Linguistic Variation and Social Practices of Normative Masculinity: Authority and Multifunctional Humour in a Dublin Sports Club

by Fergus O'Dwyer

Overview

This book explores the ways in which linguistic variation and complex social practices interact toward the formation of male interactional identities in a sports club in Dublin, illustrating the affordances of studying sporting contexts in contributing to advancing sociolinguistic theory.

Adopting a participant-informed ethnographic approach, the book examines both the social interactional contexts within the club and the sociopragmatic and sociophonetic features which contribute to the different performances of masculinity in and outside the club. The volume focuses particularly on the linguistic analysis of humor and its multifunctional uses as a means of establishing solidarity and social ties but also aggression, competitiveness, and status within the social world of this club as well as similar such clubs across Ireland. The book’s unique approach is intended to complement and build on existing sociolinguistic studies looking at linguistic variation in groups by supporting quantitative data with ethnographically informed insights to look at social meaning in interaction from micro-, meso-, and macro-levels.

This book will be of particular interesting to graduate students and scholars in sociolinguistics, language, gender, and sexuality, and language and identity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032336817
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/13/2022
Series:	Routledge Studies in Sociolinguistics
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Fergus O’Dwyer is a lecturer at the Marino Institute of Education (an associated college of Trinity College Dublin), with previous posts in Germany, Ireland, and Japan.

Table of Contents

List of Tables xi

List of Figures xiii

Acknowledgments xiv

List of Abbreviations xv

Transcription Conventions xvi

1 Introduction: Social Meaning and Language in Club Fingal 1

1.1 Identity and Language 4

1.1.1 Overview of Identity and Language in Dublin 8

1.2 Broad Overview of Dublin 15 and Gaelic Games 12

1.2.1 Dublin 15 12

1.2.2 Gaelic-Games 18

1.3 Overview of Research Aims, Methods, and Results 24

1.4 Organization of the Book 31

2 The Ethnographic Study of Normative Masculinity in a Sports Club 38

2.1 Gender, Masculinity, and Sports in Sociolinguistic Research 39

2.1.1 Identity and Sociolinguistics 39

2.1.2 Gender and Masculinity 41

2.2 Ethnographic Data Collection Decisions 45

2.2.1 Analytical Framework 46

2.2.1.1 Quantitative Analysts 49

2.2.1.2 Qualitative Analysis 50

2.3 Ethnographic Profile of Club Fingal 52

2.3.1 Club Fingal in Context 54

2.3.2 The Social Aspects of Involvement in Club Fingal 56

2.4 Communication in Club Fingal 60

2.4.1 Perceptions of Language in Club Fingal 61

2.4.2 Overview of Salient Interactional Identities and Types of Talk 66

2.4.3 Sociolinguistic Profile of the Types of Talk 74

2.4.4 Observations of Humour 79

2.4.4.1 Direct, Straight Talk 80

2.4.4.2 Witticisms 81

2.4.4.3 Threads of Humour 83

2.5 Preliminary Summary of the Social Space and Language of Club Fingal 85

3 Sociophonetic Analysis of PRICE 88

3.1 Analysis of PRICE 90

3.1.1 Analysis of Significant Predictors 94

3.1.2 Intraspeaker Variation and Type of Talk 96

3.1.3 Overall Variation of PRICE Tokens and Type of Talk 97

3.1.4 Salient Patterns that Emerged From Statistical Analysis of PRICE Tokens 99

3.2 The Discourse Functions of Lower and Retracted PRICE Offsets 100

3.2.1 Inferring a Position of Knowledge or Authority 101

3.2.2 Quoting Other Authoritative Positions 108

3.2.3 Asserting Authority in a Conversation 113

3.2.4 Other Phonetic Considerations 116

3.2.5 Following Consonant 118

3.2.6 Sociolinguistics Interpretations of Salient Patterns 119

3.3 Summary: PRICE and Epistemic Status 125

4 Sociophonetic Analysis of Word-Final /t/ 128

4.1 Analysis of Word-Final /t/ 130

4.1.1 Statistical Analysis 130

4.1.2 Salient Patterns of Variation in Word-Final /t/ 131

4.1.3 Individual Slit-t Variation 136

4.2 The Discourse Functions of the Word-Final Slit-t Variant 138

4.2.1 Slit-t Indicates Speaker Will Adopt a Sociopragmatic Position 139

4.2.2 Slit-t Introduces a Point of Sociopragmatic Weight 141

4.2.3 Slit-t 'does' Sociopragmatic Work, With a Pause 146

4.2.4 To Emphasize a Point 151

4.3 Pragmatic Markers and Sociophonetic Variation 152

4.3.1 Other Considerations Regarding Variation in Word-Final /t/ 157

4.4 Summary: Frication and Emphasizing Their Contribution of the Speaker 158

5 Humour in Club Fingal 160

5.1 Collegial Humour and Solidarity in Club Fingal 161

5.1.1 Ice Bucket Challenge 162

5.1.2 "Ye Turned Up!" 164

5.1.3 "I'll Take the Two of Youse on in a Snowball Fight!" 167

5.1.4 Solidarity-Building and Boundary-Maintaining Humour 170

5.2 'Edgy' Humour in Club Fingal 173

5.2.1 "I Think You Really Are Fucken Mad Fergus" 174

5.2.2 "I Am a Manager Now" 176

5.2.3 "I Could Have Hit That Over the Bar With One Hand!" 178

5.2.4 "I Know More About Football Than You!" 179

5.2.5 "Go Bake a Fucken Cake" 180

5.2.6 "It Was Definitely a Fucken Handball!" 181

5.3 Multifunctionality of Humour in Club Fingal 187

5.4 Summary of Humour in Club Fingal 189

6 Conclusion: Linguistic Variation and Social Practices of Normative Masculinity 191

6.1 Results of the Club Fingal Ethnography 191

6.2 Implications and Outlook 194

6.2.1 Implications for the Study of Dublin and Irish English 195

6.2.2 Male Identities and the Sociolinguistics of Sport 197

6.2.3 Social Meaning and Indexicality 200

6.2.3.1 A Critique of Ethnographically Informed, Qualitatively Skewed Mixed Methods 201

6.2.4 Reflexivity in Ethnography 205

References 207

Appendices 221

Index 241

Editorial Reviews

"[This book] is a compelling analysis that I expect will hold a great deal of interest both to those whose focus is the connection between sociophonetics and pragmatics and to those whose interest lies in gender, masculinities, and normativity.” - Holly Cashman, University of New Hampshire, USA, Journal of Sociolinguistics

From the Publisher