The Ethnography of Communication

Abstract

This paper surveys the most important frameworks of analysis that could assist the ethnographer in detecting the functional mechanisms of such items as ‘elaboration of identity’ or ‘change of identity’. The relationship between speech and social class is also discussed and a model of ethnographic research is provided. The main argument is that research in the ethnography of communication presupposes the acknowledgement of the inextricable link between language and the extra-linguistic, cultural context.