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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter Mouton March 6, 2007

Stance taking in conversation: From subjectivity to intersubjectivity

  • Elise Kärkkäinen

    Elise Kärkkäinen is a Research Fellow with the Academy of Finland, based at the University of Oulu. Her research has dealt with different aspects of conversational English, especially modality, preferred argument structure, and epistemic stance. She is the author of Epistemic Stance in English Conversation. A Description of Its Interactional Functions, with a Focus on I think (2003, Benjamins) and has conducted a research project entitled ‘Interactional Practices and Linguistic Resources of Stance-Taking in Spoken English 2002–2005’ (URL: 〈http://www.ekl.oulu.fi/stance/〉).

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From the journal Text & Talk

Abstract

In this paper I argue that stance in discourse is not the transparent linguistic packaging of ‘internal states’ of knowledge, but rather emerges from dialogic interaction between interlocutors. Thus, stance is more properly viewed from an intersubjective vantage point, rather than being regarded as primarily a subjective dimension of language. I begin by outlining patterns of epistemic stance marking within the speech of single speakers and show that these arise from the intersubjectivity between conversational co-participants. Then, I focus on stance taking as a joint activity between participants in story reception sequences and demonstrate that stances often emerge as a result of joint engagement in evaluative activity. Finally, I concentrate on how the particular linguistic resources used for stance taking fit into the intersubjective pattern by demonstrating syntactic, semantic, and prosodic resonances between contributions by different speakers.


*Address for correspondence: Department of English, Box 1000, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland

About the author

Elise Kärkkäinen

Elise Kärkkäinen is a Research Fellow with the Academy of Finland, based at the University of Oulu. Her research has dealt with different aspects of conversational English, especially modality, preferred argument structure, and epistemic stance. She is the author of Epistemic Stance in English Conversation. A Description of Its Interactional Functions, with a Focus on I think (2003, Benjamins) and has conducted a research project entitled ‘Interactional Practices and Linguistic Resources of Stance-Taking in Spoken English 2002–2005’ (URL: 〈http://www.ekl.oulu.fi/stance/〉).

Published Online: 2007-03-06
Published in Print: 2006-12-19

© Walter de Gruyter

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