Some aspects of ritual communication

Abstract

This paper deals first of all with the relationship between conventional and individual aspects of speech activity. When individual factors of communication are reduced and constitutive conditions changed or distorted, certain consequences for communication ensue. An analysis of these consequences will be offered. The ritualized element in speech is characterized by restricted individuality, as well as by being the consequence of a specific over-conventionalization. Particular emphasis is placed on the degree to which this ritualized element in speech can be described. Finally, by examining selected examples of communication, the paper hopes to contribute to a more differentiated definition of the concept of linguistic ritual. © 1983.