Affectivity in Interaction
Sound objects in English
How do participants display affectivity in social interaction? Based on recordings of authentic everyday conversations and radio phone-ins, this study offers a fine-grained analysis of how recipients of affect-laden informings deploy sound objects, i.e. interjections (oh, ooh and ah) and paralinguistic signals (whistle and clicks), for responsive displays of affectivity. Examining the use of such sound objects across a number of interactional activities including news telling, troubles talk, complaining, assessments and repair, the study provides evidence that the sound pattern and sequential placement of sound objects systematically contribute to their specific meaning-making in interaction, i.e. the management of sequence organisation and interactional relevancies (e.g. affiliation). Presenting an in-depth analysis of a little researched area of language use from an interactional linguistic perspective, the book will be of theoretical and methodological interest to an audience with a background in linguistics, sociology and conversational studies.
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 215] 2012. ix, 281 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
-
Acknowledgements | p. ix
-
I. Introduction
-
Introduction | pp. 3–8
-
II. Background
-
1. Preliminaries: Affectivity and sound objects in an interactional linguistic perspective | pp. 11–24
-
2. Approaching sound objects: Previous research on interjections, discourse markers and vocalisations | pp. 25–40
-
3. Approaching affectivity in talk-in-interaction I: Previous research on prosody | pp. 41–52
-
4. Approaching affectivity in talk-in-interaction II: Previous research on conversational activities | pp. 53–72
-
III. An analysis of responsive affect-laden sound objects in talk-in-interaction
-
5. Affectivity and sound objects: An interactional linguistic perspective | pp. 75–82
-
6. Affect-laden oh in repair sequences and news tellings | pp. 83–130
-
7. Affect-laden oohs in radio phone-ins and in mundane complaint sequences/troubles talk | pp. 131–170
-
8. Types of affect-laden ahs in troubles talk and deliveries of bad news | pp. 171–222
-
9. More affect-laden sound objects | pp. 223–242
-
IV. Summary and conclusions
-
Summary | pp. 245–256
-
-
Appendix | pp. 273–278
-
Subject index | pp. 279–280
-
Name index | p. 281
“We are witnessing here a study which forms clearly a distinct addition to existing knowledge. […] It begins where many of the prior studies have stopped: it shows that there is variation in meaning associated with prosodic-phonetic variation at levels that much of the prior research has been unable to reach.”
Marja-Leena Sorjonen, University of Helsinki
“What is often described in lay terms as 'oh-ing', 'ah-ing' and 'ooh-ing' is shown here to be a systematic social practice for displaying different sorts of affective stance in response to conversational news reports and other kinds of informings. This book is highly recommended for all those who take the emotive dimensions of social interaction seriously.”
Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen, University of Helsinki
“This is an accessible and compelling volume, valuable for scholars doing research on the combination of social interactions and emotions.”
Xue Yaoqin, Taiyuan Institute of Technology, in Discourse Studies, Vol.16:1 (2014). Pgs. 120-122
Cited by (75)
Cited by 75 other publications
Anderson, Jemima Asabea, Ebenezer Agbaglo & Rachel G. A. Thompson
2024. Exploring Ghanaians’ Usage of ei, ehe, eh, and eish in Global Web-Based English Corpus. Corpus Pragmatics 8:2 ► pp. 131 ff. 
Voss, Sina & Oliver Niebuhr
2024. 2024 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference (ProComm), ► pp. 131 ff.
Wang, Wei
2024. Response particles in Mandarin conversation. Chinese Language and Discourse. An International and Interdisciplinary Journal
Alvanoudi, Angeliki
2023. The Functions of Prosody in Action Formation in Australian Greek Talk-in-Interaction. Languages 8:4 ► pp. 256 ff.
Alvanoudi, Angeliki
2024. Conventionalized impoliteness formulae in third-party assessments. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict
Mushin, Ilana, Joe Blythe, Josua Dahmen, Caroline de Dear, Rod Gardner, Francesco Possemato & Lesley Stirling
2023. Towards an interactional grammar of interjections: Expressing compassion in four Australian languages. Australian Journal of Linguistics 43:2 ► pp. 158 ff.
Pelikan, Hannah R. M.
2023. Companion of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, ► pp. 754 ff.
Richter, Sandra, Toni Bernhart, Felix Dieterle, Gabriel Viehhauser, Gunilla Eschenbach, Jonas Kuhn, Nadja Schauffler, André Blessing, Markus Gärtner, Kerstin Jung, Nora Ketschig, Anna Kinder, Julia Koch, Thang Vu & Andreas Kozlik
2023. Der Klang der Lyrik. Poema: Jahrbuch für Lyrikforschung / Annual for the Study of Lyric Poetry / La recherche annuelle en poésie lyrique :1 ► pp. 39 ff.
Brown, Lucien, Hyunji Kim & Bodo Winter
2022. Is It Polite to Hiss?: Nonverbal Sound Objects as Markers of (Im)politeness in Korean. Frontiers in Communication 7
Jin, Ying, Younhee Helen Kim & Mia Huimin Chen
2022. Alignment, Affiliation, and Engagement: Mothers’Wowin Parent-Child Interactions. Research on Language and Social Interaction 55:3 ► pp. 279 ff.
Marmorstein, Michal & Nadav Matalon
Wu, Yaxin & Guodong Yu
2022. Action Ascription and Action Assessment. In Action Ascription in Interaction, ► pp. 234 ff.
Clift, Rebecca
2021. Embodiment in Dissent: The Eye Roll as an Interactional Practice. Research on Language and Social Interaction 54:3 ► pp. 261 ff.
Hidalgo Downing, Raquel & María Jesús Nieto y Otero
Jing, Yi
Mushin, Ilana & Simona Pekarek Doehler
Skogmyr Marian, Klara
2021. Assessing Without Words: Verbally Incomplete Utterances in Complaints. Frontiers in Psychology 12
Sørensen, Søren Sandager
2021. Affiliating in Second Position: Response Tokens with Rising Pitch in Danish. Research on Language and Social Interaction 54:1 ► pp. 101 ff.
Temer, Verónica González & Richard Ogden
2021. Non-convergent boundaries and action ascription in multimodal interaction. Open Linguistics 7:1 ► pp. 685 ff.
Waring, Hansun Zhang
2021. Chapter 3.2. Socializing the emotions of joy and surprise in parent-child interaction. In How Emotions Are Made in Talk [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 321], ► pp. 211 ff.
Weatherall, Ann
2021. Chapter 1.3. Displaying emotional control by how crying and talking are managed. In How Emotions Are Made in Talk [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 321], ► pp. 77 ff.
Weatherall, Ann & Jessica S. Robles
2021. How emotions are made to do things. In How Emotions Are Made in Talk [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 321], ► pp. 1 ff.
Wiggins, Sally & Leelo Keevallik
Wiggins, Sally & Leelo Keevallik
2021. Enacting Gustatory Pleasure on Behalf of Another: The Multimodal Coordination of Infant Tasting Practices. Symbolic Interaction 44:1 ► pp. 87 ff.
Dingemanse, Mark
2020. Between Sound and Speech: Liminal Signs in Interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction 53:1 ► pp. 188 ff.
Dingemanse, Mark
2024. Interjections at the Heart of Language. Annual Review of Linguistics 10:1 ► pp. 257 ff.
Hofstetter, Emily
2020. Nonlexical “Moans”: Response Cries in Board Game Interactions. Research on Language and Social Interaction 53:1 ► pp. 42 ff.
Keevallik, Leelo & Richard Ogden
2020. Sounds on the Margins of Language at the Heart of Interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction 53:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Li, Xiaoting
2020. Click-Initiated Self-Repair in Changing the Sequential Trajectory of Actions-in-Progress. Research on Language and Social Interaction 53:1 ► pp. 90 ff.
Mondada, Lorenza
2020. Audible Sniffs: Smelling-in-Interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction 53:1 ► pp. 140 ff.
Reber, Elisabeth & Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen
2020. On “Whistle” Sound Objects in English Everyday Conversation. Research on Language and Social Interaction 53:1 ► pp. 164 ff.
Vigil, Donny & Derrin Pinto
2020. An experimental study of the detection of clicks in English. Pragmatics & Cognition 27:2 ► pp. 457 ff.
Zhou, Yan
2020. The principle of proportionality. Chinese Language and Discourse. An International and Interdisciplinary Journal 11:1 ► pp. 107 ff.
Zhou, Yan
2022. Revisiting the Modal Verb huì with an Interactional Linguistic Approach. Languages 7:4 ► pp. 294 ff.
Gerhardt, Cornelia & Elisabeth Reber
2019. Embodied Activities. In Embodied Activities in Face-to-face and Mediated Settings, ► pp. 3 ff.
Kupetz, Maxi
2019. Embodying Empathy in Everyday and Institutional Settings: On the Negotiation of Resources, Rights, and Responsibilities in Comforting Actions. In Embodied Activities in Face-to-face and Mediated Settings, ► pp. 329 ff.
Wiggins, Sally
2019. Moments of Pleasure: A Preliminary Classification of Gustatory mmms and the Enactment of Enjoyment During Infant Mealtimes. Frontiers in Psychology 10
Betz, Emma & Arnulf Deppermann
2018. Indexing Priority of Position: Eben as Response Particle in German. Research on Language and Social Interaction 51:2 ► pp. 171 ff.
Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth
2018. Finding a Place for Body Movement in Grammar. Research on Language and Social Interaction 51:1 ► pp. 22 ff.
Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth
2020. The prosody of other-repetition in British and North American English. Language in Society 49:4 ► pp. 521 ff.
Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth
2021. OH + OKAY in informing sequences: On fuzzy boundaries in a particle combination. Open Linguistics 7:1 ► pp. 816 ff.
Heritage, John
2018. The ubiquity of epistemics: A rebuttal to the ‘epistemics of epistemics’ group. Discourse Studies 20:1 ► pp. 14 ff.
Heritage, John
2023. Conversation Analysis. In The Cambridge Handbook of Language in Context, ► pp. 9 ff.
Heritage, John & Marja-Leena Sorjonen
2018. Chapter 1. Introduction. In Between Turn and Sequence [Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 31], ► pp. 1 ff.
Pinto, Derrin & Donny Vigil
Pinto, Derrin & Donny Vigil
2022. Searches and clicks in Peninsular Spanish. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 83 ff.
Reber, Elisabeth
2018. Interjektionen. In Handbuch Pragmatik, ► pp. 229 ff.
Reber, Elisabeth
2022.
Schottmann, Hans:
Schwedische Interjektionen und Partikeln
. European Journal of Scandinavian Studies 52:2 ► pp. 334 ff.
Heinemann, Trine
2017. Receipting Answers That are Counter to Expectations: The Polar Question-Answer-NåSequence in Danish. Research on Language and Social Interaction 50:3 ► pp. 249 ff.
Langlotz, Andreas & Miriam A. Locher
2017. (Im)politeness and Emotion. In The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness, ► pp. 287 ff.
Persson, Rasmus
2017. La prosodie comme ressource pour l’organisation de l’interaction : état des lieux et illustrations. Revue française de linguistique appliquée Vol. XXII:2 ► pp. 33 ff.
Pfeiffer, Martin
2017. The deictic dimension of exclamations: On the use of wh-exclamatives in German face-to-face interaction. Revue de sémantique et pragmatique 40:40 ► pp. 35 ff.
Berger, Evelyne & Virginie Fasel Lauzon
2016. Orienting to a co-participant’s emotion in French L2. In Emotion in Multilingual Interaction [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 266], ► pp. 87 ff.
Fox, Barbara & Trine Heinemann
2016. Rethinking format: An examination of requests. Language in Society 45:4 ► pp. 499 ff.
Jackson, Clare
Rasmussen, Gitte
2016. Repeated use of request for confirmation in atypical interaction. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 30:10 ► pp. 849 ff.
Steensig, Jakob & Trine Heinemann
2016. Throwing the baby out with the bath water? Commentary on the criticism of the ‘Epistemic Program’. Discourse Studies 18:5 ► pp. 597 ff.
FISCHER, KERSTIN
2015. Conversation, Construction Grammar, and cognition. Language and Cognition 7:4 ► pp. 563 ff.
Reed, Beatrice Szczepek
2015. Pronunciation and the Analysis of Discourse. In The Handbook of English Pronunciation, ► pp. 190 ff.
Hoey, Elliott M.
2014. Sighing in Interaction: Somatic, Semiotic, and Social. Research on Language and Social Interaction 47:2 ► pp. 175 ff.
Hoey, Elliott M.
2020. Waiting to Inhale: On Sniffing in Conversation. Research on Language and Social Interaction 53:1 ► pp. 118 ff.
MacMartin, Clare, Jason B. Coe & Cindy L. Adams
2014. Treating Distressed Animals as Participants: I Know Responses in Veterinarians’ Pet-Directed Talk. Research on Language and Social Interaction 47:2 ► pp. 151 ff.
Moulinou, Iphigenia
Koivisto, Aino
2013. On the Preference for Remembering: Acknowledging an Answer With FinnishAi Nii(n)(“Oh That's Right”). Research on Language & Social Interaction 46:3 ► pp. 277 ff.
Koivisto, Aino
2015. Displaying Now-Understanding: The Finnish Change-of-State Tokenaa. Discourse Processes 52:2 ► pp. 111 ff.
Koivisto, Aino
2015. Dealing with Ambiguities in Informings: Finnish Aijaa as a “Neutral” News Receipt. Research on Language and Social Interaction 48:4 ► pp. 365 ff.
Ogden, Richard
2013. Clicks and percussives in English conversation. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 43:3 ► pp. 299 ff.
Ogden, Richard
2021. The Phonetics of Talk in Interaction. In The Cambridge Handbook of Phonetics, ► pp. 657 ff.
Barth-Weingarten, Dagmar
2012. Of Ens ’n’ Ands: Observations on the Phonetic Make-up of a Coordinator and its Uses in Talk-in-Interaction. Language and Speech 55:1 ► pp. 35 ff.
[no author supplied]
2012. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. Language in Society 41:4 ► pp. 555 ff.
[no author supplied]
2012. References. In The Handbook of Conversation Analysis, ► pp. 741 ff.
[no author supplied]
2014. Infant Vocal Production. In Phonological Development, ► pp. 80 ff.
[no author supplied]
[no author supplied]
[no author supplied]
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CFG: Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General