“…there is a lot that language does to people” (Blommaert 2005: 13).
“An analysis of voice is an analysis of power effects &emdash; (not) being understood in terms of the set of sociocultural rules and norms specified &emdash; as well as of conditions for power &emdash; what it takes to make oneself understood” (Blommaert 2005: 5).
“Any concrete utterance is a link in the chain ….Utterances are not indifferent to one another, and are not self-sufficient; they are aware of and mutually reflect one another. These mutual reflections determine their character. Each utterance is filled with echoes and reverberations of other utterances to which it is related by the communality of the sphere of speech communication. Every utterance must be regarded primarily as a response to preceding utterances of the given sphere…” (Bakhtin 1986: 91).
(emphases added)