Susanne Günthner

Polyphony and the Layering of Voices in Reported Dialogues : an Analysis of the Use of Prosodic Devices in Everyday Reported Speech

Abstract In this paper I shall analyze the prosodic and voice quality techniques which speakers use in reported dialogues to contextualize their point of view towards the reconstructed utterances. The analysis is based on data of informal German conversations (dinner table conversations, coffee-break chats and telephone interactions) among friends and family members. Methods of interpretative sociolinguistics (Gumperz, 1982), conversation analysis and interactional analysis of prosody (Couper-Kuhlen and Selting, 1996) are used to investigate the devices which speakers use in order to evaluate the reconstructed utterances. It will be argued that speakers not only (re)construct past dialogues but that often in this process of ‘de- and recontextualization’ simultaneously communicate their evaluative perspective on the quoted utterances. The analysis will focus on the following questions: How do speakers communicate their point of view to the reported dialogues? Which prosodic means and devices of speech quality are used to communicate the speakers perspective towards the quoted utterance as concordant or discordant? I shall argue that participants in everyday interactions also use poetic devices and polyphonic strategies described by Bakhtin (1981) as ‘layering of voices’. In contrast to literary texts, ‘polyphonic layering of voices’ in everyday reported dialogues is mainly achieved by means of prosody (Gunthner, 1993).

Kommunikation in Institutionen

Institutionen sind historische Gebilde, in denen Personen miteinander mehr oder weniger geregelten, zweckgerichteten Tatigkeiten nachgehen. Meist stehen die Zwecke im Zusammenhang mit gesellschaftlicher Produktion und Reproduktion, die auserdem kulturell jeweils spezifisch organisiert sind. In vielen Organisationen (Schule, Hochschule, Gericht, Krankenhaus, Sozialamt) werden wichtige Entscheidungen fur den sozialen, beruflichen, okonomischen und gesundheitlichen Werdegang einer Person getroffen. Bei diesen Entscheidungsprozessen bilden verbale Interaktionen eine zentrale Rolle. Doch nicht alle Mitglieder der Gesellschaft sind mit den institutionellen Kommunikationsformen gleichermasen vertraut, bzw. beherrschen die notwendigen, erfolgbringenden Diskursformen.

die Sache ist... : eine Projektor-Konstruktion im gesprochenen Deutsch

Abstract This paper, focusing on die Sache ist-constructions in spoken German, is intended as a contribution to an interactional perspective on grammatical issues: It aims at connecting concepts of Construction Grammar with aspects of analyzing language use in its communicative praxis. Based on an empirical analysis of conversational German, this article shows that the standard view of die Sache ist-constructions as [matrix clause + subordinated complement clause] cannot be supported by actual data from spoken interactions. Instead of a subordinated complement clause following the matrix clause, speakers reanalyse die Sache ist (“segment A”) as a projector phrase, anticipating the upcoming core message (“segment B”). Segment B (“the complement clause”) overwhelmingly occurs with no complementizer dass ‘that’. Instead it can take various forms in spoken interactions: it can be realized as a subordinate clause, a main clause, a complex clause and even as a larger discourse segment. In all these cases, it is no longer a conceptual element of segment As proposition. Thus, a usage based approach of die Sache ist-constructions suggests that speakers use it as a projector-construction (Hopper) anticipating an upcoming utterance.

The Construction of Gendered Discourse in Chinese-German Interactions

Interactions are central means to the construction of gender identities. The interactive construction of gender differences has become the analytical focus of much empirical research in the US as well as in Europe during the last 15 years. This paper focuses on gender in intercultural communication. On the basis of interactions between Chinese and German participants I discuss the following aspects: Can we find any gender-linked differences between the communicative strategies of the Chinese and those of the German speakers? To what extent does gender interact with other identity factors such as social role or ethnicity? Is gender a dominant category and thus relevant in all situations? The study reported here is oriented to the interrelation of cultural, social and gender differences and their interactive construction. The analytic methods used are based on the ethnographically oriented micro-analysis of interaction and interpretative sociolinguistics (Gumperz, 1982).

Grammar and Dialogism : sequential, syntactic, and prosodic patterns between emergence and sedimentation

This volume aims at analyzing the relationship between the dialogical accomplishment of spoken talk-in-interaction on the one hand and entrenched patterns of linguistic and socio-cultural knowledge (constructions, frames, and communicative genres) on the other. The contributions share a usage-based perspective on linguistic structure and meaning and address linguistic patterns in different languages such as English, French, German, and Swedish.

Direkte und indirekte Rede in Alltagsgesprächen. Zur Interaktion von Syntax und Prosodie in der Redewiedergabe

Die reflexive Kapazitat und damit die Moglichkeit, uber Sprache und Kommunikation zu kommunizieren, gehort zu den besonderen Eigenschaften menschlicher Sprache. Indem Interagierende in Alltagsgesprachen vergangene Dialoge rekonstruieren, die Redeweise anderer Personen kommentieren oder Auserungen ab- oder anwesender Personen kritisieren, machen sie von diesen reflexiven Moglichkeiten Gebrauch. Die Redewiedergabe zahlt nicht nur zu den zentralen reflexiven Verwendungsweisen von Sprache (Lucy 1993), sondern stellt insofern eine „metapragmatische Aktivitat“ (Silverstein 1993) dar,2 als Sprechende mittels Redewiedergabe vergangenen „Sprachgebrauch“ re-konstruieren und kommentieren. In diesen Rede(re)konstruktionen treffen zwei Diskurs,weiten’ aufeinander: die „Figurenwelt“ und damit der Interaktionskontext, dem die zitierte Auserung entstammt, und die ‚Erzahlwelt‘, die momentane Interaktionssituation, in der die betreffende Auserung (re)-konstruiert, (re)kontextualisiert und funktionalisiert wird. Beide Welten unterscheiden sich hinsichtlich ihrer Teilnehmenden, ihrer raumlich-zeitlichen und soziokulturellen Kontexte, ihrer sprachlichen Konventionen und ihrer interaktiven Ziele. Diese Spannung zwischen den beiden ‚Welten‘ und ihre mogliche Verankerungen in der einen oder anderen Welt pragen die Redewiedergabe.

Zwischen Scherz und Schmerz — Frotzelaktivitäten in Alltagsinteraktionen

In diesem Beitrag werde ich mich einem kommunikativen Musters zuwenden, das sich durch eine Doppelstruktur aus verbaler Provokation (Vorwurf, Kritik etc.) und Spielmodalitat auszeichnet: dem “Frotzeln”.

Linguistik und Kulturanalyse – Ansichten eines symbiotischen Verhältnisses / Linguistics and cultural analysis – aspects of a symbiotic relationship

Abstract The present issue of „Zeitschrift für Germanistische Linguistik“ focuses on the relationship between language and culture on the one hand and linguistics and cultural analysis on the other hand. This introductory article unfolds some of the facets of these relationships in a programmatic way and outlines a concept of language which zooms in on the study of language as a cultural resource and communicating as a cultural practice. Besides discussing pertinent definitions of „culture“ by scholars of cultural anthropology, we shall examine possible impacts of these definitions on a cultural notion of language. Furthermore, we shall show affiliations to concepts of language and culture developed by Herder and Humboldt in the late 18th and early 19th century and reshaped by Cassirer in the beginning of the 20th century. The article will also look into recent developments inside and outside linguistics (especially Ethnography of Communication, Anthropological Linguistics and Interactional Sociology) to trace out grounds for a new perspective on linguistics as part of the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies.

The dynamics of communicative practices in transmigrational contexts: ‘insulting remarks’ and ‘stylized category animations’ in everyday interactions among male youth in Germany

Abstract This paper examines “insulting remarks” and “stylized category animations” as communicative practices in interactions among young men with a migrant background living in Germany. On the basis of a detailed investigation of informal interactions among young men in various German youth centers, I will show how the participants make use of these communicative practices as interactional resources to contextualize “belonging”/“association” versus “otherness” in transmigrational contexts. As part of their communicative household, these practices are closely connected to the construction of a cultural identity among these young men. I will argue that focusing on the development and dynamics of communicative practices can provide new insight into the workings of social and cultural identities as well as into linguistic diversity in modern societies.

Konstruktionen in der kommunikativen Praxis: Zur Notwendigkeit einer interaktionalen Anreicherung konstruktionsgrammatischer Ansätze

Abstract The following contribution is dedicated to questions about the interface between interactionally based studies on the grammar of everyday language use and “usage-based” approaches from Construction Grammar. Studies of grammatical structures in interactional use make it clear that concepts of grammar which assume homogeneous, static categories are only partly suitable for the description of spoken language, since grammatical structures in communicative practice are more heterogeneous, open and context dependent than postulated. At the same time, these analyses show that prefabricated patterns form an important means of solving communicative tasks precisely in oral communication, which takes place under time pressure. These factors make usage-based approaches from Construction Grammar attractive as a framework for a practically oriented examination of grammar, though many divergences exist all the same. On the basis of empirical analyses of pseudo-clefts and wenn constructions in spoken German, the article discusses the possibility of extending usage-based approaches from Construction Grammar, which aims to integrate the circumstances of language production and reception in communicative practice into the analysis, and therefore the fact that we use language in order to carry out social activities in the process of interaction.