Mobility

Encyclopedia of Terminology for CA and IL: Mobility
Author(s):	Pentti Haddington (University of Oulu, Finland) (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4378-4450)
To cite:	Haddington, Pentti. (2023). Mobility. In Alexandra Gubina, Elliott M. Hoey & Chase Wesley Raymond (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Terminology for Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics. International Society for Conversation Analysis (ISCA). DOI: []

In Conversation Analysis, the term mobility is used in the context of how social participants talk and interact while moving from one place to another. Conversation Analytic work on mobility focuses specifically on whole-body movement through space and is thus distinct from analyses of body part movements (e.g., gestures or shifts in body orientation). It also embraces not just walking bodies, but bodies that are being transported or conducting various forms of transportation.

Mobility is a ubiquitous feature of everyday life. Often mobility also involves participants talking and interacting with each other, and in these situations talk and action can become intimately intertwined with the accomplishment of mobility. This interconnectedness of talk/action and mobility becomes visible in interaction in two ways (Haddington et al. 2013).

On the one hand, talk and embodied actions can be used to coordinate and make (joint) mobility possible. This is illustrated in the following brief in-car navigation sequence that comes from a patrolling exercise in a crisis management training course (Rautiainen, 2021). In patrol teams, team leaders (TL) are responsible for navigation and drivers (DRV) for driving the vehicle. In the excerpt, the team is approaching a junction when the driver (l. 2) requests TL to confirm their next mobile action, a turn to the left.

(1) [UNMEM 1/2019 Oscar, 27 March 2703.mp3 (05.42:27)] (Rautiainen 2021)

01        (6.0)
02  DRV:  lef- lef:t?
03        (.)
04  TL:   yeah,
05        (2.3)

In line 4, TL confirms DRV’s enquiry, and they take a left-turn at the junction. With the two turns the team members establish and confirm their joint understanding about their next mobile action, making it possible, relevant and accountable.

On the other hand, mobility as a contextual feature can shape and contribute to the organisation of talk and embodied interaction. This can be seen, for example, in car driving episodes in which the driver drops off a passenger before continuing their journey (Haddington, 2019). In these situations, the in-car participants coordinate the closing of the encounter step by step, parallel with and relative to the driving activity and the car’s movement, making possible a smooth and coordinated stop-and-go.

While the above distinction is useful for analytic purposes, many interactional actions and practices simultaneously shape and are shaped by mobility (for overviews, see Haddington et al. 2012; Haddington, et al. 2013; McIlvenny et al. 2009; McIlvenny et al. 2014; De Stefani et al. 2019).

The interest in Conversation Analysis on the issues of mobility can be traced back to Erving Goffman’s work on encounters between mobile pedestrians and how “vehicular units” coordinate and adjust their movement with respect to other such units (Goffman, 1971: 5–18). Additionally, Laurier et al. (2008) can be considered as a landmark paper connecting issues of conversation and mobility and influencing subsequent work in conversation analysis.

Since Goffman (1971) and Laurier et al. (2008), Conversation Analysis has been used to study a wide range of interactional actions, activities and practices and their interrelationship with movement and mobility. For example, it has studied the ways in which people accomplish navigation in different contexts (Haddington, 2012, 2013: Psathas, 1976; Rautiainen, 2021), what happens inside cars during overtaking (Deppermann, et al. 2018) and how people orient to concerns of being a group when moving together (McIlvenny, et al. 2014). It has also studied how instructors, when instructing a learner to, for example, drive, ski or fly, parse the instructed mobile task (e.g., turning or landing) into sub-actions in order to guide the learner to carry out the task (Rauniomaa et al. 2018). These studies have covered a wide range of mobile activities and contexts, such as cycling (McIlvenny, 2013a, 2013b), driving (Haddington, 2010; Laurier, 2013, 2019; Laurier et al. 2008; Mondada) 2012, flying (Nevile, 2004a, 2004b, 2009, 2013), walking (Broth & Lundström, 2013; Broth & Mondada 2013, 2019; Mondada, 2009, 2014; Weilenmann et al. 2013) and patrolling (Rautiainen, 2021). There are also several studies attending specifically to learning in and for mobility, for example in driving (Broth et al., 2018; De Stefani & Gazin, 2014; Deppermann, 2018; Levin et al 2017; Rauniomaa, 2017; Rauniomaa et al., 2018), flying (Melander & Sahlström, 2009) and dancing (Broth & Keevallik, 2014). Sometimes this body of research is referred to as ‘interactional mobility studies’ (McIlvenny, 2013c; McIlvenny et al., 2014).

Additional Related Entries:

• Embodiment
• Interactional space
• Instruction
• Materiality
• Multimodality
• Objects

Cited References:

Broth, M., Cromdal, J., & Levin, L. (2018). Showing where you're going. Instructing the accountable use of the indicator in live traffic. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 28(2), 248-264.

Broth, M., & Keevallik, L. (2014). Getting Ready to Move as a Couple: Accomplishing Mobile Formations in a Dance Class. Space and Culture, 17(2), 107-121.

Broth, M., & Lundström, F. (2013). A Walk on the pier: Establishing relevant places in mobile instruction. In P. Haddington, L. Mondada, & M. Nevile (Eds.), Interaction and mobility: Language and the Body in Motion (pp. 91-122). Walter de Gruyter.

Broth, M., & Mondada, L. (2013). Walking away: The embodied achievement of activity closings in mobile interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 47(1), 41-58.

Broth, M., & Mondada, L. (2019). Delaying moving away: Place, mobility, and the multimodal organization of activities. Journal of Pragmatics, 148, 44-70.

Deppermann, A. (2018). Changes in turn-design over interactional histories – the case of instructions in driving school lessons. In A. Deppermann & J. Streeck (Eds.), Time in Embodied Interaction: Synchronicity and sequentiality of multimodal resources (pp. 293-324). John Benjamins.

Deppermann, A., Laurier, E., Mondada, L., Broth, M., Cromdal, J., De Stefani, E., Haddington, P., Levin, L., Nevile, M., & Rauniomaa, M. (2018). Overtaking as an interactional achievement: video analyses of participants' practices in traffic. Gesprächsforshung, 19, 1-131.

De Stefani, E., Broth, M., & Deppermann, A. (2019). On the road: Communicating traffic. Language & Communication, 65, 1-6.

De Stefani, E., & Gazin, A.-D. (2014). Instructional sequences in driving lessons: Mobile participants and the temporal and sequential organization of actions. Journal of Pragmatics, 65, 63-79.

Haddington, P. (2010). Turn-taking for turntaking: mobility, time, and action in sequential organisation of junction negotiations in cars. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 43(4), 372-400.

Haddington, P. (2012). Movement in action: Initiating social navigation in cars. Semiotica, 191(1/4), 145-170.

Haddington, P. (2013). Action and space: Navigation as a social and spatial task. In P. Auer, M. Hilpert, A. Stukenbrock, & B. Szmrecsanyi (Eds.), Space in language and linguistics: Geographical, interactional and cognitive perspectives (pp. 411-433). Walter de Gruyter.

Haddington, P. (2019). Leave-taking as multiactivity: Coordinating conversational closings with driving in cars. Language and Communication, 65, 58-78.

Haddington, P., Keisanen, T. and Nevile, M. (Eds.) (2012) Meaning in motion: Interaction in Cars. Special issue for Semiotica, 191(1/4).

Haddington, P., Mondada, L., & Nevile, M. (2013). Being mobile: interaction on the move. In P. Haddington, L. Mondada, & M. Nevile (Eds.), Interaction and Mobility: Language and the body in motion (pp. 3-61). Walter de Gruyter.

Laurier, E. (2013). Before, in and after: Cars making their way through roundabouts. In P. Haddington, L. Mondada, & M. Nevile (Eds.), Interaction and Mobility: Language and the body in motion (pp. 210-242). Walter de Gruyter.

Laurier, E. (2019). Civility and mobility: Drivers (and passengers) appreciating the actions of other drivers. Language & Communication, 65, 79-91.

Laurier, E., Lorimer, H., Brown, B., Jones, O., Juhlin, O., Noble, A., Perry, M., Pica, D., Sormani, P., Strebel, I., Swan, L., Taylor, A. S., Watts, L., & Weilenmann, A. (2008). Driving and “passengering”: notes on the ordinary organization of car travel. Mobilities, 3(1), 1-23.

Levin, L., Cromdal, J., Broth, M., Gazin, A.-D., Haddington, P., McIlvenny, P., Melander, H., & Rauniomaa, M. (2017). Unpacking corrections in mobile instruction: Error-occasioned learning opportunities in driving, cycling and aviation training. Linguistics and Education, 38, 11-23.

McIlvenny, P. (2013a). The Joy of Biking Together: Sharing Everyday Experiences of Vélomobility. Mobilities, 10(1), 55-82.

McIlvenny, P. (2013b). Vélomobile Formations-in-Action: Biking and Talking Together. Space and Culture, 17(2), 137-156.

McIlvenny, P. (2013c). Interacting outside the box: Between social interaction and mobilities. In P. Haddington, L. Mondada, & M. Nevile (Eds.), Interaction and mobility: Language and the body in motion (pp. 409-417). Walter de Gruyter.

McIlvenny, P., Broth, M. and Haddington, P. (Eds.) (2009) Communicating place, space and mobility. Special issue for Journal of Pragmatics, 41(10).

McIlvenny, P., Broth, M., & Haddington, P. (2014). Moving Together: Mobile Formations in Interaction. Space and Culture, 17(2), 104-106.

Melander, H., & Sahlström, F. (2009). Learning to Fly - The Progressive Development of Situation Awareness. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 53(2), 151-166.

Mondada, L. (2009). Emergent focused interactions in public places: A systematic analysis of the multimodal achievement of a common interactional space. Journal of Pragmatics, 41, 1977–1997.

Mondada, L. (2012). Talking and driving: multi-activity in the car. Semiotica, 191(1/4), 223-256.

Mondada, L. (2014). Bodies in action: Multimodal analysis of walking and talking. Language and Dialogue, 4(3), 357-403.

Nevile, M. (2004a). Beyond the Black Box: Talk-in-interaction in the Airline Cockpit. Ashgate.

Nevile, M. (2004b). Integrity in the airline cockpit: Embodying claims about progress for the conduct of an approach briefing. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 37(4), 447-480.

Nevile, M. (2009). "You are well clear of friendlies": Diagnostic error and cooperative work in an Iraq War friendly fire incident. Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Special issue "Technology and Diagnostic Work", edited by Büscher, M. O'Neill, J. and Rooksby, J., 18(2/3), 147-173.

Nevile, M. (2013). Seeing on the move: Mobile collaboration on the battlefield. In P. Haddington, L. Mondada, & M. Nevile (Eds.), Interaction and mobility: Language and the body in motion (pp. 153-177). Walter de Gruyter.

Psathas, G. (1976). Mobility, Orientation and Navigation: Conceptual and Theoretical Considerations. New Outlook for the Blind, 70(9), 385–391.

Rautiainen, I. (2021). Talk and Action as Discourse in UN Military Observer Course: Routines and Practices of Navigation. In I. Chiluwa (Ed.), Discourse and Conflict: Analysing Text and Talk of Conflict, Hate and Peace-building (pp. 381-412). Palgrave-Macmillan.

Rauniomaa, M. (2017). Assigning roles and responsibilities: Finnish imperatively formatted directive actions in a mobile instructional setting. In M.-L. Sorjonen, L. Raevaara, & E. Couper-Kuhlen (Eds.), Imperative Turns at Talk: the Design of Directives in Action (pp. 325–355). John Benjamins.

Rauniomaa, M., Haddington, P., Melander, H., Gazin, A.-D., Broth, M., Cromdal, J., Levin, L., & McIlvenny, P. (2018). Parsing tasks for the mobile novice in real time: Orientation to the learner's actions and to spatial and temporal constraints in instructing-on-the-move. Journal of Pragmatics, 128, 30-52.

Weilenmann, A., Normark, D., & Laurier, E. (2013). Managing Walking Together: The Challenge of Revolving Doors. Space and Culture, 17(2), 122-136.

Additional References:

Haddington, P., Mondada, L., & Nevile, M. (Eds.). (2013). Interaction and mobility: Language and the body in motion. Walter de Gruyter.

Psathas, G. (1992). The Study of Extended Sequences: The Case of the Garden Lesson. In G. Watson & R. M. Seiler (Eds.), Text in Context: Contributions to Ethnomethodology (pp. 99-122). Sage.

Relieu, M. (1999). Parler en marchant: Pour une écologie dynamique des échanges de paroles [Talking while walking: towards a dynamic ecology of verbal exchanges]. Langage & Société, 89, 37-67.