AS Language - Power

AS Language Frameworks..

1. Gender
2. Power
3. Technology

Power..

There are 3 types of power in language:

1. Political - power held by politicians on those in the courts
2. Personal - people who have power because of their occupation or role e.g. policeman
3. Social Group - those who have power because of social variables e.g. class, wealth, gender..

And then..

1. Instrumental power - power used to tempt to maintain authority (and enforce authority) EXAMPLE - policeman, captains, lieutenants, firemen, managers
2. Influential power - power used to attempt to persuade or influence others EXAMPLE - shop workers, politicians, advertisement, speech makers

Power in written texts include: ads, court, legal notices, small print on products, school reports etc. Powerful texts will be written mainly in imperatives and declaratives. Powerful texts should also make extensive use of modal auxiliary verbs such as should, must, will etc. 

Power in spoken texts:

• Power asymmetry - marked power difference in the status of the participant in a conversation
• Unequal encounter - difference in power is reflected in the speech
• Powerful participant - where a person with the higher power status imposes their power in the conversation
• Less powerful participants - where a person with the lower power status is susceptible to the linguistic constraints placed upon them by the powerful participants
• Linguistic constraints - linguistic techniques used by the powerful participant to exert control in the conversation. Examples include interrupting or controlling topics

Theorists for Power..

Conversation theory - H.P. Grice

Grice's maxims of conversation

- communication is a co-operation activity

Speakers behave in certain predictable ways, listeners assume they're being cooperative.

1. Quality - when someone speaks to us, we assume they are telling the truth
2. Quantity - when someone speaks to us, we assume that they give us all of the information we need
3. Manner - we are going to be told the information as clearly as possible
4. Relevance - what they are saying is relative

Not following these maxims will..

• 'violate' a maxim and be intentionally misleading
• 'opt out' of a maxim and refuse to co-operate
• deal with a 'clash' of maxims for example between saying enough and saying all that we know to be true
• 'flout' a maxim and be intentionally ironic

Politeness - Goffman

- if we want co-operation we also need to be polite

Goffman saw that without politness conversation didn't work and that the need for politeness was rooted in 'saving face'

Negative Face

All the things we say to avoid imposing our demands on others e.g. 

'I'm sorry to bother you but..'

'Could I please borrow'

The underlined words are called 'mitigating devices'

Positive Face

Everything we might say to show that we agree with, respect and like someone.

Face Threatening Act

Conversational turns that risk a 'loss of face'