Living Language by Laura M. Ahearn

Author:Laura M. Ahearn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2011-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

Performance as a Display of Verbal Artistry

A third approach to the study of performance defines the concept as Bauman does in his famous article, “Verbal Art as Performance” – as consisting in “the assumption of responsibility to an audience for a display of communicative competence” (Bauman 2001[1975]:168–169). The presence of an audience is central to this notion of performance. “To pretend that performances of verbal art take place in a social vacuum in which only individual intent matters, that the audience plays no role in shaping such performance, entails a serious failure of method,” argues James Wilce (1998:211). Rather, Wilce reminds us, citing Duranti and Brenneis (1986), audiences should be conceived of as co-performers. Even if the audience consists solely of one person (who could theoretically be the performer herself or himself), the evaluation of the virtuosity of the performer(s) is a crucial element in this approach because performance, according to this view, involves heightened attention to how something is said (or sung, acted, etc.) – or, in other words, to what Jakobson (recalling the overview presented in chapter 1 of his model of the multifunctionality of language) termed the poetic function of language. This practice is highly reflexive:

Performance puts the act of speaking on display – objectifies it, lifts it to a degree from its interactional setting and opens it to scrutiny by an audience. Performance heightens awareness of the act of speaking and licenses the audience to evaluate the skill and effectiveness of the performer’s accomplishment. (Bauman and Briggs 1990:73)

How does one know that such heightened awareness is called for – in other words, that a performance of verbal artistry is underway? Bauman notes that there are culturally specific ways that particular genres of performance are indexed, or “keyed.” Openings such as “Once upon a time …,” for example, alert people who are familiar with the cultural practice of storytelling in many English-speaking communities that a story is about to be told. Similarly, an MC’s announcement (“Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming …”) serves as a key for other kinds of performances. Even when such formulaic introductory keys are absent, the performance might be made identifiable to the audience members through special seating arrangements or social venues, through special characteristics of the language used, or through special bodily movements or rituals. Some keys that are common cross-culturally include the following (Bauman 2001[1975]:171):

Special codes, for example, archaic or esoteric language.

Conventional openings or closings, or explicit statements announcing or asserting performance.

Poetic or figurative language, such as metaphor.

Formal stylistic devices, such as rhyme, vowel harmony, or other forms of parallelism.

Special patterns of tempo, stress, pitch, or voice quality.

Appeals to tradition.

Disclaimers of performance.

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