Investigating the Possibilities of Reading Literary Texts in Light of a Sociolinguistic Perspective: Applications on the Case of Alice Walker’s Selected Short Stories
Subject Areas : آموزش زبان انگلیسیLaleh Masiha 1 , بهرنگ ترابی 2
1 - English Department of the University of Tabriz
2 - English Language Department, Maragheh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Maragheh, Iran
Keywords: gender, race, ethnography of communication, Alice Walker, intersectionality, womanism, class, gender stratification,
Abstract :
The present research tries to show how race, class, and gender and intersectionality in general, have their decisive impact on the black- American women; and how Alice Walker as a womanist, in her selected short stories, tries to show that black women in the U.S. suffer two-fold acts of oppression and discrimination, i.e. male violence affects all women in social life, irrespective of age or social standing, and at the same time being black has exacerbated the black American women’s situation. In the present study, the mentioned socio-political, socio-cultural and institutionalized intersectionality have been analyzed from the perspective of Alice Walker’s selected short stories. Full analysis have been carried out, from applied linguistic point of view, in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” and “Roselily” while Alice Walker’s other short stories have been consulted for further analysis and discussion. The method used to analyze the data is descriptive research method.
Baily,C.J.N.(1973). Variation and linguistic theory. Washington DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Banton, M. (1970).Race and racialim. London: Tavistock.
Biesanz , M.H. & Biesanz, J. (1973). Introduction to sociology. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice- Hall Inc.
Bloom, H. (2007).Bloom's modern critical views: Alice Walker. New York:Chelsea House.
Brent, L. (2001). Short stories for students. New York: Gale Group.
Chafetz, J.S. (2006). Handbook of the sociology of gender. Houston: Springer.
Conklin, J.E. (1984). Sociology: An introduction. New York: Macmillan Pub. Co. Inc.
Dittmar,N.(1986). Sociolinguistics: A Critical Survey of theory and application. London: Edward Arnold Publishing Ltd.
Donnelly, M. (2010).Alice Walker: The Color Purple and Other Works. N.Y.: Marshal Cavendish Benchmark.
Ellis, R. (2012). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Farley, J.E. & Frank, L.K. (1990). Sociology. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice – Hall Inc.
Fishman, J.A. (1997). Language and Ethnicity: the view from within. In F. Coulmas (ed.), The Handbook of sociolinguistics. (pp. 327-343). Oxford: Blackwell.
Fowler, R. (1989).Linguistics and novel. London: Routledge.
Freedman, B. (2002). No Turning Back: The history of feminism and the future of women. New York: Ballantine.
Giglioli, P. (1973). Language and social context. London: Penguin Books Inc.
Guerin, W.L. (2005). A handbook of critical approaches to literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Handel, W.H. (1993). Contemporary sociological theory. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice – Hall, Inc.
Harris, M.L. (2010). Gifts of virtue, Alice Walker and womanist ethics. N.Y: Palgrave Macmillan.
Harvey, L. & MacDonald, M. (1993).Doing sociology. London: The MacMillan Press LTD.
Hooks, B. (1992). Black looks: race and representation. Boston: South End Press.
Horton, P.B. and Hunt, C.L (1984).Sociology. New York: McGraw – Hill Book Co.
Hurley, J.A. (2001). Feminism: Opposing viewpoints. San Diego, Calif.: Green- heaven Press, Inc.
Inciardi, J.A. and Rothman, R.A. (1990).Sociology: Principles and applications. Chicago: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Pub.
James, S. and Palmer, S. (2002). Visible women: essays on feminist legal theory and political philosophy. Portland, Oregon: Hart Pub.
Kerbo, H.R. (1989). Social structure and social conflict. New York: Macmillan Pub. Co.
Labov, W. (1972). Language in the inner city: studies in the Black English Vernacular. Philadelphia: Universisty Of Pennsylvania Press.
Lawton, D. (1969).Social class, language and education. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.
Mcnamara, T. (1997). What do we mean by social identity? Competing frameworks, competing discourses.TESOL Quarterly, 31, 561-7.
Meade, T.A & Weisner-Hanks, M.E. (2004). A companion to gender history. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Meehan, J. (1995). Feminists read Habermas: gendering the subject of discourse. London: Routledge.
Moore, S. (2001). Sociology alive.Cheltenham; Nelson Thornes LTD, UK.
Moraga, Ch. (2000). Loving in the war years. Boston, MA: South End Press.
Morrison, T. (1987).Beloved. New York: Knopf.
Morrison, T. (1998). The house that race built. New York: Vintage
Norton, B. (2000). Identity and language learning: gender, ethnicity and educational change. Harlow: Longman.
Pamela, A. and Wallace, C. (1990).An introduction to sociology: feminist perspective. London: Routledge.
Pryse, M. and Spillers, H. (1985).Conjuring: Black women, fiction and literary tradition.Bloomington, Indiana Univ. Press.
Raymond, W.M. (1968). Race, class, and power.New York: American Book Co.
Rose, P.I. (1989). Sociology: Understanding society. Massachusetts: Prentice Hall, Inc.
Schaefer, R.T & Lamm, R.P. (1983).Sociology. New York: McGraw – Hill Book Co.
Stoller, J. (1968).Sex and gender: On the development of masculinity and feminity. London: Hogarth Press.
Suthrell, C. (2004). Unzipping gender: sex, cross – dressing and culture. Oxford: Berg.
Tobin, L. & Raymond, G.. (1999). Hidden in Plain Views: The secret story of quilts and the underground railroad. New York Doubleday.
Turner, R.H. and Killian, L.M. (1972).Collective behavior. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall, Inc.
Walker, A. (1970). The third life of Grange Copeland. New York: Harcourt, B.J.
Walker. A. (1973).In love and trouble.New York: Harcourt Brace, Jovanovich.
Walker, A (2003). In search of our mother's gardens: Womanist Prose. New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich.
Walker, A (2003). The color purple. New York: Harvest
Wall, C.A. (1989). Changing our own words.N.J. Rutgers Univ. Press.
Wardhaugh, R. (2010) An introduction to sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Wodak, R. (1977 a) Gender and discourse. London: Sage
Wolfreys, J. (2002). Introducing criticism at the 21st century. Edinburgh University Press.