why do those stereotypes exist? 🡪 we have to take many elements into account 🡪 e.g. living in London can be
stressful and tiring 🡪 London is overcrowded 🡪 in the long run people living in metropolis have developed some self-
defense mechanisms 🡪 people in big cities are often by themselves

▪ The stereotype is the cognitive element 🡪 then comes the prejudice (the affective component, there is a pathos
component in the construction of the prejudice) 🡪 then there is the discrimination (the behavior component) 🡪 we
can apply the same pattern to Afro-American people (Afro-American people are rude)

- Since I avoid city dwellers, they will think I am rude 🡪 they may be start to follow the same pattern 🡪 they will
develop a prejudice towards me 🡪 they will start avoiding me 🡪 SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY🡪 it is not a scientific
theory, but it underlines the power of language.

▪ Opposition🡪 I (countryside dweller/ white person / heterosexual) VS THEM (city dweller / black person /
homosexual) 🡪 us vs them dichotomy

- A term like “nigger” that after a history of oppression, prejudice, is used and reclaimed by the same oppressed
minority 🡪 it is a term that embodies the hate toward a minority, but then its meaning was transformed

RECLAIMED TERMS

Whether or not discourse can be racist depends on context, including who is speaking.

For example, a term may be racist when a person from the out-group uses it, but a positive identity marker when
used by the group itself.

In other words, terms that were originally used to demean a group can be reclaimed for use by the in-group as a
positive marker of identity.

EX: “nigger”. The term is so inflammatory that US speakers typically use the euphemism “the N-word” in public
discourse about the term.

- Honky 🡪 a derogatory term for a Caucasian person.

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TO RECLAIM THE WORD NIGGER:

The process allows a marginalized group to reject the majority group’s portrayal of them.

- This creates a DOUBLE STANDARD 🡪 the N-word can be used by black people, but if a white person uses
that term, he/she will be considered racist

1) A rule or standard of good behavior that, unfairly, some people are expected to follow or achieve but other
people are not 🡪 a woman is expected to get married or she will end up being a spinster VS a man is not expected to
get married 🡪 the rule is applied to a part of the population 🡪 this double standard creates asymmetry

2) The habit of treating one group differently than another when both groups should be treated the same

EX: “The double standard for ageing”🡪 a woman that ages is not considered beautiful anymore, and should resort to
plastic surgery, if a man ages is not a big deal

“The double standard of checking criminal records” 🡪 criminality is normally associated to black people and Latinos

THE N-WORD DOUBLE STANDARD 🡪 a rule that is applied differently according to the person involved

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/_LK-j8ZED44

- “You can say the N-word but I can’t” 🡪 it is usually what white people say to black people

- Madonna posted a picture of her son on Instagram and used the word “nigga” 🡪 she didn’t mean to be racist 🡪
many black people didn’t like it 🡪 if you are not black and you use the N-word chances are that you are going to face
some sort of backlash.

- Disclaimer: “I do not speak for all black people”

- “The N-word isn’t a racial slur. It means stupid” 🡪 many people think the word “nigga” is related to stupidity 🡪 just
like the word “fag”

- The N-Word comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word for black, negro 🡪it is a benign word but it was made
into a slur

- The word historical context 🡪 the N-word was used to describe black people as they were being stolen from Africa,
put into slavery, chained, lynched beaten, raped and spit upon 🡪 the word was created as a tool of oppression 🡪 his
historical context can’t be erased.

- In-group and out-group dynamic 🡪 there is a double standard 🡪 rules that can be applied to certain groups 🡪 this
creates further divisions

- Importance of the CONTEXT (made by people+ the environment) 🡪 football players are used to patting each other
on their butt, as a way to say “good job” 🡪 but the same dynamic can’t be applied outside the football field

- “If you don’t want people to say it, then you should stop saying it” 🡪 BUT all black people don’t use the same
language and act the same way

- Many people use the N-word as a way to reclaim it, like an act of defiance 🡪 the word was used to oppress black
people and keep them down, so people started to change its meaning into something else 🡪 this reason is both
pathos and ethos oriented 🡪 the original semantic meaning is completely changed
- Many people argues that there is a double standard 🡪 they are not really seeing the real problems: job
discriminations, housing discrimination, racial profiling, police brutality, the school-to-prison-pipeline, the harsher
prison sentences that black people (and other minorities) face.

LESSON 28

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“Kendrick Lamar stops white fan using N-word on stage at concert”

▪ In 2018 a white woman has been booed at a Kendrick

Lamar gig for singing the N-word on stage.

The rapper invited the woman, who identified herself

only as “Delaney”, to sing M.A.A.D City during his set at
the Hangout Festival in Alabama.

But Kendrick stopped her after she repeatedly used the

N-word – which is heard multiple times in his song.

As the crowd reacted angrily, Kendrick told her “You

gotta bleep one single word”

She appeared not to realize why she had been stopped, and asked: “Am I not cool enough for you, bro?” 🡪 linguistic
and cultural appropriation 🡪 she wants to sound black

The crowd in Gulf Shores, Alabama started booing on hearing the woman sing the racial slur.

She apologized, saying “Oh I am sorry, did I do it?”

Kendrick then asked the audience if she should be given another try- and despite many shouting “NO!”, Kendrick
allowed her a second run at the song. BBC NEWS

🡪 This article is neutral, there are not many pathos-charged elements

🡪 The crowd became angry at the girl

Some comments:

▪ “Every person can say what they want, there’s freedom of speech, but you have a responsibility”, South London
grime artist Yizzy tells. BBC NEWS

“If you use the word… and you’re not of any black heritage, in this modern day world, be prepared to face a
backlash”

Journalist and blogger Jessica Noah Morley adds: “If you don’t want people to sing an offensive word, it should not
be sung or included in the song in the first place.

“We, myself included, have to be careful about being hypocritical and implementing a double standard when it
comes to race relations. The N-word is, and will always be, offensive, no matter who says it”. BBC NEWS

🡪 Maybe he shouldn’t have invited her on stage 🡪 he should have been wiser

🡪 He could have taken advantage of the situation in order to raise awareness among his public

🡪 This episode is a clear example of the OTHERING PROCESS

▪ She didn't even think about what she was singing, she sang the song without questioning. Maybe the big problem is
here: white people usually don't think about racist behaviors because they don’t experience it.

- Kendrick Lamar wrote many lyrics containing the N-word in order to reclaim his identity and with the intention of
witnessing the episodes of oppression that he himself lived. Many of his songs are autobiographical.

Afro American English 🡪 One of the most important example of discriminated ethnolects

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AAE shares many features with other varieties of US English such as pronunciation (to a certain extend) and
morphology.

The distinguishing features of AAE rely on particular combinations of features such as co-occurrence of copula
deletion and habitual be.

🡪 There are books, movies, songs written in AAE

🡪 From a prescriptivist point of view these features are not correct and acceptable. From a descriptivist point of view
it is fully acceptable.

🡪 There must be mutual interest to achieve a rapport

▪ All linguists agree that nonstandard varieties are highly structured systems. They do not see these varieties as
accumulations of errors caused by the failure of their speakers to master Standard English.

While linguists do not consider expressions such as “He crazy” or “Her my friend” as a “primitive” and only-
incorrect language, many people do, especially in higher social classes or in the work place.

🡪 The belief that AAE speakers are unintelligent or cognitively lacking in some way is a common misconception
about speakers of non-standard varieties. Clearly, this misconception can have serious consequences in terms of
education, access to employment and how one is generally perceived.

The (double) dilemma for many African Americans:

1) The language that serves as a symbol of ethnic identity (ex. AAE) may also serve as the focus for discrimination
in mainstream society.

2) The language that can be useful for socioeconomic advancement (ex. Standard English) may lead to suspicion or
negative judgement in the ethnic community (ex. Afro-American)

Thus, AAE ethnolect becomes a (discriminated) sociolect.

▪ “Covert prestige”: some speech communities, usually ones that don’t have a great deal of power in relation to
other dominant groups, value different kinds of speaking, often involving non-standard varieties (such as AAE). For
those communities these non-standard varieties are “covertly” prestigious, or valued within the community but
not outside it. 🡪 For black people using AAE is prestigious, but this prestige is not shared by the outside world.

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“Overt prestige”: awarded to varieties that are valued according to hegemonic norms. Thus, speaking the
standard variety of a language confers prestige in wider society but may not within particular communities. 🡪
Using the standard variety of English is considered prestigious everywhere 🡪 many black people, in order to advance
socio-economically give up the use of their ethnic language, and they start to use standard American English 🡪 many
Afro-American people may attack them because they don’t speak their own heritage language 🡪 “You talk white” 🡪
this attitude can be considered a betrayal

🡪 THIS CREATES A DOUBLE STANDARD

LESSON 29

Mexican immigration started a long time ago and it is still visible that the relationship between American and
Mexican culture is problematic 🡪 this situation was stressed when Trump rose to power proposing to build a wall.

Spanglish language 🡪 there are now books, films written in Spanglish

The influx of Mexican immigrants coupled with the expansion of their community within the United States has
created an unparalleled situation of language contact.

The effort to conserve Mexican traditions and identity, as well as the one to adopt American ones, and create a
sense of self, which is an unequivocal byproduct of both, has resulted in Spanglish.

“When Mexico sends its people, they are not sending their best… They are bringing drugs. They are bringing crime.
They are rapists. And some, I assume, are good people”. Donald Trump, June 16, 2015

🡪 Persuasive strategies: use of short and simple sentences

🡪 Use of anaphora for rhythm and memorability

🡪 Othering process 🡪 US vs THEM contrast 🡪 this contrast is underlined by the repetition in the anaphoric form of
“they” which implicitly reveals that they are not like us 🡪 the 3 categories presented by Van Dijk (difference,
deviance and threat) seem to be present all together in one sentence

🡪 Stereotypical image that many Americas have of Mexicans (they are criminals, violent, lazy, passionate to a fault) 🡪
lazy and passionate 🡪 sometimes stereotypes contradict one another

🡪 Tacos are seen as the only type of food that Mexicans eat

🡪 Mexicans are often mocked for the way they speak

🡪 In the US Mexican identity has always been the target for sarcasm, irony or satire

Code switching 🡪 it occurs when codes are switched

Me siento muy… excited!

Mexican ethnic identity in USA- code switching

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▪ We use the term code-switching to refer to the use of 2 or more linguistic codes within a conversation or even
within the same utterance.

▪ Code mixing is used to refer to words and expressions that mix 2 languages creating hybrid forms.

Code mixing

1) lunchear: to eat lunch

Chequear: to check

Watchear: to watch

Parquear: to park

2) Estamos talk-ando. We are talking.

3) Al llegar, me di cuenta que ellos estaban leave-iendo

Upon arriving, I realized that they were already leaving

Code switching

4) Las chicas han arrived early for class today.

The girls have arrived early for class today

5) My mother had salido ya cuando tú llamaste.

My mother had already left when you called.

▪ Julie, a 20-year old woman states:

I use Spanglish in the sense that I change languages from sentence to sentence or for particular words that can’t
be better said in one language that the other, but I only use this type of Spanglish with my siblings and some of my
close bilingual friends.

🡪 She doesn’t use it all the time

▪ Miguel states:

Sometimes, if I attempt to speak Spanglish to non-Hispanics, even if they speak a high level of Spanish, they either
react in confusion or they mock me, acting as if I didn’t know the word whereas I switched only because it made
more sense to me (and so in general I don’t). I also avoid Spanglish with non-Spanglish speaking Hispanics, a.k.a.
Hispanics who despise the “improper use” of Spanish.

Miguel further remarks:

Spanglish is a cultural symbol, which represents la mezcla which is California culture… I enjoy speaking it because
it show my diverse identity, I am not just a Hispanic and I am not just an Anglo-American. I am mixed and
Spanglish represents that identity.

▪ Code-switching demonstrates membership of a particular language community on the part of the speaker.
▪ A switch may, therefore, also indicate solidarity and inclusion, or conversely, distance and exclusion (Milroy &
Gordon 2003:209)

SPANGLISH -THE MOVIE 🡪 it is a film about identity, displacement, uprooting, immigration

In the film, Flor constantly mixes the codes

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 “Every family could use a little translation”

Spanglish is a film focusing on a Mexican woman, Flor Moreno, who refuses to

learn English when she moves to the United Stets with her young daughter,
whose English is soon fluent🡪 Flor resists this cultural assimilation 🡪 sign of
unwillingness to totally adjust to the other culture 🡪 she doesn’t want to lose her
identity.

INITIAL SITUATION

1) Latin American migrants select the “in-betweeness” of identity through their

variety of English

2) Flor’s refusal to upgrade her Spanglish into English ties her to life as
housekeeper

- She works for a well-off family, the mother is snobbish

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/HXkSBXrdDxs 🡪 she doesn’t speak the language, but in a family where no one understands
each other, she will fit right in

▪ Flor, the Mexican mother 🡪 on the one hand she is portrayed as the typical Mexican woman (passionate,
determined, temperamental, she has strong feelings and emotions, she is a great mother) on the other hand she
reverses the stereotype 🡪 she is alone and she wants to be alone, she is strong, independent, she is capable of raising
a child on her own, she wants to resist a cultural situation that she doesn’t like

▪ Cristina, the Mexican-American daughter

🡪 Cultural assimilation. She becomes more and more American. The “American mother” wants to buy her clothes,
she changes her styles, they go shopping together, and she dies her hair.

🡪 Her mother is afraid of this change, she is afraid of losing her

▪ Deborah, the American wife

- She had a career but she is now a full time mom 🡪 she is extremely frustrated

- She is constantly training, she fears ageing🡪 she is a victim of the gender double standard

▪ Bernice, the chubby American daughter

- She is very insecure because of her appearance 🡪 her mother constantly body-shames her because she doesn’t fit
into the typical beauty standard

- Her mother buys her very tight clothes 🡪 Flor enlarges her clothes in order to increase her self-esteem

First scene: “She would be my Mexico”

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/G2WtByoAW7I

FIRST SCENE/ TRANSCRIPT

To the Dean of Admissions, Princeton University...

From Cristina Moreno.

Most influential person: My mother.

I think I have been pointing toward this essay... ever since the day, 12 years ago in Mexico, when
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my father left. Such was my mother's need to protect me... that she would not let me see her cry.

The trick was... get over it as quickly and privately as possible. Such was my need to protect her...

that I never let on that I could hear her. My mother kept us in Mexico as long as possible... to root me in

all things Latin. Finally, she sensed our last opportunity for change. We would leave for America.

"One tear." "Just one." "So make it a good one," she said. She would be my Mexico.

🡪 Determination to hide weaknesses 🡪 if you are vulnerable the others can use your weaknesses against you

🡪 Flor didn’t want to abandon Mexico before her daughter was rooted in all things Latin

🡪 She is a PROUD WOMAN

VIDEO: Hypocritical scene- Bilingual fight: “NO DIFFERENCE: I INTERFERED”

https://youtu.be/pCFld9GCy_Q

🡪 Cristina earned some money because the American father sent her to search for some stones and she fulfilled her
task 🡪 Flor was very angry about it

🡪 Eventually he gets angry and says that she is “hypocritical”🡪 she also interfered with the upbringing of Bernice
because she modified her clothes.

🡪 Example of rapport 🡪 the appeal that he uses to persuade her is logos 🡪 she admits being wrong 🡪 he is surprised
because he is not used to that kind of behavior 🡪 “It’s just pretty wild to say something to somebody and have the
other person just concede the point, I am dazed here”.

- Rapport always depends on the pragmatic meanings, context and the illocutions of the speakers

LESSON 30

- The narrative is circular. Cristina is reading the admission paper that she wrote for the college she applied. The
same essay was read by her at the beginning of the film.

- At the end Flor decides to quit her job but Cristina doesn’t agree. In the last scene, while she reads her essay we are
shown the event that she describes

- They don’t speak proper Spanish. They use code switching but not code mixing

- Flor speaks Spanish and Cristina speaks English but both of them switch codes.

- When does Cristina speak Spanish?

Cristina's Identity Exploration: I AM MY MOTHER’S DAUGHTER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DE00LB0QB8

LAST SCENE
Shortly after we left...my mother told me of another decision she had reached. I would no longer go to the private
school.
 - No! You can't do that to me
- You ruined everything. This ruins my life! You've ruined everything!
- I will never forgive you.

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- No, it'll never be all right. You're wrong.
- This is exactly what I was worried about.
- I will never be able to forgive you! (repeats in Spanish) 🡪 hearing the same sentence in Spanish has a different
effect on Flor 🡪 it is a way to further harm her mother
- I have a scholarship! And nobody gives this up!
The miles from the Clasky house to our bus stop... was the longest walk I'll ever know. I had publicly scorned my
mother. And yet she had not reacted. What did spark our climactic moment... was my use of a common American
phrase.
– Not right now. I need some space.
– Not a (e)space between us. (Flor in English)
🡪 Cultures negotiate space and personal space in different ways. The American culture is extremely individualistic.
This phrase is not acceptable for the Mexican culture.
🡪 Flor decides to speak in English
- In the midst of confrontation, she found clarity. She expressed regret that she had to ask me... to deal with the
basic question of my life at such a young age. And then she asked it. "Is what you want for yourself..."to become
someone very different... "than me?" than from 🡪 this is typical of adolescents
🡪 This film makes us reflect on the problem of identity
🡪 Flor is afraid that Cristina will become more and more American
- I have been overwhelmed... by your encouragement to apply to your university...and your list of scholarships
available to me. Though, as I hope this essay shows... your acceptance, while it would thrill me...will not define
me.
– My identity rests firmly… and happily on one fact: I am my mother’s daughter. Thank you. Cristina Moreno.
🡪 She is showing that she won’t forget her Mexican roots
🡪 The last scene in pathos-charged

FIRST REVIEW (positive)

Flor’s decision to pull her daughter from her path of upward mobility is figured in the film as allowing her
daughter to retain her identity as a Mexican. What otherwise might seem a selfish choice becomes in this film an
affirmation of otherness, a gesture of resistance to the force of cultural assimilation. This allows the film to square
the circle, to present Flor as a good mother despite, or indeed because of, her unwillingness to let her daughter
fully assimilate into American society. Maintaining one’s ethnicity – and thereby one’s relationship to one’s
parent, the only means of maintaining cultural identity in America, in the film’s terms – is presented as a form of
authenticity.
Spanglish thus views ethnicity as providing a way out of maternal renunciation: this film can let its caring mother
retain her bond to her daughter despite her desire for her daughter’s success in America. It does so by criticizing
upper class American life as unsuitable as the goal for which a young immigrant should strive, while viewing the
maintenance of an ethnic identity as inherently valuable. And since this requires that the mother-daughter bond
not be broken, the film provides an optimistic ending not available in the earlier melodramas.
Thomas E. Wartenberg

SECOND REVIEW (negative)

The story, then, involves Deborah’s attachment to Flor’s daughter, her insecurity leading to infidelity, and a
growing attraction between John and Flor. Deb even arranges for Flor’s daughter to receive a scholarship from a
ritzy private academy, which is initially resisted by Flor because, well, there’s that pride thing and the
subconscious desire to keep her child in poverty lest she realize that there is more to life than cleaning gringo
toilets. Flor, despite her beauty (yeah, all maids look like they just stepped from the pages of Vogue), is a repellant
creep of a character, for she makes every decision out of ethnocentric cultural attachment, even if she’s hurting
her daughter in the process. The film’s closing shot — and dialogue — endorses the idea that preserving family
ruins the fulfillment of one’s dreams. “I am my mother’s daughter,” the voiceover states, which, in this context,
only means that she will not go to a fine school or land a good job because staying poor is more authentically
Mexican. (Matt Ruth)

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-Gringo can become a dysphemistic expression

🡪 2 antithetical reviews one sees Flor’s behaviour as a sign of authenticity

ACTIVITY
In the light of the film’s topics and ending, and in the light of the two antithetical reviews, point out the lexical
choices of the two reviewers in terms of persuasive language. How do they express their stance and how do they
try to convince their readership about their opinions?
Finally, express your opinions on Flor’s decision not to allow her daughter in the college, fearing that she will
become too «American» and less «authentically Mexican», thus losing touch with the cultural values she has been
teaching her daughter until then.

- DOUBLE STANDARD 🡪 there is always a hegemonic culture that overwhelms the other

- Flor reverts the gender roles but she also fears to lose her daughter more than everything else

- Self-fulfillment prophecy prevents from any form of change 🡪 this makes the situation stagnant

DOUBLE STANDARD

1) A rule or standard of good behavior that, unfairly, some people are expected to follow or achieve but other
people are not.

2) The habit of treating one group differently than another when both groups should be treated the same

The (double) dilemma for many African Americans:

1) An ethnolect can become the focus for discrimination in mainstream society

2) The language that can be useful for socioeconomic advancement (ex. Standard English) may lead to negative
judgment in the ethnic community

If a white person says to a black person that he/she talks white, it is considered a compliment. But when a black
person says to another black person that he/she talks white it is considered an insult

🡪 DOUBLE STANDARD

GENDER DOUBLE STANDARD

When we talk about gender double standard we talk about a socio-cultural double standard and a linguistic
double standard 🡪 BUT there is not really a difference between the two

▪ Languages fuel cultures and vice versa

The expression double standard derives from the work of Ira Reiss that was carried out in 1960

Researches on gender became systematic in the Nineties

- Gender = the way a society negotiates and creates what is considered masculine or feminine (what is considered
masculine in a country may not be considered masculine in another country) 🡪 gender is conventional
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- Gender is a linguistic category 🡪 language is a made-up system

- We have genders for nouns 🡪 this is totally conventional 🡪 in English (bottle=it, chair= it, bed=it) BUT
▪ la sedia/der Stuhl

▪ il sole/die Sonne

▪ la luna/der Mond 🡪 if you consider the sun as a masculine or feminine entity you relate to it in a different way

- There are gendered languages and genderless languages

- Is the condition of being moody more associated to men or to women? 🡪 DOUBLE STANDARD

- “She must be on her period”

- Gender double standard = gender asymmetries 🡪 these asymmetries are related to power 🡪 power is not equally
distributed 🡪 in many social environments, men have privileges that women don’t have, or they can become victims
of certain stereotypes 🡪 these stereotypes don’t take into account the differences among the people belonging to a
certain group 🡪 it is not conceivable to think that all men behave/dress in the same way

- These stereotypes are limiting and can have different consequences.

Language and gender

1) SEX= either the male of female division of a species, especially as differentiated with reference to the
reproductive functions.
(The sum of the structural and functional differences by which the male and female are distinguished)

🡪 when people are born they are assigned a sex (either you are a boy or a girl)

2) GENDER= either the male or female division of a species, especially as differentiated by social and cultural roles
and behavior: the feminine gender

- What we associate to masculinity and to femininity has some biological origins (men and women are evidently
different from a physical point of view)

- In ancient Egypt men used to wear makeup

- Gender is conventional. It changes according to history and culture

As for human beings:

Sex 🡪 man/woman
Gender 🡪 male/female (feminine/masculine)

Diana is wearing feminine clothes and Charles is wearing masculine clothes.

BUT Lady Diana was 1 cm taller than Charles

She was either sitting on a chair or on a staircase

She wasn’t allowed to wear high heels.

The picture was manipulated in order to make her look shorter.

In our society a man is supposed to be taller than a woman + men should

protect women 🡪 this is a patriarchal perspective

Women should be protected, they are in need of protection.

She looks smaller than she actually is

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MEN AND WOMEN – TRADITIONAL GENDER STEREOTYPES

Generally speaking men and women are associated to these

adjectives

“The devil wears Prada” 🡪 Miranda is considered a bitch

because she is authoritative and determined. A man is allowed
to be aggressive, but a woman is not.

- All these adjectives create a DOUBLE STANDARD that is

related to gender.

LESSON 31

Men and women are associate to 2 different forms of intelligence 🡪 women are less likely to apply to engineering
programs. Are men more inclined to engineering? 🡪 Are men more inclined to engage in a position of power?

- Crisis of masculinity 🡪 if a boy reads that as a man to be he must be strong, tough, independent, logical, he can feel
overwhelmed and this has serious consequences that can end up in low self-esteem or even violence

- The most drastic consequence of gender stereotypes is violence (physical, psychological and verbal)

🡪 Stereotypes can be very harmful

This is a book that was written in the Eighties 🡪 we are

shown 2 different realities 🡪 kids have internalized
these images

- The professions associated to men and women

reflect those stereotypes 🡪 a woman is supposed to be
a teacher a man is supposed to be a fireman

- The late gender inclusive language revolution in

Italy 🡪 professore associato/ direttore d’orchestra used
even for women 🡪 in the past it was not possible for a
woman to hold these positions.

- A woman is supposed to cook and do the ironing

- A man is supposed to read and to work 🡪 intellectual activities

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- Everything is based on this dichotomy

- Not all the kids that did those exercise and have internalized those differences in roles will develop critical skills that
are necessary to deeply reflect on this issue.

- Stereotypes are also related to toys 🡪 boys are expected to like trains,
cars, girls are expected to like dolls

- A boy should dream of becoming a doctor, a girl should dream of

becoming a wife and then a mother.

- Many women do not necessary have maternal instinct🡪 a woman who

doesn’t want to have a child is not considered normal.

2016 2019

(1) Advertisement (2) T-shirt

- Language has a great persuasive power

(1) When there is a joke involved you have to decode the message, and then when you solve the riddle you feel
clever 🡪 indirect form ego-targeting 🡪 by internalizing the message we reinforce our stereotype

- Women are absent minded, unintelligent, naïve VS men are clever 🡪 men are independent, proud, they are not
supposed to be confused or to get lost

- In the Italian language the list of biased proverbs is much longer than in other languages (e.g. “Donna al volante,
pericolo costante) 🡪 What does it tell us about our culture?

(2) A man is tired of listening to his partner so he decides to push her out of the square

- What are the possible consequences that this image can produce?

🡪 Men who don’t meet certain expectation can become violent towards women

- (1) and (2) fuel gender stereotypes 🡪 this could lead people to think that being violent towards women is
acceptable

Hungarian has no gendered pronouns so Google Translate makes assumptions:

Dóra Vargha, Exteter University, Genderless Languages - March 2021

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- This is the outcome of her research

- He is cleaver (but it could have also been she). She sews (but it could have also been he)

- Google Translate uses sentences, text corpora that come from the Internet

- A woman is associate to beauty, to household chores.

- A man is associated to power, roles of responsibility

Key points

1) Human sexuality can be understood as part of the social life of humans, governed by social norms, implied rules
of behavior, and the status quo. Society’s views on sexuality have changed throughout history and are
continuously evolving.

🡪 Homosexuality was fully accepted in many countries and cultures in the past, then the situation changed and being
homosexual was considered a taboo

2) With the advent of patriarchal societies, gender roles around sexuality became much more stringent, and
sexual norms began focusing on sexual possessiveness and the control of female sexuality.

🡪 Being raised in a patriarchal society can justify some behavior

▪ Sexism= is a form of discrimination/ Misogyny = hatred of, aversion to women. It is not necessarily a form of
discrimination but it can lead to discrimination

Key terms

▪ Patriarchal
Relating to a system run by males, rather than females. This may lead to sexism and /or misogyny

▪ Sexism or Gender bias:

Prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects
women and girls. It has been linked to stereotypes and gender roles and may include the belief that one sex or
gender is intrinsically superior to another

▪ Heteronormativity

The belief that heterosexuality is the norm or sexual orientation. It assumes that sexual and marital relations are
most (or only) fitting between people of opposite sex.

Heteronormativity is sometimes linked to heterosexism and homophobia.

▪ Homophobia= irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or gay people

▪ Mores (moral conventions)

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A set of moral norms or customs derived from generally accepted and established practices of a society, rather
than its written laws.

- Frances McDonald decided to attend the Oscars without wearing makeup. Her decision was considered outrageous
because according to our society, people (and particularly women) are supposed to dress up when attending ritzy
events. She was supposed to appear stylish and elegant.

- As a member of a society you are supposed to follow certain rules and fit into certain standards

The language of Gender

The power of language to shape our perceptions of other people is immense. Precise use of terms in regards to
gender can have a significant impact on demystifying many of the misperceptions associated with gender.

Gender binary: A system that constructs gender according to 2 discrete and opposite categories: boy/man and
girl/woman

🡪 Non-binary is an umbrella term for gender identities that are neither male nor female‍—‌identities that are outside
the gender binary.

Genderfluid: People who have a gender or genders that change. Genderfluid people move between genders,
experiencing their gender as something dynamic and changing, rather than static.

▪ Gender role:
The set of functions, activities, and behaviors commonly expected of boys/men and girls/women by society.

▪ Gender identity:
Our deeply held, internal sense of self as masculine, feminine, a blend of both, neither (agendered), or something
else.

LESSON 32

- People feel the need to conform to social norm

- There are some women and men that do not conform to these mores and so they are considered weird or creep

Sexuality and Gender across cultures

The sociocultural context of society – politics religion, the mass media- not only creates social norms, but also
places major importance on socio-cultural-linguistic conformity to these norms.

Notably, conventions dictate what is considered to be acceptable behavior; what is considered normal or
acceptable or speakable in terms of sexual or gender behavior is based on the norms, and values of the particular
society.

🡪 Language is paramount for revealing how people need to conform to these norms or mores and how people push
the others into conforming

- What is feminine for our culture may not be considered feminine in a different culture, although in the western
world we share some specific elements.

- Women are supposed to shave their legs and armpits.

Body hair is not accepted in our society 🡪 this is something
that has been constructed

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- Arbitrariness and conventionality of this habit 🡪 until the Sixties having body hair was normal, it was considered
appealing, sensual

- Nowadays if a man wears makeup, he is considered a queer, weird or at least eccentric

- On the contrary, a woman is encouraged to wear makeup, in order to look more attractive.

- In the past, for example in Ancient Egypt men and

particularly Pharaohs used to wear makeup🡪 it was
a sign of power and prestige 🡪 outfits an makeup of
18th century France 🡪 the members of the
aristocracy were used to wearing cakey, fleshy
makeup, lipstick, red blush and a fake mole, in
addition wearing high heels was normal🡪 today this
is not considered acceptable

- The concepts of masculinity and femininity are not related to biology

▪ “Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of
knowledge; it limits knowledge”.

- Toni Morrison

🡪 a verbal abuse is considered less dangerous, less threatening than a physical abuse BUT it is equally dangerous and
harmful because it stems from the same cognitive component 🡪 i.e. the idea that there is a difference between MEN
and WOMEN.

- 3 categories of difference, deviance and threat by Van Dijk 🡪 they can be applied to sexist discourse

- Defining someone means reducing that person

▪ Virginia Woolf 🡪 she was complaining of the compliments she received as a female writer🡪 there was always the
need to stress the fact that she was a woman.

- Being enchanting is something associated to women 🡪 women are expected to be enchanting. If they are not, they
are considered shabby.

🡪 She was denouncing a patriarchal vision based on implicit sexism, and on rooted stereotypes on gender that
existed in the 20th century

“I am not enchanting” 🡪 “Enchanting” was a word used to describe her work. For her it was not a compliment, but a
reduction. As a writer she wanted to be considered intelligent, skilled. Enchanting does not reflect these abilities

“How could I possibly write magnificently” 🡪 she didn’t appreciate this review. “Magnificently” points out the fact
that she is a woman

Lexical asymmetries

• Master/ Mistress 🡪 mistress is the grammatical equivalent of master but it also means a woman who is having
a sexual relationship with a married man 🡪 asymmetry of these 2 words

• Bitch/ Player 🡪 asymmetrical semantic and pragmatic meaning between these 2 words 🡪 if a man has a lot of sex
he is considered a winner, almost a hero BUT when it comes to women the situation is different. A woman is not
supposed to enjoy life and have sex with different partners.

Calling a woman cougar, bitch etc. has always a negative pragmatic meaning, because it provides a negative moral
comment

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- The term “player” doesn’t have a negative illocution or a negative pragmatic meaning.

- Men are supposed to fulfill certain expectations

• Bachelor/ Spinster 🡪 from a semantic point of view they are both used to designate unmarried adults BUT there is
a pragmatic difference.

- If a woman doesn’t get married she is considered a loser, a sad and lonely person

- If a man doesn’t get married he is not considered weird but instead he is considered cool. Being a bachelor is not
considered something to be ashamed of 🡪 this is the result of our patriarchal society

- A man is insulted by underling that he was cheated by his wife 🡪 a man is

insulted by undermining his masculinity

- A woman is insulted by underling that she has a lot of sex 🡪 a woman is insulted
by undermining her morality

🡪 this comment reveals this asymmetry

cuckold n dated (man whose wife is cornuto, becco nm

unfaithful) (colloquiale, offensivo)
  Ivan howled in rage when he found out that he was a cuckold.
  Ivan urlò dalla rabbia quando scoprì di essere cornuto.

cuckold [sb]⇒ vtr dated (be unfaithful to: one's mettere le corna a [qlcn] vtr

husband) (colloquiale: tradire)
  The woman cuckolded her husband purely out of spite.
  La donna metteva le corna al marito per puro dispetto.

• Both “bachelor” and “spinster” mean “unmarried adult”

Common collocations (standard qualifications) for bachelor are “eligible bachelor” or “bachelor pad”. These
collocations reflect a positive view of single life for men; their lifestyle is desirable and they too are desirable.

“Spinster” is collocated with “lonely” or “old” and suggests an image of an older, unattractive woman

▪ The 2 different terms for unmarried adult suggest more generally that being unmarried is a positive
characteristic for a man but negative for a woman

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- ZITELLA 🡪 woman that hasn’t matured 🡪 a woman that has remained a child, if you don’t get married you are not
considered an adult. A woman needs a man to move from childhood to adulthood

- SCAPOLO 🡪 a free man, it is a considered in a positive way

🡪 Lexical asymmetries

Asymmetry in Titles

▪ Male: MR (he could be married or unmarried, it doesn’t really matter)

▪ Female: Miss (not married), Mrs (married), Ms (divorced, widow etc) 🡪 there is the need to express the women´s
status

LESSONS 33- 34

Asymmetry on a grammatical/lexical level

▪ Generic he + singular they

a) Every student should bring his books to class 🡪 This sentence was common in English before the Nineties. Since
the Nineties the English language has started to become more gender inclusive

🡪 Every student should bring their books to class 🡪 student is a neutral term 🡪 need to be more inclusive 🡪 sometimes
there can be an excess of political correctness.

There is an asymmetry from a grammatical point of view.

- Our language has shaped our worldview from a patriarchal point of view

The word “sindaca” may sound odd, but why?

Politically correct language or euphemistic expressions can sometimes hide the truth and the real intention of the
speaker (George Orwell) 🡪 you can use the word “person of color” and being racist anyway.

b) Every student should bring his/her books to class

c) The students should bring their books to class
d) Every student should bring their books to class.

▪ From the Nineties onwards the English language had introduced the singular “they” but at the beginning that was
considered grammatically incorrect 🡪 from a prescriptivist point of view it was not considered correct

- Apart from letter C and D when we use HIS/HER we always reduce genders to the sexual dimorphism, which
presupposes the difference and the division between men and women 🡪 we were assigned a sex BUT gender is
completely different 🡪 this division does not take into account that some people do not feel to belong to these
categories.

▪ “Somebody left their umbrella in the office. Could you please let him/her know where he/she (S/HE) can get it?”

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▪ “Somebody left their umbrella in the office. Could you please let them know where they can get it?”

▪ “The patient should be told at the outset how much they will be required to pay”

▪ “But a journalist should not be forced to reveal their sources”

🡪 Our language is male-oriented

▪ Referred to a transgender person: THEY WORKS in a bar 🡪 it us used to referred to someone who doesn’t see
themselves as a man or a woman from a genderic point of view

- From a linguistic point of view it is interesting to see how nowadays people negotiate these changes

Bouquet toss

- It is a cultural practice 🡪 all the girls fight in order to get the bouquet

- Women are in need of a man VS Men are running away from the bouquet 🡪 this conveys the idea that being a bride
will make you happy and being a groom will make your life miserable

- A woman is supposed to feel fulfilled only if she gets married

Garter toss

- The garter toss is basically seen as the male counterpart to the

bouquet toss, in which unmarried ladies compete to catch the
bride's bouquet

- The groom takes his wife´s garter with his teeth and then he
tosses the garter to his male friends

- An intimate piece of clothing that can trigger sexual fantasies 🡪

the groom shares a piece of his wife 🡪 the woman is reduced to a
sexual object

- A man is supposed to be happy if he has a one-night stand but a woman is supposed to be happy if she gets
married

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 ▪ Different ways of creating
stereotypes starting from
childhood 🡪 two different sets
of surprises

▪ Boys get cars and girls get

dolls

▪ Boys wear blue whereas girls

wear pink

▪ Boy 🡪 a tool box. A boy is

supposed to be practical. 🡪 If a
boy doesn’t feel to match with this idea, many problems can occur

▪ Girl 🡪 a handbag. A girl is supposed to love fashion

- A boy is supposed to become a doctor

- A girl is supposed to become a nurse

-
Advertising discourse 🡪 multi modal text 🡪 verbal
message + image

From 1886 they have constantly improved the efficiency

of their washing machines + the image of a woman that
uses the washing machines

- The woman in 2011 is portrayed in a professional

attire 🡪 a working woman (BUT no one will ever say a
working man, because a man is supposed to have a job)

- If a man is not able to do the washing up, to cook, to

clean, it is maybe because he was brought up in that way. He was not taught to do household chores. Stereotypes do
not only affect women but also men

- This image perpetuates certain stereotypes 🡪 On the

one hand people can consider it as an example of overt
sexism but on the other hand many people can consider
it funny 🡪 irony and humor used as persuasive
strategies 🡪 by using riddles, your cognitive abilities are
activated and the message becomes memorable 🡪 it is a
form of ego-targeting

- This image fuels the idea of a certain type of woman

who is willing to do everything that a man wants. Furthermore this can fuel rape culture

- If a woman responds to catcalling she is considered too strict and humorless

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 - Pun based on the double meaning of the word “blow”

- It is a matter of perlocution 🡪 what happens when people see it?

- The message is very direct 🡪 sexual reference

- The girl is miming a particular type of sex

- 7 inches 🡪 indirect reference to the size of a man’s penis

- The girl has her mouth open and she looks surprised. She is ready to receive the
sandwich, as if it were her job.

- She looks like a sex doll, she is wearing heavy makeup, she has blond hair, she is
supposed to be sensual and absent minded

▪ The surprised woman coupled with the oral sex imagery proliferates rape culture and negative sexual
stereotypes. It implies that "surprise" and possibly non-consensual oral sex is not wrong. This type of
advertisement can add to the myth that women wish to have sex forced upon them or that because of the
featured woman’s makeup she must be asking for the pictured euphemistic assault.
This continues the subliminally accepted idea that women “invite rape by their behavior and attire”

▪ The way women tend to be subliminally portrayed in advertising and in the linguistic
landscape in general is not only unnecessary, but dangerous.

• He could give her a chain of beads or a fine petticoat, her husband said; and there were tears in his eyes. How
could she disobey him?

(Virginia Woolf, A room of one’s own, 1929)

🡪 He thinks to be right

- Virginia Woolf never puts the blame on men, instead she always blames the society 🡪 she wants to dismantle the
US VS THEM dichotomy

“It is much cheaper than a therapist”

🡪 it implies that women are moody, depressed, dependent on men, easy to buy, it underlines their
vanity.

Irony and expectations

Dr Samuel Johnson (about women composing music):

“Sir, a woman’s composing is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs. It is not done well, but you are surprised to find
it done at all”. (1760)

Female writer/ Donna poliziotto - Female manager/ donna manager

La direttrice/ il direttore di orchestra

LA WOOLF/ LA MERKEL / LA RAGGI 🡪 there is the need to underline the fact that they are women

- In literature we use the article “il” when certain poets or writers have acquired a status (e.g. il Boccaccio, il
Leopardi)

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LESSON 35

✦ Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards

something as appealing because of its
bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many
of modernism's notions of what art is and what can be
classified as high art by inverting aesthetic attributes
such as beauty, value, and taste through an invitation of
a different kind of apprehension and consumption.

Camp can also be a social practice and function as a style

and performance identity for several types of
entertainment including film, cabaret, and pantomime.
Where high art necessarily incorporates beauty and value, camp necessarily needs to be lively, audacious and
dynamic. "Camp aesthetics delights in impertinence." Camp opposes satisfaction and seeks to challenge. The visual
style is closely associated with gay culture.
Camp art is related to—and often confused with—kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as
"cheesy". When the usage appeared in 1909, it denoted "ostentatious, exaggerated, affected,
theatrical; effeminate or homosexual" behavior, and by the middle of the 1970s, camp was defined by the college
edition of Webster's New World Dictionary as "banality, mediocrity, artifice, [and] ostentation ... so extreme as to
amuse or have a perversely sophisticated appeal" ✦

CAMP 🡪 a way of considering gender in an exaggerated way

This term was often confused with the term “kitsch”

▪ Camp and kitsch are based on 2 main elements: exaggeration and bad taste, which is reclaimed in order to change
its meaning. By doing so, bad taste becomes something positive 🡪 reversal of values

BUT camp and kitsch are two different concepts

- After Susan Sontag’s essay “Notes on Camp” the term camp became a symbol of a specific gay culture. It is in fact
often related to male homosexuality. This occurs when gay men decide to appropriate of a specific kind of
femininity.

- One on the first icon of the camp culture from the Sixties onwards was Divine, a transvestite.

Divine was the main star of the films by John Waters, a film director who used bad taste as a mark of style.

▪ Exaggerated femininity

Some gay people decided to appropriate this style and culture in order to stress that being feminine shouldn’t be
considered as a fault 🡪 but not all gay people embraced this culture 🡪 this can create an intra-group discrimination

CAMP = exaggeration of femininity

▪ “Camp” is a vision of the world in terms of style- but a particular style. It is the love of the exaggerated – Susan
Sontag, American writer

BUT What makes something feminine or masculine? 🡪 the concepts of masculinity and femininity are arbitrary

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LESSON 36

Representing gender identity and sexuality through language in the media: A case
study on Transgender Identities - Prof.ssa Angela Zottola

There are different layers 🡪 the first 3 layers are related to gender identities, the last to are related to sexuality

Trans identities

❖ TRANSGENDER: an umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from what is
typically associated with the sex they were born with
❖ TRANS: also an umbrella term that can be inclusive of a wide variety of identities under the transgender umbrella
❖ TRANS WOMAN: an individual whose sex at birth was male and now identifies as a woman
❖ TRANS MAN: an individual whose sex at birth was female and now identifies as a man
❖ TRANSSEXUAL: older term, preferred by some people who have or seek to change their bodies via medical
interventions

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Language, gender and sexuality

❖ Gender refers to the traits that men and women are assigned and how these can vary within different classes,
cultures and societies
❖ These traits are not immutable but assigned by a culture, socially determined and learned, and therefore not
beyond change

Language, gender and sexuality

❖ Deficit - Ascribes normative language use to (straight) men; implies (or states) that others’ language is
lacking/absent/deviant.
❖ Dominance - Ascribes linguistic differences to the asymmetrical power granted to men and women in society – a
refinement of the ‘deficit’ approach that is heavily influenced and informed by Feminist theories of the 1970s and
1980s.
❖ Difference - Ascribes linguistic differences to gender-based cultural differences: men and women inhabit different
worlds which lead them to use language in contrasting ways. Reframing the deficit/dominance stance in a positive
manner.
❖ Dynamic - gendered and sexual identities are constructed through communication, and embedded in context.
They are fluid, unstable and sensitive to social change/ individual attitudes.

Language, gender and sexuality

❖ Dynamic - gendered and sexual identities are constructed through communication, and embedded in context.
They are fluid, unstable and sensitive to social change/ individual attitudes.
‘Gay’ (men’s) Language?
- Early work on language and sexuality focused on the secret language(s) that gay men used to communicate
(lesbians and other sexualities were largely ignored).
- Identifying ‘gay language’, against the presumed norms of straight men’s language. The main focus in these early
studies was on the secret languages that gay men used to communicate (the language of lesbians was largely
ignored at this time).
- Rodgers 1972 – The Queen’s Vernacular: A Gay Lexicon.

Language, gender and sexuality

Rather than assuming that there is a ‘woman’s language’, a ‘man’s language’, a ‘gay language’… we assume that
identities are constructed, in context, through language (amongst other things). Judith Butler (1990) argues that we
all perform our gendered and sexual identities every day, consciously or not.

Language, gender and sexuality

✦ Judith Butler: Performativity
✦ Butler (1990) claims that gender is fluid and changes according to context
✦ She puts forward a theory of performativity, based on the idea that gendered cultural identities are achieved
through action and maintained through repeated performance

Language, gender and sexuality

Distinction between ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ political implications socially constructed differences between people
have been given biological explanations to justify practices of discrimination

Language, gender and sexuality

▪ Biological determinism perpetuates gender stereotypes about men and women’s behavior, including their linguistic
behavior
▪ Differences between men and women depend on socially prescribed gender roles rather than any biological
difference
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Why language?
▪ Identities are embodied within language
▪ Categorization can be done solely through language
▪ Labels that people attach to themselves and others to signal their belonging are actualized through language
▪ Words are the vehicles to express indexed ways of speaking and behaving through which people perform their
affiliation
▪ Other people interpret this performance by understanding that language
▪ These labels become a tool for people and are used to make sense of / fit gender identities into recognized
categories

LESSON 37

TWO SPIRITS PEOPLE 🡪 (it was a social and cultural category) 🡪 it is an umbrella term 🡪 combination of
female and male qualities
Before European Christians Forced Gender Roles, Native Americans Acknowledged 5 Genders

▪ Medicine, Beatrice (2002) et al. (eds.). "Directions in Gender Research in American Indian Societies: Two Spirits and
Other Categories” . Online Readings in Psychology and Culture. Center for Cross-Cultural Research, Western
Washington University.

Winkte (also spelled wíŋtke) is the contraction of an old Lakota word, winyanktehca, meaning '[wants] to be like a
woman'. Historically, the winkte have been considered a social category of assigned male at birth individuals who
adopt the clothing, work, and mannerisms that Lakota culture usually considers feminine. In contemporary Lakota
culture, winkte is usually used to refer to a homosexual man, whether or not that man is in other ways gender
nonconforming. They may or may not consider themselves part of the more mainstream gay, LGBT, or pan-Indian
two-spirit communities.

While historical accounts of their status vary, most accounts treated the winkte as regular members of the
community, and not in any way marginalized for their status. Other accounts held the winkte as sacred, occupying a
liminal third-gender role in the culture, and born to fulfill ceremonial roles that could not be filled by either men or
women... In contemporary Lakota communities, attitudes toward the winkte vary from accepting to homophobic.

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▪ Beatrice Medicine:

“In my childhood, we were aware of this social category, which was referred to as winkte. We, as children, were
instructed, "There are these individuals – in all cases males (wicasa). They are different. They are winkte. Don't
make fun of them. They are also Lakota," said our parents and grandparents”

Coming to Terms with Navajo "nádleehí": A Critique of “Berdache," "Gay," "Alternate

Gender," and "Two-Spirit"

Author(s): Carolyn Epple Source: American Ethnologist, Vol. 25, No. 2 (May, 1998), pp. 267-290

▪ Osh-Tisch was born a male and married a female, but

adorned himself in women’s clothing and lived daily life
as a female.

On June 17 1876, he gained his reputation when he

rescued a fellow tribesman during the Battle of Rosebud
Creek. An act of fearless bravery.

Who are the Native American Two Spirits?

Native American two-spirits were male, female, who combined activities of both men and women with traits
unique to their status as two spirits.

In most tribes, they were considered neither men nor women, neither hetero nor homosexual.

▪ It wasn’t until Europeans took over North America that natives adopted the ideas of gender roles.
For Native Americans, there was no set of rules that men and women had to abide by in order to be considered a
“normal” member of their tribe.

▪ In Native American cultures, parents did not assign gender roles to children either, and even children’s clothing
tended to be gender neutral. There were no ideas or ideals about how a person should love; it was simply a
natural act that occurred without judgement or hesitation.

Without a negative stigma attached to being a Two Spirit, there were no inner-tribal incidents or violence toward
the chosen people simply due to the fact that individuals identified as both genders and that was just “normal”

▪ Religious influences soon brought serious prejudice and stigmatization against “gender diversity,” and so this
forced once openly alternative or androgynous people to one of two choices.

They could either live in hiding, and in fear of being found out, or they could end their lives. Many of whom did
just that.

▪ Each tribe had their own specific term but these individuals were recorded as BERDACHE, by anthropologists.

The Navajo refer to Two Spirits as Nádleehí (“the one is changing,” in the sense of undergoing constant
transformation), among the Lakota is Winkté (indicative of a male behaving as a female), or Niizh Manidoowag
(two spirit united) in Ojibwe, Hemaneh (half man, half woman).

As the purpose of “Two Spirit” is to be used as a universal term in the English language, it is not always
translatable with the same meaning in Native languages.
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▪ In 1993, calls have been made to replace “berdache” with “two spirit.” A group of anthropologists and natives
issued guidelines that formalized these preferences. “Berdache,” they argued, is a term “that has its origins in
Western thought and languages.” Scholars were asked to drop its use altogether and were encouraged to use
tribally specific terms for multiple genders or the term “two spirit.” “Two spirit” was also identified as the
preferred label of contemporary gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender natives.

Irony and expectations 🡪 Sexist, homophobic, transphobic jokes.

Elliot Page Comes Out As Transgender (Technoinfoplus.com)

Elliot Page has come out as transgender and it has become the most trending news at the moment. The star is
famous for Oscar-nominated movies like Inception and Juno. He has changed his name from Ellen to Elliot on coming
out as transgender. In his official statement, he thanked people for their support. However, he said, “The truth is,
despite feeling profoundly happy right now and knowing how much privilege I carry, I am also scared. I’m scared
of the invasiveness, the hate, the ‘jokes’ and of violence.”

🡩 Intersectional discrimination: ethnic slur + dysphemistic expression (faggot)

Faggot

1) late 13c., "bundle of twigs bound up", also fagald, faggald, from Old French fagot "bundle of sticks" (13c.), of
uncertain origin, probably from Italian fagotto "bundle of sticks," diminutive of Vulgar Latin *facus, from Latin fascis
"bundle of wood“

Especially used for burning heretics (emblematic of this from 1550s), so that phrase fire and faggot was used to
indicate "punishment of a heretic."

2) "male homosexual" 1914, American English slang, probably from earlier contemptuous term for "woman"
(1590s), especially an old and unpleasant one, in reference to faggot (n.1) "bundle of sticks "worthless woman,"
1590s).
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1922, James Joyce, Ulysses (chapter 18): …he used to be pretending to be laid up with a sick voice doing his highness
to make himself interesting for that old faggot Mrs Riordan that he thought he had a great leg ….

Faggot 🡪 used to describe unattractive women, today it is used to describe gay men.

Women are weak, hysterical, men are impassive 🡩

Irony plays a crucial role in persuading people

- How many men does it take to screw in a light bulb? 🡪 One. He just holds it up there and waits for the world to
revolve around him.

- What is a man's process for sorting out their laundry? 🡪 Disgusting, dirty, dirty but wearable.

- What gets easier to pick up the heavier it becomes? 🡪 A woman.

- E Dio disse: "pagherai con il sangue" e la donna rispose: "posso pagare a rate?" e fu così inventato il ciclo!

- Tra due amici: - "vedi quella? è una ragazza Ikea!" - " cioè?" - "si monta facilmente, ma vale poco"

Music Discourse: Eminem

▪ Smack that, all on the floor / Smack that, give me some more / Smack that, till you get sore / Smack that, oooh /
Smack that, all on the floor / Smack that, give me some more / Smack that, till you get sore / Smack that, oooh
Eminem - Smack That

▪ Even though I know it's lies / I'm tired of the games / I just want her back / I know I'm a liar / If she ever tries to
f***ing leave again / I'm gonna tie her to the bed and set this house on fire Eminem – Love the way you lie

I want to break a table over the back of a couple of faggots and crack it in half”; “you fags think it’s all a game”;
“all you lil’ faggots can suck it”.

When interviewed by Rolling Stone, he asserted that he never really “equated those words to actually mean
homosexual […] It was more like calling someone a bitch or a punk or asshole” (Hiatt 2013)

• Through identification and indirect interaction with their idol, Eminem fans are likely to iterate those
expressions in general speech, reinforcing group-coehesiveness and groupspeak through social and linguistic
camaraderie. (Federico Sabatini 2017)

US vs OTHERS (CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC DIVIDE)

To conclude: sexist based on sex

Sexual derogatory words are being used against women all the time. Mistress, a woman with whom a man carries
out an extra-marital affair, has no masculine equivalent. A woman with multiple sex partners is called a prostitute,

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a bitch, a slut, but a man with multiple sex partners is called a player (one that has fun) or a womanizer (one that
USES women, that PERFORMS ACTIVITIES on them).

Meanwhile, insults for men largely stem from allusions to weakness and femininity, either from references to
women or stereotypically feminine/effeminate/homosexual men, such as pussy, cunt, sissy, wimp, poofter,
motherfucker, cocksucker, son of a bitch. From the example above, the woman is the bitch while the man is the
son of a bitch 🡪 persuasive influence that this might have in the construction of worldviews, gender asymmetries
and double standards (both from a sexist and a homophobic/transphobic point of view)

Other examples are:

1. Easy
2. Frigid
3. Loose
4. Sluts
5. Cougars

Derogatory words based on behavior

1. Gossipy
2. Useless
3. Garrulous (chatty)
4. Talkative

Derogatory words based on emotions/sensitivity. Both sexist and homophobic:

1. Cry-babies
2. Drama queen
3. Emotional
4. Hormonal
5. Moody
6. Irrational

Derogatory words based on work/achievements

Female doctor – (female doctor versus male nurse). A medical doctor has to be a man while a nurse will definitely be
a woman.
1. Female engineer
2. Female professor
3. Housewife
4. Stay-at-home mum/ working mothers (BUT we don’t say working fathers, a man is always supposed to work)
5. Career women
6. Mumpreneur
7. Female cop
8. Female judge

🡪 Some jobs are associated to men, other to women

▪ A glass ceiling: metaphor used to represent an invisible barrier that

prevents a given demographic from rising beyond a certain level in a
hierarchy… especially in the job market.

▪ Intercultural communication is really about otherness, the

construction of otherness and the construction of techniques that
can increase the othering process.
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▪ Language 🡪 it is a way to express one’s identity BUT we have to be careful with the language we use when we
express our identity and when we listen to the language that other people use when they communicate their
identity

Conclusions

Clyde Kluckhohn (1905 – 1960): American anthropologist and social theorist, best known for his long-term
ethnographic work among the Navajo

• We are like some other human beings, we also create groups (cultural groups, linguistic groups, gender groups) 🡪
within a group people are different 🡪 we speak our idiolect

• At the same time we are all similar but also different 🡪 differences must be considered as an added value.

• We should always try to create cohesiveness and to get to a rapport 🡪 us VS them

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