Cover not available

Article published In: Constructing and Negotiating Identity in Dialogue:
Edited by Răzvan Săftoiu
[Language and Dialogue 5:1] 2015
► pp. 7–22

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Identity as a dialogic concept

 | University of Münster, Germany
Published online: 23 June 2015
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.5.1.01wei
Identity has been investigated from different perspectives and there are therefore numerous ways of interpreting this concept. Basically it seems to be a method of categorizing people. We are however not only a slot in a bureaucratic system but social and dialogic human beings. As social individuals we can think about social consequences, and as dialogic individuals we can demonstrate our own supposed identity and evaluate the alleged identity of our fellow human beings in dialogue. ‘The side we are on’ leaves its mark not only on how we evaluate actions and events but also on how we refer to people. In this way identity is constructed and negotiated in dialogue. The paper analyses various authentic texts in order to demonstrate the dialogic nature of the concept.
References (15)
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. 2005. The Ethics of Identity. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gumperz, John J. 1982. Language and Social Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jenkins, Richard. 1996. Social Identity. New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Joseph, John E. 2004. Language and Identity. National, Ethnic, Religious. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lave, Jean, and Etienne Wenger. 1991. Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Măda, Stanca, and Răzvan Săftoiu (eds). 2012. Professional Communication across Languages and Cultures. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Malinowski, Bronisław. 1923. “The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages. A Study of the Influence of Language upon Thought and of the Science of Symbolism.” In The Meaning of Meaning, ed. by Charles K. Ogden, and Ivor A. Richards, 296–336. London: Harcourt.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Norris, Sigrid. 2013. Identity in (Inter)action. Introducing Multimodal Analysis. Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Norton, Bonny. 2013. Identity and Language Learning: Extending the Conversation (2nd ed.). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Omoniyi, Tope, and Goodith White (eds). 2006. The Sociolinguistics of Identity. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Searle, John R. 1969. Speech Acts. An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1992. “Conversation.” In (On) Searle on Conversation, ed. by John R. Searle et al., 7–30. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weigand, Edda. 2006. “Argumentation: The Mixed Game.” Argumentation 20 (1): 59–81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. Dialogue: The Mixed Game. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wenger, Etienne. 1998. Communities of Practice. Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (7)

Cited by seven other publications

Mishani-Uval, Yael
2025. Why we must communicate. Language and Dialogue 15:3 ► pp. 349 ff. DOI logo
Ramos, Jennifer Tan-de
2024. Critical Discourse Analysis of Intercultural Communication through the Lens of Multiculturality and Interraciality. Journal of Intercultural Communication ► pp. 37 ff. DOI logo
Arnett, Ronald C.
2022. Dialogic hypertextuality. Language and Dialogue 12:2 ► pp. 197 ff. DOI logo
Kohn, Ayelet
2021. Self-representation of people with disabilities. Language and Dialogue 11:1 ► pp. 59 ff. DOI logo
Săftoiu, Răzvan
2017. The ethnic category from a linguistic perspective. Diacronia :5 DOI logo
Săftoiu, Răzvan
2017. Categoria etnică din perspectivă lingvistică. Diacronia :5 DOI logo
Weigand, Edda
2015. Dialogue in the stream of life. Language and Dialogue 5:2 ► pp. 197 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue