ABSTRACT
People can and do contest institutional discourses, some of which are more active than others. In institutional contexts where the overt expression of power by the more powerful participants has been toned down, such as in the workplace, active resistance in discourse is more likely to occur. Reverse discourse ‘draws on the very vocabulary or categories of dominant discourses in order to make a case for oppressed groups’. Linguistically, the women use overlapping speech and minimal responses to indicate solidarity with each other. According to E. Goffman one of the ways for stigmatized individuals to counteract stigma is through loyalty with ‘like-situated individuals’ which allows their otherwise stigmatized identity to gain self-worth and legitimacy. Another form of oppositional discourse that can be used by subordinate groups as a moderate form of counter-power is the use of an antilanguage.
