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Programme: accepted abstracts

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Abstract ID: 149

Thematic Session (Papers belonging to this Thematic Session)

Interactional Dialectology

Authors: Bockgård, Gustav; Nilsson, Jenny; Öqvist, Jenny
Submitted by: Nilsson, Jenny Sofia (Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore, Sweden)

In this thematic session, we explore how interactional analyses of dialect data can enrich and diversify traditional dialectology and sociolinguistics as well as interactional linguistics.

 

In studies of social and regional language variation, researchers often focus on the relation between certain linguistic features and social variables such as age, gender, social class, and social networks (c.f. Milroy 1987, Labov 2001). In our view, a dialect is not only a linguistic system or a realisation of a number of context-less linguistic variables, but is always used within a social context – dialect features may have different meanings in different interactional contexts. The framework of sociolinguistics/social dialectology would therefore benefit from the addition of an empirically based interactional dialectology. In this thematic session, we invite researchers to explore the communicative functions of dialect (and standard language) features in social interaction. Questions that will be addressed in the session include: How can interactional analyses contribute to dialect research? What are the essential features of an interactional dialectology? How can we combine an interactional approach to dialect data with more traditional sociolinguistic and dialectological approaches in a fruitful way? We welcome studies of vernaculars in urban as well as in rural settings.

 

An interactional dialectology places itself theoretically within the framework of interactional linguistics (c.f. Selting & Couper-Kuhlen 2001). In an interactional linguistic perspective, language is, first and foremost, a tool for talk in interaction. Consequently, linguistic structures and patterns of language use are analysed as resources used to fulfil interactional functions (Selting & Couper-Kuhlen 2001:3). So far, regional variation has received very limited attention in interactional linguistic studies. An interactional dialectology would contribute to filling this gap. Furthermore, since dialect recordings have quite a long history in many European countries, an interactional dialectology can add a diachronic dimension to the study of language in use, another aspect largely absent in interactional linguistics.

 

The methodology for analysing data within interactional linguistics is heavily influenced by Conversation Analysis (CA, c.f. Sidnell 2010). CA has established that conversations are sequentially organized as every speaker’s turn is both shaped by, and shaping, the sequential context (c.f. Sacks et al. 1974:722). A central question for CA is why that now, i.e. why a certain utterance is spoken at a particular point in time. An interactional dialectology therefore seeks to answer why certain dialect features are used at a certain point in a conversation, and what consequences this might have for the following interaction.

 

In the past years, quite a few studies have used an interactional approach to dialect in use (c.f. Lappalainen 2004, Selting 2004, Wide 2009, Öqvist 2011, Bockgård & Nilsson to appear). These studies have shown, inter alia, that an interactional perspective on dialect data can help to explain phenomena such as stylistic variation and intra-individual variation within the same conversation. It is also evident that regional features – on all linguistic levels – may be used to fulfil particular interactional functions.

 

This thematic session is a step towards establishing interactional dialectology as a theoretical and methodological framework. We suggest that it is both fruitful and important to study dialect features in the interactional and social context in which they occur. An interactional perspective on dialect studies contributes with new perspectives on dialect use and dialect change. By focusing on the interactional significance of regional variation, it also contributes to interactional linguistics.

Refererences

Bockgård, Gustav & Nilsson, Jenny (eds.), to appear: Interaktionell dialektologi. Uppsala.

Labov, William, 2001: Principles of linguistic change. Vol. 2: Social factors. Oxford.

Lappalainen, Hanna, 2004. Språklig variation och interaktion – nya perspektiv inom den fennistiska dialektforskningen. I: Folkmålsstudier 43.57–79.

Milroy, Lesley, 1987: Language and social networks. (Second ed.) Oxford.

Sacks, Harvey, Emanuel A. Schegloff & Gail Jefferson 1974. A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. In: Language 50. 695–735.

Selting, Margret, 2004. The ‘upward staircase’ intonation contour in the Berlin vernacular. An example of the analysis of regionalized intonation as an interactional resource. In: Couper-Kuhlen, E & Ford, C.E. (eds.), Sound patterns in interaction. Cross-linguistic studies from conversation. Amsterdam. 201–231.

Selting, Margret & Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth (eds.), 2001: Studies in interactional linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia.

Sidnell, Jack, 2010: Conversation Analysis. An introduction. Chicheste.

Wide, Camilla, 2009: Interactional construction grammar. Contextual features of determination in dialectal Swedish. In: Bergs, Alexander & Diewald, Gabriele (eds.), Context and constructions. Amsterdam. 111–142.

Öqvist, Jenny, 2011: Intonation in interaction: A case study of the traditional Stockholm dialect. Paper presented at ICLaVE 6, Freiburg, June 29–July 1.