Instrumentalities This refers to the style we adopt in our speech. For instance, when we are engaged in any casual conversations, our words comprise mostly colloquial expressions. However, in any formal situation, we choose our words carefully. Two words may mean the same thing, but each of them is used indifferent speech style. For instance, the word loo is an informal expression, while its formal counterparts are gents, ladies or convenience. Norms Norms refer to the social rules governing the behaviour of people when they speak. Such rules govern their actions and reactions in the speech situation. There are norms for every speech community. For instance, in Yoruba land, when younger male persons greet older people, they prostrate in addition to what they say. The whole idea of greeting therefore is not just saying the words, but also performing the gesture that goes along with the words. Genre Genre refers to the kind of speech act being performed. Different speech communities have different ways of identifying a genre. 4.0 Conclusion Linguistic Anthropology is a hybrid discipline combining the methods of Anthropology and Linguistics in its investigation. One typical feature of Linguistic Anthropology is its dependence on the social context and culture of conversation. It depends on the practices of a community and the real events that take place while the linguistic performance is going on. Dell Hymes identified a set of components necessary for the interpretation of speech, which he called Ethnography of Speaking representing each letter of the word SPEAKING with another word that describes these components. 5.0 Summary In this Unit, we looked at the discipline – Linguistic Anthropology and some of the terms used in it. The idea of a speech community is very vital to the discipline because every linguistic behaviour is not only enacted within a particular speech community. It is also made to follow the norms and practices in the community. We also noted that a speech event is asocial activity planned and structured in a particular way to be identified as meaningful. In addition, we also looked at the factors that come to play in
43 any typical speech situation or event. These factors help to shape the meaning of the event.
