Main reading: Edwards (2023)
Ways of speaking and communicating are things we share with others. We have often emphasized the ways in which communication as a resource is unequally shared. This discussion of the experience of DeafBlind communication through touch helps to think about the phenomenal reality of communication itself and its implications for being in community.
| American | Auhelawa | |
| Ripped jeans | Hip, stylish, bohemian | Poor, rural, simple (bilibilij) |
| Unwashed hair | Dirty, unhygienic | Respectful of father’s matrikin during a time of mourning |
Goffman: We need to distinguish between signals that we give and those we give off (Goffman 1973, 2).
A: I really will pay you back five dollars. I am honest. You can trust me.
B: Your promises mean nothing. I can tell from the sound of your voice.
A: I am a strict vegan. No eggs for me!
B: That's not what you said last week.
A: Isn't it funny how [Hideous cultural stereotype]? LOL!
B: Oh my God, that's awful. How could you say that to me?
A: I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. You're too sensitive.
Consider two examples from Bucholtz and Hall (2005):
Mirroring signs is how people can learn to create signs by matching the movement and form of a teacher (Hoffman-Dilloway 2011, 286).
In the way that a lot of communication in interaction is phatic, a lot of it is on some level mirroring:
Bucholtz, Mary, and Kira Hall. 2005. “Identity and Interaction: A Sociocultural Linguistic Approach.” Discourse Studies 7 (4–5): 585–614. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445605054407.
Edwards, Terra. 2023. “The Hands as Reflex Republic.” Signs and Society 11 (2): 223–35. https://doi.org/10.1086/724180.
Goffman, Erving. 1973. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Overlook Press.
Hoffmann-Dilloway, Erika. 2011. “Lending a Hand: Competence through Cooperation in Nepal’s Deaf Associations.” Language in Society 40 (3): 285–306. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404511000194.
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