Dude

Scott Kiesling writes an article titled "Dude." In this article, Kiesling outlines the use of the word "dude" and what it means for the relationships, settings, and identities for those who are using the word. He discusses how the use of the word has evolved into how it is used today and its meaning. He also illustrates how the word is used within linguistic communities to display social relationships and identities; which is what makes language socially meaningful.

He begins by stating that commonly the word "dude" is used primarily by men, particularly those in the surfer crowd or the "druggie" subculture, or so that is how the word began. It has evolved and become a word that is used by both men and women to address both men and women.
In its primary sense of the word it has been used as a term used by men to express their masculine solidarity but at the same time it is used as a way to show closeness between two heterosexual (men).

Kiesling draws on the background of the word to further his research:

"Dudes originally referred to ‘old rags’, and a dudesman, ‘scarecrow’. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, “dude became synonymous with dandy, a term used to designate a sharp dresser in the western territories [of the United States]” (321). There was for a time a female version of the word, but it fell out of use. According to Hill, the use of dude as an address term developed in the 1930s and 1940s from groups of men, “Urban Mexican American pachuchos3 and African-American zoot-suiters” (323), known for their clothes consciousness." (Kiesling, 284)

Kiesling also discusses other ways that dude is used by women to women or to men. It is also seen as a way of commiserating. The use of "dude" within heterosexual relationships. Men reported using the word "dude" with women that they were friends with but not with women that they were romantic with. Among male to male relationships it is a nonhierarchial term used to commiserate and bond.
The research that Kiesling did and the way he conducted his data and analysis is a great example for me and how I can apply it to my linguistic study.
I have been able to use this research article as a sort of example to work off of in my own analysis. Similar to the word "dude" the word "baby" can be analyzed by examining the participants, the setting, the time, and other important factors.
Chiaka calls the system of creating a system of understanding aspects of langauge such as kinesis (body language and unspoken elements of communication) is called paralinguistics. Paralinguistics is a combination of kinesis and spoken language and other elements of that create language as we understand it.
For my own research of the word "baby" I have been able to utilize both the studies done by Kiesling and the word "dude" in addition to understanding principles of language by Chiaka. Chiaka presents the technical concepts that can be applied and Kiesling article presents an example of how Chiaka can be applied.