Language in Interaction

Objective

This module deals with language as a means of interpersonal interaction and introduces the methods of conversation and interaction analysis. This elective module can be productively combined with all specializations if the individual focus is on discourse or the usage-based and interactional aspects of language. The contents of the module fit well with the elective module “Language and Culture” and can also be combined particularly well with the contents of the modules “Language and Media” and “Linguistic Variation.”

Course content

This module provides insights into methods and theories of conversation and interaction research. Linguistic phenomena are described at different levels (phonology, prosody, syntax, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics) in written and spoken interaction and analyzed in the relevant context of use. The focus is on questions concerning the concrete connection between linguistic forms and their functions in everyday use. The module will include theoretical discussions of these questions as well as their practical application in oral and medially mediated communication contexts within both informal and institutional interactions. These explorations will highlight the close interconnectedness between linguistic procedures, interactional strategies, and social or communicative practice.

Focal points of an interaction-based perspective on language include: differences between spoken and written language; grammar in use; the role of prosody in communicating meaning; linguistic phenomena as resources for producing communicative acts; the embedding of linguistic phenomena in larger communicative patterns; genres/text types; questions about the connection between interactional and cognitive factors in the production and interpretation of linguistic meaning; aspects of contrastive linguistics (connection between single-language features and the organization of linguistic activities); and questions about the communicative constitution of gender in everyday contexts.

Learning outcomes

Students will have acquired basic knowledge of empirical work with authentic conversational data. This will include, among other things, the collection, archiving (transcription), and analysis of written and spoken data as well as the application of conversation-analytical and ethnographic methods for the study of authentic language use. Students will be able to describe linguistic structures and their functions in the interactive use in everyday communication and to discuss them under different questions. They will be familiar with common theories and concepts of interactional research (ethnomethodology, genre theory, etc.). They will master common presentation techniques, have insight into accessible data corpora, possess problem-solving skills and the ability to work together in a team (including joint data sessions). They will also have acquired competencies in linking areas of knowledge (knowledge of grammar, knowledge of sociological theories of interaction, anthropological aspects of human communication skills) as well as in independent work (including independent field research, data collection and development of a topic area).