Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T02:02:18.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Drawing on the words of others at public hearings: Zoning, Wal-Mart, and the threat to the aquifer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2007

RICHARD BUTTNY  and
JODI R. COHEN
RICHARD BUTTNY
Affiliation:
Communication and Rhetorical Studies, 100 Sims Hall, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, [email protected]
JODI R. COHEN
Affiliation:
Speech Communication, 415 Muller Faculty Center, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examines two public hearings on a zoning proposal that would allow the construction of a Super Wal-Mart Center on a field over the town's aquifer. Many citizens speak out against the zoning change because of the risk to drinking water, as well as other issues. Citizens face the speaker's problem of how to make their presentations convincing, given the technical matters involved and the fact that Town Board members have likely already heard about these issues. Some speakers draw on the words of others in their presentations. Using another's words allows the speaker to cite an authoritative source or to respond to what another has said, to evaluate it, and often to challenge it. Speakers use other devices in addition to quotes, such as formulations, repetition, and membership categorizations to develop their evaluative stances in the reporting context. The study's focus is the discursive construction and rhetoric of using others' words for the speaker's own purposes.We gratefully acknowledge the early discussions and help in transcribing from Katherine Hobbs, Diana Martinez, and Jackie Smith. Thanks for the useful comments from Jamie Dangler, Kendall Phillips, Karen Tracy, Donal Carbaugh, Benjamin Bailey, Robin Shoaps, and Vern Cronen. Portions of this study were presented to the Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts, 2006, at the National Communication Association Convention, San Antonio, 2006, and at the International Communication Association Convention, San Francisco The final version of this paper benefited tremendously from detailed comments and criticisms from Barbara Johnstone and the two anonymous reviewers.

Keywords

public hearingsriskreported speechquotesWal-Martdiscursive analysisrhetoric
Type
Research Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 36 , Issue 5 , November 2007 , pp. 735 - 756
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Antaki, Charles, & Leudar, Ivan (2001). Recruiting the record: Using opponents' exact words in parliamentary argumentation. Text 21:467–88.Google Scholar
Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Bakhtin, M. M. (1986). Speech genres and other late essays. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Bauman, Richard, & Briggs, Charles L. (1990). Poetics and performances as critical perspectives on language and social life. Annual Review of Anthropology 19:59–88.Google Scholar
Basso, Keith (1979). Portraits of “the Whiteman”: Linguistic play and cultural symbols among the Western Apache. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Beck, Ulrich (1992). Risk society. London: Sage.
Beck, Ulrich (2000). Risk society revisited: Theory politics and research programmes. In B. Adam, U. Beck, & J. van Loon (eds.), Risk society and beyond: Critical issues for social theory, 211–29. London: Sage.
Belsten, Laura A. (1996). Environmental risk communication and community collaboration. In Thomas L. Venendall (ed.), Earthtalk: Communication empowerment for environmental action, 27–41. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Bora, Alfons, & Hausendorf, Heiko (2006). Communicating citizenship and social positioning: Theoretical concepts. In Heiko Hausendorf & Alfons Bora (eds.), Analysing citizenship talk, 23–49. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Buttny, Richard (2004). Talking problems: Studies on discursive construction. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Chess, C., & Purcell, K. (1999). Public participation and the environment: Do we know what works? Policy Analysis 33:2685–92.Google Scholar
Clough, Harbour Associates (2002). Land use and aquifer protection plan: NYS route 281/13 corridor area: Town of Cortlandville, New York.
Cohen, Jodi R., & Buttny, Richard (n.d.). “This is not about Wal-Mart”: The rhetoric of legitimacy, authenticity, and sincerity in risk communication. Ms., Department of Speech Communication, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY 14850.
Coulmas, Florian (1986). Reported speech: Some general issues. In Florian Coulmas (ed.), Direct and indirect speech, 1–28. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Cox, Robert (2006). Environmental communication and the public sphere. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Dicker, John (2005). The United States of Wal-Mart. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin.
Dickerson, Paul (1997). ‘It's not just me who's saying this …’: The deployment of cited others in televised political discourse. British Journal of Social Psychology 36:33–48.Google Scholar
Douglas, Mary (1992). Risk and blame: Essays in cultural theory. New York: Routledge.
Giddens, Anthony (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Goffman, Erving (1981). Footing. In his Forms of talk, 124–59. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Goodwin, Charles (2003). Embedded context. Research on Language and Social Interaction 36:323–50.Google Scholar
Grabill, Jeffrey T., & Simmons, W. Michelle (1998). Toward a critical rhetoric of risk communication: Producing citizens and the role of technical communicators. Technical Communication Quarterly 7:415–41.Google Scholar
Gumperz, John J. (1982). Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Günther, Susanne (2002). Perspectivity in reported dialogues: The contextualization of evaluative stances in reconstructing speech. In C. Graumann & W. Kallmeyer (eds.), Perspectives and perspectivation in discourse, 347–73. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Harré, Rom; Brockmeier, Jens; & Mühlhäusler, P. (1999). Greenspeak: A study of environmental discourse. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Head, Simon (2004, December 16). Inside the leviathan. New York Review of Books 51:80–89.Google Scholar
Heritage, John, & Watson, D.R. (1979). Formulations as conversational objects. In George Psathas (ed.), Everyday language: Studies in ethnomethodology, 123–62. New York: Irvington.
Hill, Jane H., & Irvine, Judith, T. (1993). Introduction. In Hill &Irvine (eds.), Responsibility and evidence in oral discourse, 1–23. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Holsanova, Jana (2006). Quotations as a vehicle for social positioning. In Heiko Hausendorf & Alfons Bora (eds.), Analysing citizenship talk, 251–75. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Holt, Elizabeth (1996). Reporting on talk: The use of direct reported speech in conversation. Research on Language and Social Interaction 29:219–45.Google Scholar
Jamison, Andrew (2001). The making of green knowledge: Environmental politics and cultural transformation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Johnstone, Barbara (1987). ‘He says … so I said’: Verb tense alternation and narrative depictions of authority in American English. Linguistics 25:33–52.Google Scholar
Krimsky, Sheldon, & Plough, Alonzo (1988). Environmental hazards: Communicating risks as a social process. Dover, MA: Auburn House.
Labov, William (1972). Language in the inner city. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Li, Charles N. (1986). Direct and indirect speech: A functional study. In Florian Coulmas (ed.), Direct and indirect speech, 29–45. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Lucy, John A. (1993). Reflexive language and the human disciplines. In Lucy (ed.), Reflexive language, 9–32. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mayes, Patricia. (1990). Quotation in spoken English. Studies in Language 14:325–63.Google Scholar
Miller, Todd S.; Sherwood, D. A.; Jeffers, P. M.; & Mueller, N. (1998). Hydrogeology, water quality, and simulation of ground-water flow in a glacial-aquifer system, Cortland County, New York. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report, 96-4255.
McComas, Katherine A. (2001). Theory and practice of public meetings. Communication Theory 11:36–55.Google Scholar
Myers, Greg (1999). Unspoken speech: Hypothetical reported discourse and the rhetoric of everyday talk. Text 19:571–90.Google Scholar
Myers, Greg (2004). Matters of opinion: Talking about public issues. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Payne, Mary Elizabeth (n.d.). Spoken quotation: An analysis of quoted talk in conversation. Ms., Department of Communication, University at Albany, State University of New York.
Parr, Joy (2005). Local water diversely known: Walkerton Ontario, 2000 and after. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 23:251–71.Google Scholar
Peterson, Tarla Ray (1997). Sharing the earth: The rhetoric of sustainable development. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
Pomerantz, Anita (1986). Extreme case formulations: A way of legitimizing claims. Human Studies 9:219–30.Google Scholar
Potter, Jonathan (1996). Representing reality. London: Sage.
Roth, W-M., et al. (2004). Those who get hurt aren't always being heard: Scientist-resident interactions over community water. Science, Technology, & Human Values 29:153–83.Google Scholar
Rowan, Katherine E. (1995). What risk communicators need to know: An agenda for research. In Brant R. Burleson (ed.), Communication yearbook, 18, 300–19. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Shuman, Amy (1993). “Get outa my face”: Entitlement and authoritative discourse. In Jane H. Hill & Judith T. Irvine (eds.), Responsibility and evidence in oral discourse, 135–60. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sidnell, Jack (2004). There's risks in everything: Extreme-case formulations and accountability in inquiry testimony. Discourse & Society 15:745–66.Google Scholar
Sternberg, Meir (1982). Proteus in quotation-land: Mimesis and the forms of reported discourse. Poetics Today 3:107–56.Google Scholar
Tannen, Deborah (1989). Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue, and imagery in conversational discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tracy, Karen, & Dimock, A. (2004). Meetings: Discursive sites for building and fragmenting community. In Patricia J. Klbfleisch (ed.), Communication yearbook 28, 127–65. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Vološinov, V. N. (1971). Reported speech. In Ladislav Matejka & Krystyna Pomorska (eds.), Readings in Russian poetics, 149–75. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Wynne, Brian (1996). Misunderstood misunderstandings: Social identities and the public uptake of science. In Alan Irwin & Brian Wynne (eds.), Misunderstanding science? The public reconstruction of science and technology, 19–46. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.