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previous encounters. This is what he calls ventriloquation. Finally, that which is not said—
silence—is often overlooked as a unit of analysis or as an analytical tool. Bakhtin, like Derrida
and Foucault, acknowledges the importance and power of silence (Foucault, p. 101). Absence of
talk at particular moments is as indicative of meaning as utterances themselves. Thus, silence in
its various forms—failure to respond, withdrawals from conversations, and avoidance—are also
crucial (cf. Goffman, 1967).
Before continuing in the analysis if this excerpt, I would like to make a cautionary remark
about categorizing social languages, speech genres, and voices as belonging to specific groups
of people. Using this model, it is very easy slip into modes of stereotyping or essentializing
individuals according to perceived social languages, speech genres or voices. Although voice
does offer freedom from stereotypes since it partially encompasses individual intent, voice may
also partially express social languages and speech genres of the individual’s social world.
Discourse analysts using this particular method and these terms should be weary of the social
implications, as they may support claims about certain people fitting stereotyped roles. I am
particularly aware of this because my data shows that these categories cannot be maintained in
the interaction between these two girls.
In this excerpt (Excerpt 2), Erika and Heather are initially operating within two different
social frames (see Wodak, p. 177).
16
Erika’s social language (henceforth, “Erika’s social
language”) is one that informs the accent of her (Bakhtinian) voice, the pronunciation of particular
words (action) and informs her speech genre. It is one particular but not limited to African
American youths in the urban areas of the San Francisco Bay Area, nor does it encompass all
African American youths in these areas. Erika’s social language is informed by the Oakland rap
community as opposed to other rap and hip-hop communities (i.e., Los Angeles, New York, or
"The Dirty South") in the United States, and this difference manifests itself in the speech genre
16
A “frame conflict” is defined as “value systems, the structuring of knowledge and traditions and all diverge
and cause misunderstanding and conflict.”
Convention