In:Grammar in Action: Building comprehensive grammars of talk-in-interaction
Edited by Jakob Steensig, Maria Jørgensen, Jan Lindström, Nicholas Mikkelsen, Karita Suomalainen and Søren Sandager Sørensen
[Studies in Language and Social Interaction 37] 2025
► pp. 421–438
Chapter 14Discussion
Where are we now and what are the next steps toward an Interactional Grammar?
Published online: 3 June 2025
https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.37.14ste
https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.37.14ste
Abstract
The chapters of this volume have taken important first steps toward the ultimate goal that all contributors
to this volume share: The creation of comprehensive grammars of talk-in-interaction in specific languages, which are
based on, and true to, how language is used in interaction. In this discussion chapter, we extract the main new
findings of the contributions to the volume, discuss how these findings might challenge received notions used in
grammars, and make suggestions about the next steps that should be taken toward a truly interactional grammar.
Keywords: grammar, linguistics, language description, clauses, method, applied linguistics, data, action, format
Article outline
- 1.Expansion of the grammar
- 1.1Interaction-specific formats and uses of formats
- 1.2Context and external syntax
- 1.3Social action
- 1.4Prosody and embodied actions
- 1.5Projection, emergence, and Collaborative Grammar
- 1.6Identities, settings, larger activities, participation framework, and positioning
- 2.Methodology, data and grammatical terminology
- 2.1Discovery procedures
- 2.2Interactional setting and grammatical description
- 2.3Grammatical concepts
- 3.Practicalities of grammar writing and applications
of an Interactional Grammar- 3.1The structure of an Interactional Grammar
- 3.1.1Overall organization
- 3.1.2Contents: Action-to-Grammar and Grammar-to-Action
- 3.1.3Additional dimensions
- 3.2The intended users of an Interactional Grammar
- 3.1The structure of an Interactional Grammar
- 4.Possible next steps
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