Hakulinen-Couper-Kuhlen2015

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Hakulinen-Couper-Kuhlen2015
BibType ARTICLE
Key Hakulinen-Couper-Kuhlen2015
Author(s) Auli Hakulinen, Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen
Title Insisting on ‘my side’: Siis-prefaced utterances in Finnish
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Finnish, Interactional Linguistics
Publisher
Year 2015
Language English
City
Month
Journal Journal of Pragmatics
Volume 75
Number
Pages 111–130
URL Link
DOI 10.1016/j.pragma.2014.10.009
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

This paper investigates the Finnish particle siis, roughly translatable as ‘therefore/so’ or ‘that is’, in its conversational use to preface strongly emotive utterances. We use data from the Finnish Conversational Data Archive at the University of Helsinki and apply the micro-analytic methods commonly employed in Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics. Our research questions are as follows: (a) When is siis used to preface an emotive utterance? (b) What is the utterance that follows a siis-preface like? (c) What does this kind of siis-prefaced utterance accomplish in conversation? The upshot of the discussion is that speakers use stance-related siis-prefacing when talking about A-events, those drawn from the biography of the speaker, which are known to the speaker but not necessarily to the interlocutor. This use of siis introduces talk about ‘my’ feeling, ‘my’ experience, ‘my’ position, often when it is not being adequately appreciated or supported by one's interlocutor or when it has been pre-empted by the interlocutor. In this sense these utterances could be said to be insistent. In conclusion, we discuss the emotive work that siis-prefaced turns accomplish and consider their capacity to evoke empathic moments in their respective sequential environments.

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