Ethnography of Communication

1. ETHNOGRAPHY OF
COMMUNICATION

2. ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
 The term „ethnography of communication‟ was
proposed by D.H. Hymes; initially coined as
"Ethnography of speaking” (1962); redefined in
1964 in “Introduction: Toward Ethnographies of
Communication.”
 The Ethnography of communication(or Ethnography
of speaking) studies uses, patterns and functions of
speaking as an activity in concrete social settings in
the speech community.

3. ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
 The ethnography of communication is an approach
to discourse that is based on anthropology and
linguistics.
 It examines speech events within the social context
in which they occur, and in particular, examines
patterns of language use in specific groups,
communities, institutions, and societies.

4. ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
 The goal of ethnography of communication is to
study the communicative competence of a specific
speech community by discovering and analyzing
patterns of communication that organize the use of
language in particular communicative activities.

5. ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
 The aim of the ethnography of communication is to
explore the means of speaking available to
members of a particular community.
 This includes the examination of formal, informal
and ritual events within a particular group of
speakers.

6. ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
 It explores language use in particular social and
cultural settings, drawing together both
anthropological and linguistic views on
communication.
 This examination also includes the varieties of
language used within the community as well as the
speech acts and genres available to the members
of the community.

7. ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
 SPEECH COMMUNITY
 The notion of speech community is the central to
the ethnography of communication. Hymes (1986)
describes a speech community as a group which
share rules for the conduct and interpretation of
speech.
 Gumperz (1986) defines a speech community as a
group that has regular and frequent interaction that
is characterized by shared patterns of interaction
and communication.

8. ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
 SPEECH COMMUNITY (Cont’d) A number of
criteria for identifying a speech community have
been suggested by researchers in this area, each
of which often interact. These includes:
 1. Shared language use; 2. Frequency of
interaction by a group of people; 3. Shared rules of
speaking and interpretation of speech; 4. Shared
attitudes and values regarding language forms and
use; and 5. Shared socio-cultural understanding
and presuppositions with regard to speech. (Saville-
Troike)

9. ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
 SPEECH COMMUNITY
 Hymes (1972) suggests that members of a speech
community share "rules" for when and how to
speak.
 For Example: tribes, neighborhoods, religious
congregations, towns, clubs, etc.

10. ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
 SPEECH EVENTS
 Hymes describes speech events often coinciding with
what other researchers might term „genres‟.
 Speech events, for Hymes, are activities that are directly
governed by rules or norms for the use of speech.
(1974a:52).
 Hymes gives stories, conversation, lectures and formal
introductions as examples of speech events.
 In Hymes‟ view speech events should be treated as
analytically independently of one another, as one
speech event (for example, a sermon) may be invoked
in another speech event, or situation for a certain effect.

11. ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
 COMMUNICATIVE UNITS
 Hymes (1974:65) describes three units which can
be identified to analyze communicative activities as
follows:
1. The communicative situation,
2. The communicative event,
3. The communicative acts or „stages‟ within the
communicative event.

12. ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
 Communicative Situation
 the context in which the communicative activity
occurs. Typically, terms exist in the language by
which to label situation, such as: a church,
classroom, etc.
 the communicative situation occurs within a speech
community; refers to any social situation in which
communication is an element.

13. ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
 Communicative event
 an event which has the same components
throughout, such as: the same general purpose,
setting, topic, participants, language variety, tone,
and rules for interaction.
 It has a beginning and an end.
 Hymes (1972) describes a party as a
communicative situation and a conversation at the
party as a communicative event.

14. ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
 Communicative acts
 The communicative act is generally coterminous
with a single interactional function, such as: a
request, or a command, and may be either verbal
or non verbal.

15.  Communicative situation: scene (cultural) and
setting (physical)
 Communicative event: within communicative
situation, composed of communicative acts
 Communicative act: minimal unit of communicative
event By contrast with turns, pairs, sentences etc