Chapter 2. Positioning through address practice in Finland-Swedish and Sweden-Swedish service encounters
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Catrin Norrby
Abstract
This chapter investigates social positioning through the use (or non-use) of address pronouns in Finland-Swedish and Sweden-Swedish service encounters recorded at theatre and event booking venues in Finland and Sweden. The results demonstrate some compelling variation in address practices which can be attributed to participant roles (customer or staff), national variety (Finland-Swedish or Sweden-Swedish), age (younger or older speaker and addressee) and situational circumstances, such as type of venue and type of transaction, as well as micro-situational aspects which occur during the course of the interaction (complications, problems or topics treated as sensitive). The study highlights that different forms of address cannot be associated a priori with a certain level of formality, but should be interpreted in their micro and macro contexts in order to understand existing cultural norms for appropriate address.
Abstract
This chapter investigates social positioning through the use (or non-use) of address pronouns in Finland-Swedish and Sweden-Swedish service encounters recorded at theatre and event booking venues in Finland and Sweden. The results demonstrate some compelling variation in address practices which can be attributed to participant roles (customer or staff), national variety (Finland-Swedish or Sweden-Swedish), age (younger or older speaker and addressee) and situational circumstances, such as type of venue and type of transaction, as well as micro-situational aspects which occur during the course of the interaction (complications, problems or topics treated as sensitive). The study highlights that different forms of address cannot be associated a priori with a certain level of formality, but should be interpreted in their micro and macro contexts in order to understand existing cultural norms for appropriate address.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
- Chapter 2. Positioning through address practice in Finland-Swedish and Sweden-Swedish service encounters 19
- Chapter 3. Sociocultural and linguistic constraints in address choice from Latin to Italian 51
- Chapter 4. Closeness at a distance 81
- Chapter 5. Beyond the notion of periphery 105
- Chapter 6. Metacommenting in English and French 127
- Chapter 7. Direct speech, subjectivity and speaker positioning in London English and Paris French 155
- Chapter 8. Positioning of self in interaction 177
- Chapter 9. Constellation of indexicalities and social meaning 197
- Chapter 10. “Proper is whatever people make it” 219
- Chapter 11. Representations of self and other in narratives of return migration 241
- Chapter 12. Orthography as an identity marker 263
- Chapter 13. Positioning the self in talk about groups 285
- Author index 307
- Subject index 313
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
- Chapter 2. Positioning through address practice in Finland-Swedish and Sweden-Swedish service encounters 19
- Chapter 3. Sociocultural and linguistic constraints in address choice from Latin to Italian 51
- Chapter 4. Closeness at a distance 81
- Chapter 5. Beyond the notion of periphery 105
- Chapter 6. Metacommenting in English and French 127
- Chapter 7. Direct speech, subjectivity and speaker positioning in London English and Paris French 155
- Chapter 8. Positioning of self in interaction 177
- Chapter 9. Constellation of indexicalities and social meaning 197
- Chapter 10. “Proper is whatever people make it” 219
- Chapter 11. Representations of self and other in narratives of return migration 241
- Chapter 12. Orthography as an identity marker 263
- Chapter 13. Positioning the self in talk about groups 285
- Author index 307
- Subject index 313
