CLIC Speaker Abstracts

Norma Mendoza Denton (The University of Arizona & Stanford University): " The Sociophonetics of Face-Threatening Behavior, or How to Lose your Cool with your Congressman. " May 10, 2006, 5pm. Haines 332.

Town Hall Meetings (THMs) are a hallmark of the relationship between members of the U.S. House of Representatives and their electoral constituencies, discursive spaces where members of the House explain themselves, their voting records, and Washington policies to their constituents at home (Fenno 1975). This paper examines the discourse taking place in a THM held by Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-5th district, AZ). Kolbe agreed to be taped as part of a nonpartisan research project, and allowed the presence of our cameras at 10 THMs over a period of 14 months during 2000-2001. We focus specifically on the sociophonetics and broader semiotics of face-threatening behavior by his constituents. Face-threatening behavior comes in the form of opinions, challenges or questions that constituents deliver which threaten Kolbe's control of the structure of the THM. Gestural, intonational, vocalic variation and speech breathing evidence are joined with conversational analysis to address linguistic as well as sociological questions on the deployment of power in language.