Ethnography of Cultural Communication

Abstract

Abstract The ethnography of communication (EC) includes an approach, methodology, and theoretical perspective dedicated to describing and interpreting culturally patterned communication within particular speech communities. Using units of analysis such as speech acts, speech situations, speech events, terms of address, metacommunicative terms, ways of speaking, and speech codes, EC researchers employ ethnographic fieldwork methods to conduct data collection on language and social interaction. In order to locate, describe, and interpret the distinctive, structured, and socially consequential particularities of communicative conduct in a cultural context, EC researchers rely on the SPEAKING mnemonic, Cultural Discourse Analysis (CuDA), and Speech Codes Theory (SCT) for analytic grounding. Ethnography of communication is dedicated to understanding the localized means and meanings of cultural communicative practices from the participants' viewpoint while simultaneously providing insight into general principles of communication across cultural contexts.