The pragmatics of linguistic injustice
In this thesis, I examine a particular kind of breakdown that occurs when a person with relatively little social power is unable to do ordinary things with their words. Specifically, I look at a model for understanding unjust pragmatic dysfunction, which is a kind of wrong that belongs to a wider class of injustices that are experienced through or in virtue of, language. This wider class of breakdowns I will call âlinguistic injusticeâ. I will suggest that judgements about what a speaker is trying to do with their words can be undermined by culturally shared values and norms of behavior. I start with the work of Rae Langton, who puts forward a schema for which to understand silencing qua speech acts (the actions performed through and by speech), that builds upon J.L. Austinâs 1962 work How To Do Things with Words. I move on to present an altered account of these instances that attempts to describe how addressees are unable to accurately understand the speech acts of people from traditionally oppressed groups. Finally, I bring in sociolinguistic tools in order to help understand the mechanics of those failures I will call âillocutionary deafeningâ. This will allow for the careful examination of the
Pennington, Ashley Lauren
The pragmatics of linguistic injustice. In this thesis, I examine a particular kind of breakdown that occurs when a person with relatively little social power is unable to do ordinary things with their words. Specifically, I look at a model for understanding unjust pragmatic dysfunction, which is a kind of wrong that belongs to a wider class of injustices that are experienced through or in virtue of, language. This wider class of breakdowns I will call âlinguistic injusticeâ. I will suggest that judgements about what a speaker is trying to do with their words can be undermined by culturally shared values and norms of behavior. I start with the work of Rae Langton, who puts forward a schema for which to understand silencing qua speech acts (the actions performed through and by speech), that builds upon J.L. Austinâs 1962 work How To Do Things with Words. I move on to present an altered account of these instances that attempts to describe how addressees are unable to accurately understand the speech acts of people from traditionally oppressed groups. Finally, I bring in sociolinguistic tools in order to help understand the mechanics of those failures I will call âillocutionary deafeningâ. This will allow for the careful examination of the
pragmatic linguistic injustice examine particular_kind breakdown occur person relatively_little social_power unable ordinary thing word specifically look model unjust pragmatic kind wrong belongs wider class injustice experience virtue language wider class breakdown call linguistic injustice suggest judgement speaker try word undermine culturally share value norm behavior start work put_forward schema silence qua speech_act action perform speech build_upon work things words move present alter account instance attempt_describe addressee unable accurately speech_act people traditionally oppress group finally bring sociolinguistic tool order_help mechanic failure call illocutionary allow careful examination