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Article published In: Meaning in Interaction: Studies in memory of Jack Bilmes
Edited by Arnulf Deppermann and Elwys De Stefani
[Interactional Linguistics 3:1/2] 2023
► pp. 13–39

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Meta-semantic practices in social interaction

Definitions and specifications provided in response to Was heißt X (‘what does X mean’)

ORCiD logo with link | Leibniz-Institute for the German Language, Mannheim | University of Helsinki
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

This article was made Open Access under a CC BY 4.0 license through payment of an APC by or on behalf of the author.

Published online: 9 January 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/il.23002.dep
Abstract
In social interaction, different kinds of word-meaning can become problematic for participants. This study analyzes two meta-semantic practices, definitions and specifications, which are used in response to clarification requests in German implemented by the format Was heißt X (‘What does X mean?’). In the data studied, definitions are used to convey generalizable lexical meanings of mostly technical terms. These terms are either unknown to requesters, or, in pedagogical contexts, requesters ask in order to check the addressee’s knowledge. Specifications, in contrast, clarify aspects of local speaker meanings of ordinary expressions (e.g., reference, participants in an event, standards applied to scalar expressions). Both definitions and specifications are recipient-designed with respect to the (presumed) knowledge of the addressee and tailored to the topical and practical relevancies of the current interaction. Both practices attest to the flexibility and situatedness of speakers’ semantic understandings and to the systematicity of using meta-semantic practices differentially for different kinds of semantic problems. Data are come from mundane and institutional interaction in German from the public corpus FOLK.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Semantic work in interaction: Clarifications
  • 3.Uses of and responses to Was heißt X (‘What does X mean’) in German talk-in-interaction
  • 4.Definitions
  • 5.Specification
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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Cited by six other publications

Deppermann, Arnulf & Alexandra Gubina
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Deppermann, Arnulf
2024. What do you understand by X?. In New Perspectives in Interactional Linguistic Research [Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 36], ► pp. 103 ff. DOI logo
De Stefani, Elwys
2023. Displaying a negative stance by questioning meaning. Interactional Linguistics 3:1-2 ► pp. 40 ff. DOI logo
Deppermann, Arnulf & Elwys De Stefani
2023. Meaning in interaction. Interactional Linguistics 3:1-2 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Koole, Tom
2023. Meaning as referential work. Interactional Linguistics 3:1-2 ► pp. 167 ff. DOI logo
Mondada, Lorenza
2023. The semantics of taste in interaction. Interactional Linguistics 3:1-2 ► pp. 93 ff. DOI logo

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