Description
While ritual is often associated with phenomena such as ceremonies, cursing and etiquette, it actually encompasses something much more important: it includes all instances of communally oriented language use. As such, ritual manifests itself in many forms in our daily lives, such as politeness, swearing and humour, and in many different life situations, spanning trash talk in sports events, through market bargaining, to conventional social pleasantries. This pioneering book provides an introduction to ritual language use by providing a cutting-edge, language-anchored and replicable framework applicable for the study of ritual in different datatypes and languages. The framework is illustrated with a wealth of case studies drawn from Chinese and Anglophone rituals which demonstrate how to use it effectively. The book is essential reading for both academics and students, and is relevant to pragmatics, applied linguistics and other fields.
Table of Contents
List of Figures; List of Tables; Acknowledgements; Foreword; 1. Introduction; Part I. The Language of Ritual: Foundations; 2. Interaction Ritual – The Basics; 3. Order in the Extraordinary – More on the Ritual Perspective; 4. 'Politeness' in the Realm of The Overly Ordinary – Concluding Notes on The Ritual Perspective; Part II. Ritual Frame in Interaction: The Complex Interactional Features of Ritual; 5. Mimesis; 6. (Self-)Display; 7. Liminality; Part III. Methodological issues; 8. Methodological Take 1A: The Relationship Between Expressions and Ritual; 9. Methodological Take 1B: The Relationship Between Speech Acts and Ritual; 10. Methodological Take 2A: Capturing Ritual Practices; 11. Methodological Take 2B: Describing Ritual Contexts; 12. Conclusion; References; Notes; Index.
