Concession and reassertion: on a dialogic discourse pattern in conversation
-
Jan K. Lindström
Jan Lindström is Professor of Scandinavian languages at the University of Helsinki and leader of a research team in the Finnish Center of Excellence in Research on Intersubjectivity in Interaction. His research concentrates on spoken language (Swedish) from the perspective of interactional linguistics, grammatical theory, cross-language comparison, language contact, historical pragmatics, and language policy.
and
Anne-Marie Londen
Anne-Marie Londen is Professor Emerita of Scandinavian languages at the University of Helsinki. Her research includes work on techniques for rendering speech and thought in narrative fiction and the relations between literary dialogue and conversation as well as work on conversational language (Swedish) in different contexts within the framework of conversation analysis (CA).
Abstract
This is a study of a concessive discourse pattern in which the speaker first makes an assertion, then backs down from it, and eventually recycles the original standpoint. This practice bears a strong resemblance to show concessions which Antaki and Wetherell (1999) identify as typical of ideological debate. Our data are from Swedish conversations in everyday as well as institutional settings. We argue thus that the practice of conceding and reasserting does not limit itself to specific rhetoric purposes but is a generally available device for reasoning and argumentation in conversation. The practice enhances intersubjectivity in interaction by acknowledging other viewpoints, signaling reciprocity between the participants, and contributing to preference for agreement. We account for the dialogic nature of this concessive pattern by analyzing first same-speaker produced and then other-induced concessions. We also consider the relation of the concession–reassertion format to other concessive practices.
About the authors
Jan Lindström is Professor of Scandinavian languages at the University of Helsinki and leader of a research team in the Finnish Center of Excellence in Research on Intersubjectivity in Interaction. His research concentrates on spoken language (Swedish) from the perspective of interactional linguistics, grammatical theory, cross-language comparison, language contact, historical pragmatics, and language policy.
Anne-Marie Londen is Professor Emerita of Scandinavian languages at the University of Helsinki. Her research includes work on techniques for rendering speech and thought in narrative fiction and the relations between literary dialogue and conversation as well as work on conversational language (Swedish) in different contexts within the framework of conversation analysis (CA).
©[2013] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Announcement
- Masthead
- Ethnopolitical discourse among ordinary Malaysians: diverging accounts of “the good-old days” in discussing multiculturalism
- Words as weapons for mass persuasion: dysphemism in Churchill's wartime speeches
- Concession and reassertion: on a dialogic discourse pattern in conversation
- Interaction in the virtual world: an analysis of students' construal of pedagogic subject positions in a 3D virtual learning environment
- Exceptions to rules: a qualitative analysis of backward causal connectives in Dutch naturalistic discourse
- Anthropomorphic grammar? Some linguistic patterns in the wildlife documentary series Life
Articles in the same Issue
- Announcement
- Masthead
- Ethnopolitical discourse among ordinary Malaysians: diverging accounts of “the good-old days” in discussing multiculturalism
- Words as weapons for mass persuasion: dysphemism in Churchill's wartime speeches
- Concession and reassertion: on a dialogic discourse pattern in conversation
- Interaction in the virtual world: an analysis of students' construal of pedagogic subject positions in a 3D virtual learning environment
- Exceptions to rules: a qualitative analysis of backward causal connectives in Dutch naturalistic discourse
- Anthropomorphic grammar? Some linguistic patterns in the wildlife documentary series Life
