Topic-based variation as both cognitive and agentive
Identity politics, deaf speakers, and hearing researcher
Topic-based style-shifting refers to the variation pattern that, when people talk about a topic, they shift to a linguistic style which is associated with the topic. Most of the research on topic-based variation in read speech have not taken stance-taking into consideration. This study argues that stance-taking needs to be included in the analysis of topic-based variation, for reading something aloud is a practice where individuals engage with the message communicated in a text. This study looks at the socially salient variable /ʂ/ in Taiwan Mandarin, and how deaf speakers exploit this variable to perform their stances towards a passage concerned with the political relationship between hearing people and deaf signers. The findings show that participants who demonstrate a stance of deaf solidarity diverge from standard speech styles in their repertoires when reading the deaf passage.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Topic-based style-shifting
- 3.Research design
- 3.1Reading tasks
- 3.2Participants and the researcher
- 4.Linguistic variable: /ʂ/, to retroflex or not
- 4.1Hearing people and /ʂ/
- 4.2‘Deaf accents’ and /ʂ/
- 5.Stance-taking analysis
- 5.1A stance of solidarity
- 5.2Stance of distance
- 6.Data analysis
- 6.1Pathologised speakers
- 6.2Non-pathologised speakers
- 7.Discussion
- 8.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
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References