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In:Constructing Collectivity: 'We' across languages and contexts
Edited by Theodossia-Soula Pavlidou
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 239] 2014
► pp. 309–330

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On the use of ‘we’ in Flemish World War II interviews

ORCiD logo with link | University of Leuven, Belgium
Published online: 27 February 2014
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.239.20mie
This chapter focuses on the ‘we’-form and its relation to identity construction in fifteen World War II narratives elicited by interviews. First, I address this issue from a quantitative perspective by mirroring the pronominal usage of the interviewer and the interviewee and by executing a contextual referent analysis of the ‘we’-form. Second, I shift to a qualitative perspective to demonstrate the central position of the ‘we’-form in the interviewees’ construction of the collective identity of the group of deported prisoners of war. The use of the ‘we’-form is only avoided when taboo topics are being discussed. The findings thus illustrate the importance of the ‘we’-form as a marker of identity.
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