Intersections of class, race and place

language and gender perspectives from the UK

Authors

  • Pia Pichler Goldsmiths, University of London

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.21524

Keywords:

intersectionality, ethnicity, class, cultural concepts, place, London

Abstract

This essay presents an analysis of place references in the spontaneous talk of young Londoners from a range of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. These place references function as ‘cultural concepts’ (Silverstein 2004) which index multilayered meanings well beyond their denotations, constituting important resources for speakers’ local and supralocal positionings. The essay argues that ‘place’ is an important filter for our experience of language, gender and sexuality and provides scholars with a valuable point of departure for explorations of intersectional identities.

Author Biography

  • Pia Pichler, Goldsmiths, University of London

    Pia Pichler is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and Programme Director of the MA Sociocultural Linguistics at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her work explores language and identity in everyday spontaneous interaction, focusing on intersectionality, indexicality, humour, voice and intersections of gender, ethnicity, race and social class. Publications include recent article ‘“I’ve got a daughter now man it’s clean man”: heteroglossic and intersectional constructions of fatherhood in the spontaneous talk of a group of young southeast London men’ (Language in Society, 2021), the monograph Talking Young Femininities (Palgrave, 2009, shortlisted for the IGALA book prize 2010) and the anthology Language and Gender: A Reader (with Jennifer Coates, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011). 

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Published

2021-12-23

Issue

Section

Theme Series

How to Cite

Pichler, P. . (2021). Intersections of class, race and place: language and gender perspectives from the UK. Gender and Language, 15(4), 569–581. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.21524