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Emotion in Multilingual Interaction
Edited by Matthew T. Prior and Gabriele Kasper
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 266] 2016
► pp. 203–236

Formulating and scaling emotionality in L2 qualitative research interviews

| Arizona State University

From a corpus of ‘troubles-tellings’ (Jefferson 1988) generated in qualitative research interviews with L2 (second language) English-speaking adult immigrants in the US and Canada, this case study examines how formulation and intensification, supported by various linguistic and paralinguistic resources, enable story teller (interviewee) and story recipient (interviewer) to intersubjectively categorize and manage the affect-laden descriptions of people and events set within particular institutional, interactional, psychological, and moral worlds. As a result, emotionality is shown to be more than an outcome of L2 users’ sociolinguistic experiences but a series of highly coordinated actions that progress the interview activity and make accountable as well as account for a complex network of social conduct and categorial relations.

Keywords: categorization, emotion, formulation, interviews, narrative, scaling, stance
Published online: 3 October 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.266.09pri
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