Analysis Paper

Paper instructions:

This is How I Talk SNL Skit Analysis:

Write an analysis of a Saturday Night Live skit This is How I Talk (posted on BbL under “Course Videos/Films”).
Use the analytical tools and social theories presented in this class to demonstrate how different forms of talk and uses of the body—ways of speaking and gesturing—communicate and perform cultural identities, community affiliations, genders, so-called “races,” ethnicities, forms of power, formality, and/or informality. All the characters in the video speak in different ways at different moments, thereby creating different social contexts.
Imagine you are writing this paper for an average person that is not familiar with linguistic concepts and has not seen the skit, therefore, make sure you include all of the important information an average reader would have to know to understand what is going on and the analytic points you are trying to make.

Organize the paper into three paragraphs:

First paragraph: shortly explain what is going on in the skit and what you think is the main point of the skit. Make sure you include all of the important information for an average reader to understand the content and point of the skit.
Second paragraph: is the most important and this is where you analyze certain linguistic/communicative aspects of the skit. Make sure you explicitly connect the issues raised in the skit back to the class readings from week 8. In your analysis you must use at least two of the following concepts talked about in the course readings: “style shifting,” “language ideologies,” “linguistic supremacy,” “copula absence,” and/or “monoglot standard.” Make sure you define the concepts, before you start talking about them. For example, do not just say the participants in the skit use “linguistic supremacy” but explain what linguistic supremacy is, in what way it is being used, and provide specific examples from the skit (you can use short direct quotes of who said what). In other words, you have to show how a particular concept is being used, not just claim it is being used.
Third paragraph: continue with the socio-linguistic analysis of the skit and reflect on how are issues raised in the skit related to your own life or the lives of people living around you. You can answer the questions: Why does this issue matter? Why is this issue important?