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Becoming a Member in Social Worlds

: The interface of learning and socialization in L2 interactions
Edited by Klara Skogmyr Marian and Simona Pekarek Doehler
[Language, Interaction and Acquisition 16:1] 2025
► pp. 39–64

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Becoming friends

Establishing social relations in L2 business calls

 | University of Southern DenmarkKolding
ORCiD logo with link | University of Southern DenmarkKolding
Published online: 9 October 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.23047.esk
Abstract
This conversation analytic study draws on a longitudinal corpus of landline phone calls. The material under examination comprises seven calls in English made between 1987 and 1991 between J (English L2 speaker), a European spare part provider, and T, a representative of a British company. Over the years in the course of these conversations, the character of the calls changes: J and T not only conduct business but also build a strong personal relationship. Through changing practices for (1) opening the calls and transitioning to the reason for the calls, (2) producing and responding to laughter tokens, and (3) using personal address terms to accomplish closings, the calls become more personal, knowledge is shared, and the two participants maintain conversational topics other than routine business. Unlike in other recent studies in the field, the changes cannot be traced back to trouble in the talk and its solutions but emerge in the slow building of shared experiences and personal knowledge over time.
Résumé
Cette étude, menée dans le cadre de l’Analyse Conversationnelle, s’appuie sur un corpus longitudinal d’appels téléphoniques fixes. Le matériel étudié est constitué de sept appels en anglais, passés entre 1988 et 1991 à un fournisseur européen de pièces détachées. Dans ces appels, J. (locuteur d’anglais L2) s’entretient avec le même représentant (T.) d’une entreprise britannique. Au fil de ces années, le caractère des appels évolue : J. et T. ne se contentent pas de faire des affaires ensemble : ils établissent également une relation sociale solide. En modifiant les pratiques (1) d’ouverture des appels et de transition vers la raison de l’appel, (2) de production et de réponse aux rires, et (3) d’utilisation de termes d’adresse personnels pour clore les conversations, les appels deviennent plus personnels, la connaissance mutuelle est rendue pertinente, et les deux participants abordent d’autres sujets que les discussions commerciales de routine. Contrairement à d’autres études récentes dans le domaine, ces changements ne peuvent pas être attribués à des problèmes conversationnels et à leurs solutions, mais émergent plutôt de la lente construction d’expériences communes et de connaissances personnelles au fil du temps.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Longitudinal studies of social interaction and interactional competence
  • 3.Data
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Call openings over time
    • 4.2Laughing and co-laughing
      • 4.2.1Laughter in delicate actions
      • 4.2.2Having fun
    • 4.3Addressing each other by name
  • 5.Discussion and conclusions
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
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