Det adverbiella uttrycket på något sätt i samtalsinteraktion

Abstract

Rönnqvist, Sara, sara.ronnqvist@helsinki.fi, Ph.D. student, Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies, University of Helsinki: “The adverbial expression på något sätt (‘in some way’) in Swedish interaction”. Språk och stil NF 31:2, 2021, pp. 39–71.

This article investigates transitional points in interaction (junctures) where participants use the Swedish adverbial expression på något sätt (‘in some way’) in conversations about visual art. The conversations take place between 1) professionals in gallery settings and 2) lay people in group conversations. These participants have different knowledge about and different rights to assess art. Thus, how they position themselves epistemically in relation to the situational context and with the help of på något sätt is an additional aim of this study. The junctures scrutinized are found in places where på något sätt occurs as a turn extension, in responsive turns and in aborted turn constructional units (TCUs). At these junctures the participants deal with potential interactional troubles that can hamper the progressivity of talk and make repairing actions relevant. Deploying a multimodal interactional analysis, the study shows how the participants’ observations can be modified and negotiated by på något sätt co-occurring with relevant embodied behavior, such as emblematic, iconic and other-oriented hand gestures. The participants in both data sets seek to establish a mutual understanding. They seem to agree more easily on observables when these are modified and delivered in relative terms. In this interactional work, where the participants need to organize their descriptive and evaluative actions in relation to each other, the adverbial expression på något sätt is a highly flexible resource.