Citizen sociolinguistics: A new method to understand fat talk

Area of Science:

• Sociolinguistics
• Conversational Analysis
• Citizen Science

Background:

• Fat talk, characterized by self-disparaging body comments, reflects broader sociocultural concerns and is a key area for sociolinguistic study.
• Traditional methods for studying fat talk are resource-intensive, limiting real-time data collection and scope.
• Citizen science offers a scalable solution to overcome these limitations in social observation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present and validate a novel methodology: citizen sociolinguistics for capturing conversational data like fat talk.
• To assess the scientific validity and reliability of data collected via citizen sociolinguists.
• To explore the broader benefits of public participation in scientific research.

Main Methods:

• Collaborating with citizen researchers to collect fat talk data in a diverse metropolitan area.
• Utilizing citizen sociolinguists to capture typically inaccessible conversational interactions.
• Employing reflective exercises with citizen sociolinguists to evaluate the methodology.

Main Results:

• Citizen sociolinguistic teams successfully captured forms of fat talk, mirroring previous findings.
• Unique forms of fat talk were identified due to increased sample diversity and varied sampling environments.
• The citizen sociolinguistic method proved reliable and scientifically valid.

Conclusions:

• Citizen sociolinguistics is a viable and effective approach for studying elusive conversational phenomena like fat talk.
• This method yields scientifically valid data and offers benefits such as public training and enhanced researcher-public relationships.
• Citizen engagement in research advances professional discourse and produces meaningful scientific output.