Medical authorities’ consternation at President Donald Trump’s apparently off-the-cuff recommendations for treating the COVID-19 coronavirus prompted much comment. Here is an analysis (admittedly preliminary) of the President’s speech which may shed some light on its sources.
March 25th, 2020: governments around the world require citizens to take increasingly stringent measures to combat COVID-19. In a rapid response to how Governments are communicating with us about how to limit the spread of the virus, Saul Albert and Charlotte Albury have compiled a report, based on a systematic review by a team led Albury, by on what CA can tell us about how medical advice is given and received. Continue reading
Issue 1 of volume 53 of the journal (the fist issue of 2020) is devoted to non-lexical things we do in interaction – whistling, clicking, moaning: things which are not language, but are deployed in language-like ways. From a wealth of fascinating articles, I’m delighted that Elliott Hoey has agreed to send in lively report of his investigation into the uses of the sniff. Continue reading
Emma Richardson, Aston University
It’s not just researchers who go out with their taperecorders and bring back data to transcribe: formal transcripts are part and parcel of the work of Parliaments, law courts, the police, and many others. Emma Richardson has been looking into the reach and scope of official recordings, and asks us to compare officials’ practical interests with our more academic ones. Continue reading
CA is blessed with some exceptionally able communicators, and there is a growing appetite to reach out to members of the public with a show of what CA can do (see the other blogs in this “CA Teaching” section). One now well-established tradition is for members of York’s Centre for Advanced Studies in Language and Communication (CASLC) to engage in York’s research festival (“Yornight“), and I’m delighted that Rose Rickford has sent in a report of what happened this year. Continue reading
In a recent paper in ROLSI, Kenan Hochuli reported a remarkable study of the complex world of the street market. I’m delighted that he’s prepared a guest blog on the subject, concentrating on the crucial step in the selling process: getting the passer-by to stop.
Kenan Hochuli, Neuchâtel and Zurich
Market stalls are unique service institutions. They are located in public spaces and approachable from different directions. There are no material or technical devices that determine the sequence of sales. Sometimes it is not clear whether a person is just passing by a stall or if they intend to buy something. And this often happens in the course of already ongoing sales interactions. In view of these conditions, my article deals with seller’s efforts in transforming passers-by into customers and, more generally, participants negotiation of co-presence in the course of emerging multi-party-encounters. Continue reading
Conversation Analysis is finding application in all sorts of fields, and perhaps none so sensitive as military manouevres… but as Antti Kamunen explains, it can all be in the service of defusing a crisis and working towards peaceful resolution.
Antti Kamunen, Oulu
What happens inside a patrol car when you notice you are about drive into a minefield? How do you act when you suddenly come across a life-threating situation and have to make decisions quickly? What happens when you get lost on your patrol route in a potentially hostile territory? Continue reading
Denmark has a thriving EM/CA community, with faculty and students contributing to world-class initiatives across the range of interaction research. Here Magnus Hamann tells us how Danish Interaction Linguistics grew from a simple idea to an project that has generated activity and funding for generations of postgraduate students.
Magnus Hamann
DanTIN project has its 10-year anniversary. in November 2019. Happy students from different stages of life (some still students, some already accomplished contributors to the work force) have met to celebrate something that has probably had a bigger influence on their linguistic studies and identity than they had initially realised. Continue reading
A recent meeting in Neuchâtel will be of much interest to ROLSI.net blog readers – the reciprocal connection between grammatical abstractions and their embodied realities is at the centre of theoretical debates in interactional linguistics. I’m delighted that a group of energetic young scholars from the Center for Applied Linguistics, University of Neuchâtel have sent in this lively report of proceedings.
Authors: (in alphabetical order): Sophia Fiedler, Kenan Hochuli, Loanne Janin, Adam Jones, Klara Skogmyr Marian, Ioana-Maria Stoenica
Grammar and the body Continue reading
The global reach of Conversation Analysis is ever-expanding, as illustrated by the interest generated in CA workshops wherever in the world they take place. Here Rebecca Clift gives us a brief but evocative account of her trip to China with colleagues from the UK and the USA.
Rebecca Clift, Essex University
There was a happy gathering for the third National Workshop in Conversation Analysis at Shanxi University, China, from 15th-19thJuly 2019. The huge group photo (see the foot of the page) more or less gets everyone in! Continue reading
