Ingrouping, Outgrouping, and the Pragmatics of Peripheral Speech. Issue 4 (10th January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: HERBERT, CASSIE; KUKLA, REBECCA
• Is Part Of: Journal of the American Philosophical Association. Volume 2:Issue 4(2016)
• Page Start: 576
• Page End: 596
• Publication Date: 2017-01-10
• Subjects: philosophy of language, -- pragmatics, -- social philosophy, -- social groups, -- philosophy of mind, -- personal identity; Philosophy -- Periodicals; 105
• DOI: 10.1017/apa.2016.31
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2053-4477

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Speech does not merely reflect social identity; it helps create it, by ingrouping and outgrouping individuals and establishing and clarifying community boundaries and norms of membership. We define a pragmatic category of community-specific speech that is used by and directed at community insiders. We focus on a species of community-specific speech that has flown under the philosophical radar, a type of speech we term peripheral speech: Peripheral speech is informal, typically playful, insider speech that includes inside jokes, riffs, gossip, insider references; it is loosely constrained, and only those who have skills and normative competence characteristic of a community can play along successfully. Peripheral speech is shared by a community, but also used to bring people into it and cast people out of it. We argue that entitlement to peripheral speech requires a type of speaker authority that is not granted by way of established rules and conventions, but rather settled locally and in situ.