Interactional linguistics

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Not to be confused with Interactional sociolinguistics.

Interactional linguistics is an interdisciplinary approach to grammar and interaction in the fields of linguistics, the sociology of language, and anthropology, adopting the methodology of Conversation Analysis. Not only is Interactional Linguistics about language grammar and use, but it encompasses a wide range of language as well – syntax, phonetics, phonology, morphology, semantics, pragmatics, and so on. Interactional linguistics is a project in which linguistic structures and uses are formed through interaction and it aims at helping understanding how languages are formed through interaction.

History[]

The term Interactional Linguistics was first introduced in the 2001 book Studies in Interactional Linguistics[1] by and and before that, the field had not been thought of as distinct from the wider field of Conversation Analysis. While there is no agreed-upon delineation between the two, Interactional Linguistics is characterized by looking at linguistic structures and employing linguistic terminology for its description of what interactants orient to (and not only looking at e.g. gesture). It goes against earlier approaches where researchers were only investigating written language. With the improvement of technology, linguists have started to focus on spoken language as well due to its functions in intonation and transcription system. Starting to investigate spoken language on its own is the start of Interactional linguistics’ development. Afterward, function-directed linguists were working on relations between discourse function and linguistic form. Though the functional linguistic study wasn’t all about conversational interaction, it was really helpful for the language study which saw linguistic form as being useful on the situated occasion of use. The next step which made interactional linguistics develop was the important work on conversation analysis. Some sociologists were saying the study of everyday language was the essence of social order; some other kinds of discourse were said to be understood as habituations of the fundamental conversational order. The term talk-in-interaction was created as an inclusive term for all of naturally speech exchange.

Different approaches[]

One theory of interactional linguistics, emergent grammar, proposed by Paul Hopper, postulates that rules of grammar come about as language is spoken and used. This is contrary to the a priori grammar postulate, the idea that grammar rules exist in the mind before the production of utterances.[2] Compared to the principles of generative grammar and the concept of Universal Grammar, interactional linguistics asserts that grammar emerges from social interaction.[3] Whereas Universal Grammar claims that features of grammar are innate,[4] emergent grammar and other interactional theories claim that the human language faculty has no innate grammar and that features of grammar are learned through experience and social interaction.[3]

Interactional linguistics has developed in linguistic discourse analysis and conversation analysis, and is used to investigate the relationship between grammatical structure and real-time interaction and language use.[5] Further, the topic of normativity in a discourse or a social norm both contribute to how a conversation functions.[6] There is a common ground that both parties in a conversation use in order to determine how to both continue a conversation and what sort of social syntax to use. For example, if two workers were speaking together, the interaction between them would be different, more informal, compared to how a worker and their boss might interact in a more formal manner.

Scholars in interactional linguistics draw from functional linguistics, conversation analysis, and linguistic anthropology in order to describe "the way in which language figures in everyday interaction and cognition"[7] and Interactional Linguistics may be considered an usage-based approach to language. Studies in interactional linguistics view linguistic forms, including syntactic and prosodic structures, as greatly affected by interactions among participants in speech, signing, or other language use. The field contrasts with dominant approaches to linguistics during the twentieth century, which tended to focus either on the form of language per se, or on theories of individual language user's linguistic competence.[1] Various scholars have or are attempting to write grammar books from an interactional linguistic perspective, for languages such as Alto Perené[8] and Danish (See Samtalegrammatik.dk).[9]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth; Selting, Margaret (2001). Studies in Interactional Linguistics. John Benjamins.
  2. ^ Hopper, Paul (1988). "Emergent Grammar and the A Priori Grammar Postulate". In Deborah Tannen (ed.). Linguistics in Context.
  3. ^ a b Su, Danjie (2016). "Grammar emerges through reuse and modification of prior utterances". Discourse Studies. 18 (3): 330–353. doi:10.1177/1461445616634551. S2CID 57406296.
  4. ^ Hornstein, Norbert; Nunes, Jairo; Grohmann, Kleanthes K. (2005). Understanding Minimalism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  5. ^ Fox, Barbara (2007). "Principles shaping grammatical practices: an exploration". Discourse Studies. 9 (3): 299–318. doi:10.1177/1461445607076201.
  6. ^ Etelämäki, Marja (Oct 2016). "Introduction: Discourse, grammar and intersubjectivity". Nordic Journal of Linguistics. 39 (2): 101–112. doi:10.1017/S033258651600007X. S2CID 151640262.
  7. ^ Ochs, Elinor; Schegloff, Emanuel; Thompson, Sandra (1996). Interaction and Grammar. Cambridge University Press.
  8. ^ Mihas, Elena (2017). Conversational structures of Alto Perené (Arawak) of Peru (PDF). Studies in Language Companion Series. Vol. 181. John Benjamins. doi:10.1075/slcs.181. ISBN 978-90-272-5946-2.
  9. ^ Steensig, Jakob; Brøcker, Karen Kiil; Grønkjær, Caroline; Hamann, Magnus; Puggaard, Rasmus; Jørgensen, Maria; Kragelund, Mathias Høyer; Mikkelsen, Nicholas Hedegaard; Mølgaard, Tina; Pedersen, Henriette Folkmann; Sørensen, Søren Sandager; Tholstrup, Emilie (2013), "The DanTIN project: Creating a platform for describing the grammar of Danish talk-in-interaction", in Petersen, Jan Heegård; Henrichsen, Peter Juel (eds.), New Perspectives on Speech in Action: Proceedings of the 2nd SJUSK Conference on Contemporary Speech Habits, Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur Press, pp. 195–227

Further reading[]

  • Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth; Selting, Margret (2018). Interactional Linguistics: Studying Language in Social Interaction. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781139507318. ISBN 9781107032804.
  • Ford, Cecilia (1993). Grammar in Interaction. Cambridge University Press.
  • Ford, Cecilia; Wagner, Johannes (1996). "Interaction-based Studies of Language". Pragmatics. 6 (3): 277–279. doi:10.1075/prag.6.3.01for.
  • Hopper, Paul (2011). "Emergent Grammar and Temporality in Interactional Linguistics". In P. Auer; S. Pfänder (eds.). Constructions. Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 22–44.
  • Interactional Linguistics (John Benjamins journal)
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