Verbal Performance

Bauman's article relates back to Janowitz in the sense that certain languages are more special than others. Janowitz talks about how God's language is regarded as special because there is some context within God's name and language. Bauman makes the claim about verbal performance stating that "Performance thus calls forth special attention to and the heightened awareness of the act of expression, and gives license to the audience to regard the act of expression and the performer with special intensity" (Bauman 293). In performance, it is the responsibility of audience to be able to interpret and experience the creation of the performer. Is the audience giving the performance special attention for the content or is it due to the expectations of their role in the communication? More specifically, is it given special attention due to its pure form or is it because of their role in the conversation. Interestingly, God's word is special because of its origins, but performance is special because of the skill, content and the role the audience enters.

Goffman writes that "audience members are further removed physically format he speaker than a coconversationalist might be, the have the right to examine the speaker directly, with an openness that might be offensive in conversation" (Goffman 138). Also, there is a particularity to performance in the sense that performers step out of regular speech and go into a more purposeful manner, in the larger sense. For instance, a clown performing for a group of kids is having the overall purpose to entertain with a more specific action which could be a magic trick. This type of purposeful attitude can relate back to Goffman's term of footing. Once the clown packs and leaves, he is just a regular person (for the most part).