Department of Finnish language and literature

Pragmatics, context and interpretation in conversations between native and non-native speakers of Finnish

1.8.1996 - 31.8.1999

Project leader: Jyrki Kalliokoski, professor; Department of Finnish language and literature, University of Helsinki

The research project consists of two sub-projects (doctoral dissertations) seeking answers to the following research questions:

1) How it is possible to deal with problems of understanding in institutional conversations between native and non-native speakers? How does the institutional context and the (layered) asymmetries in conversation affect the arising of problems?

2) How does the speaker's relationship with his/her interlocutor(s) or the topic, i. e. the interpersonal aspects of language use, affect the form of the utterance? How is modality expressed and modal expressions interpreted in everyday (non-institutional) conversations between native and non-ntive speakers of Finnish?

The sub-project 1 consists of Salla Kurhila's doctoral dissertation Constructing understanding in native - non-native conversation (2003). The focus of this study is on repair and word search sequences in institutional native - non-native conversations. The institutional data are also contrasted with non-institutional conversations between friends. It appears that language (errors in grammar or vocabulary) are seldom topicalized in institutional conversations - in contrast to conversations between friends. The method of the study is Conversation Analysis, a method which has not yet widely been adapted to the study of native - non-native interaction. Salla Kurhila's study has already acclaimed international interest.

The second sub-project consists of Yrjo Lauranto's (forthcoming) doctoral dissertation Puhujan lähtokohta, vaihdon luonne ja lauseen savy: interpersonaalis-tekstuaalisiamerkityksia S2-arkikeskustelus- sa (= Theme, exchange and rhetorical function: interpersonal and textual meaning in everyday conversations between native and non-native speakers of Finnish). The data come from conversations between friends (native speakers of Finnish and Spanish). The theoretical framework of the study is Systematic-Functional grammar. The study uses spontaneous data for the study of the interpretation of direct and non-direct speech acts, istead of completions tasks or simulated conversations. The spontaneous data shows that in addition to the referential meaning of the utterances it is necessary to consider the interpersonal and textual meaning. Moreover, the role of intonation, mostly neglected in the previous (experimental) studies of the realization of speech acts, has to accounted for as a importantant factor in the interpretation of modal expressions.

The data used in both sub-projects consist of naturally-occurring conversational interacti­ on. The recording of the data, its minuteous transcription (following the conventions of Conversation Analysis) and analysis has been time-consuming. However, thanks to the extensive corpus of spon­taneous conversation it has been possible to approach native - non-native conversation from a wider sosio-cultural perspective than in many more traditional studies in applied linguistics based on an autonous view on language. Language use - both by native and non-native speakers of Finnish - has been studied as social action embedded in the socio-cultural context and as constituting and changing the context.

The dissertations will contribute to the knowledge of the use of Finnish as a second languge and second language use in general. The results are applicable to assessment and organization of immigrant education and socio-political projects seeking for more profound understan­ding of the mechanisms of communication between native and non-native speakers of Finnish.

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