is a concept developed by John Gumperz (1982). It means that speakers signal and listeners interpret how semantic content is to be understood and how each sentence relates to what precedes or follows by the means of social and contextual information in the interaction. According to Gumperz’s hypothesis, any utterance can be understood in numerous ways and people make decisions about how to interpret a given utterance based on their definition of what is happening at the time of interaction. Contextualisation cues represent surface features of linguistic form that contributes to the signalling of contextual presuppositions as well as to interactive cooperation. These cues include, for example, prosodic phenomena, dialect, style, code, lexical and syntactic options, formulaic expressions, conversational openings, closings, and sequencing strategies (Gumperz, 1982).
Published in Chapter:
Relational Work in Synchronous Text-Based CMC of Virtual Teams
Erika Darics (University of Loughborough, UK)
Copyright: © 2010
|Pages: 22
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61520-773-2.ch053
Abstract
Based on close examinations of instant message (IM) interactions, this chapter argues that an interactional sociolinguistic approach to computer-mediated language use could provide explanations for phenomena that previously could not be accounted for in computer-mediated discourse analysis (CMDA). Drawing on the theoretical framework of relational work (Locher, 2006), the analysis focuses on non-task oriented talk and its function in forming and establishing communication norms in the team, as well as micro-level phenomena, such as hesitation, backchannel signals and emoticons. The conclusions of this preliminary research suggest that the linguistic strategies used for substituting audio-visual signals are strategically used in discursive functions and have an important role in relational work.