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"Now I Gotta Watch What I Say": Shifting Constructions of Masculinity in Discourse
Author(s) -
Kiesling Scott Fabius
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of linguistic anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.463
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1548-1395
pISSN - 1055-1360
DOI - 10.1525/jlin.2001.11.2.250
Subject(s) - masculinity , fraternity , repertoire , hierarchy , context (archaeology) , social hierarchy , sociology , identity (music) , event (particle physics) , linguistics , gender studies , aesthetics , anthropology , history , literature , art , political science , philosophy , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics , law
This article provides a description of how a member of a college fraternity uses particular linguistic devices to display different masculinities. It is argued that masculinity can be understood as a repertoire of authoritative stances that implicate a social hierarchy. Speakers select from this repertoire depending on the speech activity and their interlocutors. Gender identity is a performance that is understood in a complex context that includes not only the immediate speech event, but knowledge of cultural expectations for gender and knowledge of social structures.