Language as a mode of practice

1
Language as a mode of practice

• Ilkka Arminen, Dr.
• Department of Sociology and Social Psychology,
  University of Tampere

2
Meaning code infence

• code ? systemic linguistics
• inference ? ethnomethodology, conversation
  analysis (pragmatics)

3
Rodney King Trial

• On March 3, 1991 in Los Angeles, Rodney King, an
  African-American
• motorist, was stopped for speeding and
  subsequently beaten by
• four white police officers. The case became
  widely known and
• caused public outrage when an amateur video
  photographers tape
• of the incident was broadcast on television. The
  police officers
• involved were put on trial for excessive use of
  force. Given the
• blatant use of force on the tape, many TV viewers
  were certain that
• the officers would be convicted. When the jury
  found the police
• officers innocent, an uprising took place, and
  crowds of outraged
• people destroyed considerable areas of the city.
  A year later, at a
• federal trial, two of the four police officers
  were convicted of
• violating Kings civil rights and two were
  acquitted.

4
Discursive practices of meaning making in R K
trial

• Socially situated practices of constitution of
  objects
• Images are not self-contained and can not be seen
  without external social resources
• Coding, highlighting and shaping of figure ground
  distinction characterize all social actions
• References Goodwin 1994, Arminen 2005

5
(No Transcript)
6
(No Transcript)
7
(1) Goodwin 1994b 617

• 1 Ex There were,
• 2 ten distinct (1.0) uses of force.
• 3 rather than one single use of force.
• 4 ...
• 5 In each of those, uses of force
• 6 there was an escalation and a de
  escalation,
• (0.8)
• 7 an assessment period, (1.5)
• 8 and then an escalation and a
  de-escalation again.
• (0.7)
• 9 And another assessment period.

8
(2) Goodwin 1994b 617 ((defense dialog))

• 1 Def Four oh five, oh one.
• We see a blow being delivered.
• Is that correct.
• 2 Ex That's correct.
• The- force has been again escalated
  
• (0.3) to the level it had been
  previously,
• (0.4) and the de-escalation has
  ceased.

9
cnt.

• 3 Def And at-
• At this point which is,
• for the record four thirteen
  twenty nine, (0.4)
• We see a blow being struck and
  thus the end
• of the period of, de-escalation?
  
• Is that correct Captain.
• 4 Ex Thats correct. Force has now been
  elevated
• to the previous level, (0.6)
  after this period
• of de-escalation.

10
(3) Goodwin 1994b, 619 (lines 1-11 and figure 6
Goodwin 1994b)

• 1 Pros So uh would you, again consider
  this to be
• 2 a nonagressive, movement by Mr.
  King?
• 3 Sgt. D At this time no I wouldn't. (1.1)
• 4 Pros It is aggressive.
• 5 Sgt. D Yes. It's starting to be. (0.9)
• 6 This foot, is laying flat, (0.8)
• 7 There's starting to be a bend.
  in uh (0.6)
• 8 this leg (0.4) in his butt
  (0.4)
• 9 The buttocks area has started to
  rise. (0.7)
• 10 which would put us,
• 11 at the beginning of our spectrum
  again.

11
4) Goodwin 1994b 625 (( figure 9))

• After demonstrating by playing the videotape
  that Mr. K
• appears to
• be moving his right hand, behind his back
  with the palm up.
• 1 Pros That would be the position you'd
  want him in.
• 2 Is that correct. (0.6)
• 3 Sgt. D Not, (0.2) Not with uh, (0.2) the
  way he is. (0.6)
• 4 His uh, (0.4) His leg is uh is
  bent in this area. (0.6)
• 5 Uh, (0.2) Had he moved in this
  hand here being uh
• 6 (0.4)
• 7 straight up and down. That
  causes me concern (0.7)
• 8 Pros Uh does it also cause you concern
  that
• 9 someone's stepped on the back of
  his neck.
• 10 (0.6)
• 11 Sgt. D No it does not.

12
Discursive practices constitute meaning

• Classification, figure/ground distinction,
  graphic representations are primary elements of
  social action
• Discursive practices take place mundane
  activities, institutional environments and also
  in science
• Incommensurability of scientific findings
• - A study of studies on mobile communication

13
Action in interaction in mobile communication

• Mobile talk and multimedia are embedded in the
  activities the parties are engaged
• Mobile pictures do not communicate themselves,
  but reciprocally together with verbal elements
• The coordination of talk and action that
  establishes the sense of the ongoing action
• Reference Koskinen, Kurvinen, Lehtonen Mobile
  Image, 2002.

14
(No Transcript)
15

• STOMP!
• Whats that?
• STOMP!
• Run for your life it isit is A Giant
• Green Sociologist!!
• STOMP

16

• Im at Esplanade!
• Wow! Crazy!

17

• Continuation for Friday afternoon picture series.
  Pictures from the store near by my childhood
  home.
• Liisa

18

• I continue the series Liisa started (man and
  baguette) and invite others to join.
• Here is man and paddle.
• Minna

19
Mobile images are embedded in their activity
context

• Mobile images do not appear to be
  self-explicatory, understandable themselves
• Mobile images need text (or voice) to support
  them
• Texts, subsequent communicative moves and other
  activities transgress the meaning of images
• Second moves in both examples are teases
• Are mobile images too intimate to be used?

20
Interactional constitution of action in
interaction

• Objects of knowledge get constituted through
  their role in action in interaction
• Through the constitution of objects of knowledge
  the action is specified
• Embodied, situated sense of action is established
  in its interactional realization

21
5) 2002-07-06_23-29-48(P Pekka s, A Ari v)

• 1 A no morjes pekka,
• oh hello pekka,
• 2 P kahteltiin tossa vasemmalla puolen tietä
• we watched there at left side of the
  road
• 3 P peuraa äsken että,
• deer a moment ago so that,
• 4 A aha,
• I see,
• 5 P että varo.
• that watch out.

22
Deer as an object of knowledge/action in
practice

• Deer is contituted as a threat to road safety
• The irrelevant dimensions aesthetic,
  ecological, etc. are left out
• Through the constitution of object for the
  ongoing task, the activity is specified to just
  what it is at that moment for these participants

23
Location of mobile parties gets interactionally
constituted

• Physical location appears rarely of interest to
  mobile parties
• The physical location is intertwined with ongoing
  activities and gets its meaning through them
• Location can have multiple meanings and the
  meaning of the same location may vary between
  parties

24
6) 2002-06-07_17-09-17.wav (R Tiina v, C Pirjo
s)

• 1 R Tiina?
• 2 (0.5)
• 3 C no ?hei missäspäin sä olet,
• ?hey whereabouts are you,
• 4 R ?tyypillistä junan vessassa,
• ?typically in the toilet of the train,
• 5 (1.0)
• 6 C aha missäpäin juna o.
• I see whereabout the train is.
• 7 R no tulee m TÄÄ ajaa tää lähti
  jotenki
• erm comes m THIS drives this left
  some

25

• 8 kymmene minuuttii myöhässä tai jotain.
• ten minutes late or something.
• 9 (0.8)
• 10 R halo-
• 11 C nii lähdiksä sielt neljän jälkee.
• so did you leave there after 4 pm.
• 12 R (vähä hämminki)
  ootas
• (some trouble)
  wait
• 13 C haloo?
• 14 C haloo haloo,
• 15 R odota vähä.
• wait a bit.

26
(No Transcript)
27
Table 1 Social functions of location for mobile
communication
28
Air traffic control system(Palukka, Arminen 2005)
Halverson 1995
29
Coordinated team work in socio-technical system

• Socio-technical system
• Division of labour
• Communication (verbal and bodily)
• Back-up capacity

30
Socio-technical systemDivision of
labourCommunication (verbal and bodily)

• Human artefacts
• Verbal coordination
• Talking, thinking aloud, overhearing
• Bodily coordination
• Gestures pointing, gaze directions, glances,
  postures
• Occupational culture
• Story telling
• Material artefacts
• Instruments
• Radar, radio- and interphone, pc, air space map,
  paper flight strips, paper and pencil
• Data systems
• Flight plan database system, closed-circuit
  television system, On Line Data Information
  system, MAESTRO -system

31
Communicative practices

• Verbal coordination
• Talking organization of turn-taking
• Adjacency pair
• a question an answer
• a request a permission / a refusal
• an assessment an agreement / a disagreement
• an account a confirmation
• Thinking aloud
• Overhearing
• Bodily coordination
• Gestures
• Pointing
• Gaze directions
• Glances
• Postures

32
what the hell is that?

• At extract the executive controller asks
• what the hell is that?
• How can we understand the question?
• what does it demand from the analysts?
• How do we know that it is relevant?
• Is it a relevant object of knowledge?

33
What the hell is that? (2)

• The perspicuous strangeness of object derives
  from the stocks of professional knowledge
• Knowledge constitutes expectancies for normality
  and enables to spot deviations
• The co-ordination of action establishes the
  intersubjective sense for actions and objects
• Work is realized through stocks of knowledge in
  practice
• Challenges for design how to incorporate tacit
  professional knowledges in the design of work
  tools

34
The air traffic control team work