Coordinating individual actions in joint activities: the case of the German deictic so
- Autores: Angeliki Balantani
- Localización: Lingua: International review of general linguistics, ISSN 0024-3841, Nº 277, 2022
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
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Resumen
This study examines the use of the German deictic expression so (roughly translated into ‘like this’ in English) accompanied by an embodied action in activities where participants have to jointly accomplish a project. The article is divided into two sections that contrast two different types of interactional work that is accomplished by the use of so + embodied action. Based on the methodological principles of Conversation Analysis, in the first section, I demonstrate that, when the deictic expression forms part of a yes/no interrogative turn, it indexes a candidate suggestion that requires the co-participant’s confirmation for the participant to move on to the next action. By offering a candidate to be confirmed, participants project that their candidate might not be acceptable and that a correction might be relevant as a follow-up. The second section then deals with the use of the deictic expression as part of the correction. The deictic expression is used as a responsive action to a problem highlighted in the previous turn and the embodied action provides the solution. In both cases, the deictic expression and the embodied action are used by the interlocutors to accomplish action coordination in order to complete a joint project.
