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Intersubjectivity in Action
Studies in language and social interaction
Intersubjectivity is a precondition for human life – for social organization as well as for individual development and well-being. Through empirical examination of social interactions in everyday and institutional settings, the authors in this volume explore the achievement and maintenance of intersubjectivity. The contributions show how language codes and creates intersubjectivity, how interactants move towards shared understanding in interaction, how intersubjectivity is central to phenomena and experiences often considered merely individual, and how intersubjectivity evolves through learning. While the core methodology of the studies is Conversation Analysis, the volume highlights the advantages of using several methods to tackle intersubjectivity.
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 326] 2021. vi, 437 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 20 October 2021
Published online on 20 October 2021
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
- Intersubjectivity in action: An introductionMarja-Leena Sorjonen, Anssi Peräkylä, Ritva Laury and Jan Lindström | pp. 1–22
- Part I. How language codes and creates intersubjectivity
- Organizing the “we” in interactionMarja Etelämäki | pp. 25–39
- Definitely indefinite: Negotiating intersubjective common ground in everyday interaction in FinnishRitva Laury | pp. 41–60
- Directive turn design and intersubjectivityElizabeth Couper-Kuhlen, Marja Etelämäki and Marja-Leena Sorjonen | pp. 61–80
- On agency and affiliation in second assessments: German and Swedish opinion verbs in talk-in-interactionPeter Auer and Jan Lindström | pp. 81–107
- Mirror-like address practice in Arabic-medium classroom interaction: Managing social relations and intersubjectivityIrina Piippo | pp. 109–134
- Brokering co-participants’ volition in request and offer sequencesKatariina Harjunpää | pp. 135–159
- Part II. Moving towards shared understanding
- Decision-making in salesperson–customer interaction: Establishing a common ground for obtaining commitmentJarkko Niemi, Ellen Pullins and Timo Kaski | pp. 163–181
- Building an intersubjective understanding of the patient’s mental sufferingElina Weiste | pp. 183–199
- Shared understandings of the human–nature relationship in encounters with small wildlifeMirka Rauniomaa, Tiina Keisanen and Pauliina Siitonen | pp. 201–230
- Extending sequences of other-initiated repair in Finnish conversationMarkku Haakana, Salla Kurhila, Niina Lilja and Marjo Savijärvi | pp. 231–249
- Co-presence during lapses: On “comfortable silences” in Finnish everyday interactionAnna Vatanen | pp. 251–276
- Part III. Bodies and intersubjectivity
- Achieving the intersubjectivity of sensorial practices: Body, language, and the senses in tasting activitiesLorenza Mondada | pp. 279–302
- Emotion, psychophysiology, and intersubjectivityAnssi Peräkylä, Liisa Voutilainen, Melisa Stevanovic, Pentti Henttonen, Mikko Kahri, Maari Kivioja, Emmi Koskinen, Mikko Sams and Niklas Ravaja | pp. 303–327
- Movement synchrony as a topic of empirical social interaction researchMelisa Stevanovic and Tommi Himberg | pp. 329–346
- Part IV. Evolving intersubjectivity
- Learning to request in interaction: Intersubjective development of children’s requesting between one and five yearsMinna Laakso | pp. 349–371
- How an improvised scene emerges in theatre rehearsal: Constructing coherence by recyclingMarjo Savijärvi and Laura Ihalainen | pp. 373–395
- Interactional reciprocity in human–dog interactionMika Simonen and Hannes Lohi | pp. 397–428
- Appendix. Transcription conventions and glossing symbols | pp. 429–434
- Index | pp. 435–437
“Where the book’s highly contextualized theoretical-empirical breadth proves additionally enriching is in terms of its contributive potential. This is evident not only when it comes to the extension of the empirical purviews of CA with respect to the insightful exploration of the driving forces of human interaction and societal life. But it is also noticeable in its potential to leave a unique mark on the contemporary study of intersubjectivity [...]. Moreover, what further testifies to the book’s longevity potential is that it provides an example of how an empirically directed exploratory landscape can prove instrumental not only in testing a theory, but also in taking the intersubjective dialectics as the informative point of departure for identifying the alleys that require further explanatory treatment.”
Vladan Sutanovac, Universität Wien, on Linguist List 34.519 (10 February 2023)
Cited by (9)
Cited by nine other publications
Asmuß, Birte & Christa Thomsen
Krüger, Willian Maciel, Lucia Marques Stenzel & Alexandre do Nascimento Almeida
Scivoletto, Giulio, Noriko O. Onodera & Ryo Takamura
2025. Introduction. In Semantic-Pragmatic Change from Intersubjective to Textual Meanings [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 353], ► pp. 1 ff.
Vänttinen, Minttu & Leila Kääntä
Hepburn, Alexa, Jonathan Potter & Marissa Caldwell
Inbar, Anna & Yael Maschler
Giles, Howie
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 march 2026. 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.