LitW Step Two:Describe the situationgiving information that will berelevant and necessaryto your analysis.
I expect this will take a minimum of 300 words. Include your transcript (with any revisions needed) above the description but this is not included in the word count.
Use clear plain language. You may find it helpful to refer to Hymes SPEAKING model for describing interaction; you can also refer to the list below.
Your task is here is to determine what information isrelevant and necessaryto understand your analysis. Aim to give neithertoo littlenorradically too muchinformation so that someone who has not witnessed the speech act/event can understand what is going on.
Remember also that as a linguistic anthropologist-in-training your goal should be to remove yourself from your everyday taken-for-granted insider’s understanding of what is going on here and try to adopt a distanced analytical perspective. For those writing about interactions they participated in this will be especially tricky. Use the tools of sociolinguistic analysis we have been learning to help you do this.
Some questions to ask yourself:
