Ethnography of Communication | SPEAKING model | Dell Hymes | Short Notes

• Study of Communication within the background of social and cultural practices and beliefs.
• Introduced by Dell Hymes in 1962: "Introduction: Toward Ethnographies of Communication."
• Understanding a language in an anthropological perspective. 

TWO MAIN PURPOSES

1. To investigate directly the use of language in contexts of situations so as to discern patters proper to speech activity.
2. To take as framework a community, exploring its unrestrained habits as a whole.

MODEL

• Language cannot be studies in isolation.
• Has to be studied in the wider context of cultural and social aspects.
• It has a specific context, individual - cultural norms and beliefs.

"SPEAKING" Model

S - Setting and Scene - the physical location.

P - Participants - the people taking part.

E - Ends - purpose and outcome.

A - Act Sequence - the speech acts and the                   sequence.

K - Key - tone and manner.

I - Instrumentalities - the medium of communication.

N - Norms of interaction - rules of speech.

G - Genres - the type of speech, cultural context.