Publications

Publication details [#25592]

Besnier, Niko. 1994. Involvement in linguistic practice: An ethnographic appraisal. Journal of Pragmatics 22 (3/4) : 279–299.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Language as a subject
Place, Publisher
Elsevier
ISBN
0378-2166

Annotation

This paper critically explores 'involvement' as an analytic category in sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, identifying problems associated with its nature and locus and presenting a number of ethnographic studies assessing the usefulness of the notion in understanding the relationship between linguistic practices and their cultural and social contexts. Involvement as based on Western views of interaction, emotionality and personhood doesn't adequately account for the reported interactional dynamics, as these require an additional examination of cultural and social dynamics.