Robles2017
Robles2017 | |
---|---|
BibType | ARTICLE |
Key | Robles2017a |
Author(s) | Jessica S. Robles |
Title | Misunderstanding as a resource in interaction |
Editor(s) | |
Tag(s) | EMCA, discourse analysis, misunderstanding, repair, reference, inference, intersubjectivity |
Publisher | |
Year | 2017 |
Language | English |
City | |
Month | |
Journal | Pragmatics |
Volume | 27 |
Number | 1 |
Pages | 57–86 |
URL | |
DOI | 10.1075/prag.27.1.03rob |
ISBN | |
Organization | |
Institution | |
School | |
Type | |
Edition | |
Series | |
Howpublished | |
Book title | |
Chapter |
Abstract
Te phenomenon of misunderstanding is a recurrent feature of everyday life – sometimes a source of frustration, sometimes a site of blame. But mis- understandings can also be seen as getting interactants out of (as well as into) trouble. For example, misunderstandings may be produced to deal with dis- afliative implications of ‘not being on the same page,’ and as such they may be deployed as a resource for avoiding trouble. Tis paper examines misunder- standing as a pragmatic accomplishment, focusing on the uses to which it is put in interactions as a practice for dealing with threats to intersubjectivity: the extent to which persons are aligned in terms of a current referent, activity, as- sessment, etc. A multimodal discourse analysis of audio and video recordings of naturally-occurring talk inspects moments in which misunderstandings are purported or displayed (rather than overtly invoked) as well as how such misunderstandings are oriented to as simply-repairable references, versus in- ferential matters more misaligned and potentially fraught. Rather than being a straightforward refection of an experience of trouble with understanding, misunderstanding may also be collaboratively produced to manage practical challenges to intersubjectivity.
Notes