The field of study concerned primarily with the analysis and description of any culture is called the ethnography. The analysis of communication within the beliefs and social and cultural practices of the members of a speech community or a particular culture is called ethnography of speaking. The ethnography of speaking deals with the communicative form which is not limited to spoken language only and its function within a given culture. The ethnography of speaking is a part of linguistic anthropology, which concerns with the interrelationships among society, culture and language. Ethnographies deals with the structures and patterns of the socio-cultural life while grammar, on the other hand, deals with the structure of languages as self-contained codes and abstract.
The ethnography of speaking was first proposed by Dell Hymes, as an approach towards analyzing language patterns use within speech communities. The ethnography of communication has two major foci: generalizing and particularistic. Though on one hand, it deals with the understanding and description of communicative behavior in specific cultural settings, it also deals with the theories and concepts formulation which are used to build a global meta-theory of human communication.
One of the best examples to illustrate the subject matter of the ethnography of communication can be given by the most general question: what should be the knowledge of the speaker to communicate appropriately within a speech community particularly, and how that knowledge can be achieved? Thus, the speech community is the main focus of the ethnography of speaking which shows how the communication within it is organized and patterned as a system of communicative events, and how these interact with all other systems of culture. The ethnography of speaking is a mode of inquiry which has substantial content with it.
The mnemonic SPEAKING model was developed by Hymes as the framework for the speech event's analysis within its cultural context. The sixteen components were proposed by Hymes, which were considered necessary to satisfactorily and accurately describe any particular speech event: S stands for scene and setting i.e. the location of speech event in space and time; P stands for participants i.e. who all and in what role are present in the speech; E means ends i.e. what would be the purpose and outcome of the speech; A stands for Act sequence i.e. the order in which the speech acts were present in the speech event; K is for key i.e. the manner or tone of performance; I is for instrumentalities i.e. the language/variety, medium or channel used for communication; N stands for norms of interaction i.e. rules that are used for interpreting and producing speech acts; g is for Genres i.e. the speech event belongs to what type. This SPEAKING model proposed by Hymes is most commonly used in ethnography of speaking.
Conclusion
The existence of human beings both corporate and individual is constructed and mediated through communication, both non-linguistic and linguistic. Only through communication, individual's entry into the society and his/her departure from the society takes place. Thus, it becomes essential for ethnography of communication to elucidate these conventions of different societies. The nature and complexities of the representations of different societies should be understood and reflected in the constitutive enactment of events.
References
Bauman, R., & Sherzer, J. (1975). The Ethnography of Speaking. Annual Reviews of Anthropology, 95-119.
Bauman, R., & Sherzer, j. (1989). Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Saville-Troike, M. (2003). The Ethnography of Communication. Berlin : Blackwell Publishing.
