On Speech Events

You know when people say their life reads like a movie script? I've learnt that our everyday utterances are almost exactly that - scripted. Speech events follow a orderly pattern and, though it allows for a few variations, tend to be rather predictable. They include colloquial language, which would effectively distinguishes members of one culture from another.

Dr Deng mentioned that the term "Speech Events" originated from anthropologists and sociologists. So it got me thinking back on what indigenous speech events I've come across in my studies as a Soci major. And since I took a module on visual ethnography last semester, the film "To Live with Herds" (1971), by David and Judith MacDougall, stood out. It documents the life of Jie tribesmen in Uganda who are struggling to hang onto a pastoral lifestyle of cattle herding, as the country transitions into a modern capitalist society.

The Jie men are responsible for rearing the cattle and bringing these animals to graze in far-off plains, while the women stay behind at the homestead. I particularly liked the film's ending when Logoth, after walking miles from the Jie homestead (which he was initially left in charge of protecting), arrives at the cattle camp and exchanges greetings with his fellow Jie native. Here's the translated dialogue which i got from this website: 

Friend: Hail, Logoth.
Logoth: Hail.

Friend: Hail, again.

Logoth: Hail, then.

Friend: Welcome.

Logoth: Hail to the compound.

Friend: You've come from home.

Logoth: Yes.

Friend: Indeed.

Logoth: I came.

Friend: Indeed.

Logoth: I came.

Friend: What's the news?

Logoth: None.

Friend: There's none.

Logoth: There's nothing.

Friend: Everything's normal.

Logoth: Only hunger is at home.

Friend: Indeed.

Logoth: And the Turkana raiding. [Turkana was a rival tribe]

Friend: Indeed.

Logoth: We're well here.

Friend: Yes.

Logoth: We're well here.

Friend: Hail, Reto. [I don't know who Reto is]

Logoth: Hail.

Friend: Hail to the cattle camps.

Logoth: Hail to my greeting to you.

Friend: May you grow old and walk with a stick. [I'm pretty sure that meant living to a ripe old age]

Logoth: Hail with thanks.

Friends: To cows.

Logoth: To our seeing each other again.

Friend: May you live.

Logoth: Hail next time too.

Friend: May you always live with herds.

  

Even in the most obscure of cultures, act sequences are still being played out. With the final sentence, Logoth's friend was expressing the hope that all other Jie natives share - to be able to sustain their indigenous livelihoods in the face of Uganda's rapid progress and modernization. The conversation provides a little insight to a longing for better days ahead, to the implicit traditional values that Jie people hold dear to their hearts.

Connotative meaning is something in which outsiders definitely need more effort to decipher and understand. Ah, the rich layers of cultural linguistics.

On Speech Acts

I thought it was particularly fascinating to know that cultural systems can significantly affect our language conventions. Since speech acts are non-universal, inappropriate use might result in highly embarrassing social gaffes.

Case in point: My HK-born bestfriend's graduation last thursday. She was to introduce her new (eurasian, non-chinese speaking) boyfriend to her parents and the said boyfriend, in his eagerness to please his potential future mother-in-law, tried picking up a few Cantonese phrases to better strike up a conversation. My bestfriend taught him "lei hou ma?", which simply meant "how are you?". But when he finally met her mother, he was probably too excitedly nervous that he ending up uttering something along the lines of "lei lou mou", which literally translates into "your old mother" instead! no bluff. Talk about making a lasting impression though.

Another thing that struck me was the sharing by Laura Trice on compliments. It's so true that people don't spend enough time affirming even their own loved ones. I'm not sure, but maybe Orientals are more stingy with compliments because they're afraid that if they give out compliments too frequently, they might appear superficial, patronizing and insincere to others. At the end of the day, it all boils down to whether we're able to successfully tweak our cultural expectations to suit whichever linguistic context we're in.

Okay, until next time :)