Distance and familiarity in unequal dialogue: The role of alignment and style‐switching

Chew, Phyllis Ghim‐Lian

doi:10.1080/07908319709525253

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…This also applies to the relationship at legal and ethical levels, since experts always have more responsibilities and power than their clients in terms of legislation, regulations and professional ethics (Gerlander & Isotalus 2010: 3-19;Hammar-Suutari 2009: 120). Asymmetry in institutional interaction has been studied using the concept of the gatekeeper (Erickson & Shultz 1982;He & Keating 1991;Chew 1997a;Chew, 1997b). For example, the official may be viewed as a gatekeeper who possesses knowledge of the administrative practices of the institution, practices related to service encounters and the structuring of interaction during the service encounter, accompanied by the power to either share or not share these resources with the client.…”

Section: Conversation During Service Encounters and Key Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Encounters along Micro-Level Borders: Silence and Metacommunicative Talk in Service Encounter Conversations between Finnish Employment Officials and Immigrants

Tanttu

2014

Cult. Unbound

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This article examines the interaction between Finnish employment officials and their immigrant clients in service encounter conversations. It employs the concepts of metacommunicative talk, silence, agency and asymmetric interaction situation. Such service encounters between native speakers of Finnish and immigrants going through the integration process and speaking Finnish as their second language constitute situations of institutional interaction, characterised by asymmetry. Asymmetry during the service encounter arises from the roles and power relations between the official and client, a familiarity with the routines associated with service encounters, and the use of Finnish as the language of conversation during the encounter.This article examines two authentic service encounters, recorded in a Finnish employment office. The encounters are analysed using discourse analysis, combining micro-level analysis of language use and macro-level analysis of the situation. Interviews with the employment officials and background information collected from the officials and clients via questionnaires are used in support of the qualitative analysis.Officials use different methods of interaction with their clients. In addition, the individual characteristics of officials and clients and their cultural differences influence the construction of interaction during a service encounter. Finnish officials can sometimes handle service encounters with very little talk -sometimes with hardly any talk at all. However, metacommunicative talk can serve as a vehicle for reinforcing the client's agency and supporting the immigrant in learning the language and customs, as well as in establishing a foothold in the new community, and thereby promoting the integration process as a whole.

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Section: Conversation During Service Encounters and Key Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Encounters along Micro-Level Borders: Silence and Metacommunicative Talk in Service Encounter Conversations between Finnish Employment Officials and Immigrants

Tanttu

2014

Cult. Unbound

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“…In the conversation-analytic literature, the work of Chew (1997) and of Norrick (1994), for example, construct "familiarity," "alignment," and "involvement" during, not before, interaction. On the other hand, it is typical for researchers in the disciplines of sociolinguistics, psychology, and speech communication to view conversational features as influenced by pre-existing contextual variables such as status and gender (see above).…”

Section: Acquaintanceship Familiarity and Laughtermentioning

confidence: 99%

Acquaintanceship, familiarity, and coordinated laughter in writing tutorials

Thonus

2008

Linguistics and Education

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This study compared the frequency, structure, and purposes of laughter in writing tutorials between 46 acquainted and unacquainted tutor-student pairs. Of particular interest were instances of shared, or coordinated laughter, which took the form of sequenced, simultaneous, and extended laughter. Familiarity, viewed as a continuum, was also investigated with reference to coordinated laughter. Results showed that coordinated laughter was indeed more frequent in acquainted-pair interactions, and in those interactions where both tutor and student moved beyond laughter as a way of mitigating face threat to a resource in developing familiarity. Implications are suggested for future research on acquaintanceship, familiarity, and laughter in educational settings.

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“…In this case, the minimal level of formality and the semi-structured questions favouring interactional and not transactional speech (Chew, 1997) were used as resources to mitigate the power imbalance. Interviewers were instructed to develop a more conversational format instead of questions and answers, including the sharing of personal experience, in an attempt to make it less asymmetrical (Grindsted, 2005).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Leading the Way and Showing Affiliation: Participatory Roles in a Semi-Structured Narrative Interview

Paredes

Cordella

2011

Rev. lingüíst. leng. apl.

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Distance and familiarity in unequal dialogue: The role of alignment and style‐switching

Cited by 3 publications

References 13 publications

Encounters along Micro-Level Borders: Silence and Metacommunicative Talk in Service Encounter Conversations between Finnish Employment Officials and Immigrants

Encounters along Micro-Level Borders: Silence and Metacommunicative Talk in Service Encounter Conversations between Finnish Employment Officials and Immigrants

Acquaintanceship, familiarity, and coordinated laughter in writing tutorials

Leading the Way and Showing Affiliation: Participatory Roles in a Semi-Structured Narrative Interview

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