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This chapter looks at how people vocally display bodily strain. While strain sounds can be a “leakage” of an individual bodily effort, they can also be performed without tension beyond what is necessary for their production, and acted upon by co-present others. The study re-specifies the pioneering but impressionistic account of response cries by Goffman (1978) through analyzing the minute mutual temporalities of vocal and bodily strain in the recordings of naturally occurring strain grunts during physical work and body instruction. The chapter argues that strain grunts are regularly produced alongside bodily effort, with variable phonetic characteristics, with outbreaths reflecting tension release, and at moments when the success of the effort is at risk. This leads to local (re)configuration of embodied participation in the task at hand and the emergence of strain displays as having been informative.

Repetition has often been argued to be a semiotic device that iconically signifies 'more content', such as intensity and plurality. However, through multimodal interaction analysis of materials in English, Estonian, and Swedish, this paper demonstrates how self-repetition is used to coordinate actions across participants and temporally organize the ongoing activity. The data are taken from infant mealtimes, pilates classes, dance training, boardgames, rock climbing, and opera rehearsals. Repetition of both lexical and non-lexical tokens can prolong, postpone, and generally organize segments of action as well as co-create rhythms and moves in a moment-by-moment reflexive relationship with other (non-vocalizing) participants. A crucial feature of repetitions is that they can be flexibly extended to fit the other's public performance, its launching, continuation, and projectable completion. We argue that the iconicity of repetition emerges through its indexical relationship to other bodies, as a real-time jointly achieved phenomenon., Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council [2016-00827, P21-0447]

This study investigates the practice of "sounding for others," wherein one person vocalizes to enact someone elses putatively ongoing bodily sensation. We argue that it constitutes a collaborative way of performing sensorial experiences. Examples include producing cries with others strain or pain and parents sounding an mmm of gustatory pleasure on their infants behalf. Vocal sounds, their loudness, and duration are specifically deployed for instructing bodily experiences during novices real-time performance of various activities, such as tasting food for the first time or straining during a Pilates exercise. Vocalizations that are indexically tied to the body provide immediate displays of understanding and empathy that may be explicated further through lexicon. The existence of this practice challenges the conceptualization of communication as a transfer of information from an individual agent - even regarding assumedly individual body sensations - instead providing evidence of the joint nature of action and supporting dialogic theories of communication, including when language-marginal vocalizations are used.

Standard models of language and communication depart from the assumption that speakers encode and receive messages individually, while interaction research has shown that utterances are composed jointly (C. Goodwin, 2018), dialogically designed with and for others (Linell, 2009). Furthermore, utterances only achieve their full semantic potential in concrete interactional contexts. This SI investigates various practices of human sounding that achieve their meaning through self and others ongoing bodily actions. One person may vocalize to enact someone elses ongoing bodily experience, to coordinate with another body, or to convey embodied knowledge about something that is ostensibly only accessible to anothers individual body. This illustrates the centrality of distributed action and collaborative agency in communication., Funding Agencies|Vetenskapsradet [2016-00827]; Riksbankens Jubileumsfond [P21-0447]

Expressions of disgust have typically been studied as isolated faces or voices but rarely as embodied practices in everyday interaction. Building on multimodal interactional research on emotions and sensoriality, this paper addresses disgust as a unique topic at the intersection between psychological theory and interactional facts. A case of an adult enacting post-consumption disgust is analysed, detailing the transformation of the facial, auditory, and embodied expressions across interactional sequences and in collaboration with others. The paper showcases the variability of disgust expressions and their involvement in social actions such as displaying stamina or stoicism toward challenges.

While the lexico-grammatical and embodied practices in various instructional activities have been explored in-depth (Keevallik, 2013; Simone & Galatolo, 2020), the vocal capacities deployed by instructors have not been in focus. This study looks at how a Pilates instructor coaches student bodies by modulating the prosodic production of verbal instructions and adjusting vocal quality in reflexive coordination with the students ongoing movements. We show how the body of one participant can be expressed and enhanced by anothers voice in a simultaneous assembly of action and argue for the dialogical conceptualization of a speaker. These voice-body assemblies constitute evidence of how actions were brought about jointly rather than constructed individually., Funding: Swedish Research Council [VR2016-00827]; Riksbankens Jubileumsfonds grant [P21-0447]

In this case study we investigate the role of transnational networks and language brokering in labour migration within the European Union. By describing the working days of Estonians hired by a city maintenance company in Sweden, we demonstrate how language skills and network ties of a manager enable work migration in the local context. Most of the recruited workers belong to the manager's circle of family and friends. The manager is thus both capitalising on his social relationships and reinforcing a social support network in the receiving country for the individuals involved. The article promotes our understanding of the interface between migration, multilingualism, and language brokering in the understudied blue-collar workplaces and dissects the social and economic values of linguistic resources in work migration across the Baltic Sea. The data consist of ethnographic observations of daily work routines, video recordings of interaction, and interviews.

When aiming to design for intuitive interaction, a good understanding of hu- man behavior is essential. In this chapter we dive into studies on how humans use vocalizations and prosody in everyday interaction. Contrasting six ex- amples from human-human and human-robot interaction, we highlight how insights on human practices can inform the design of robot sound in interac- tion. We present three main lessons, demonstrating that a) both human vo- calizations and robot sound are semantically underspecified, b) human sound production is embodied, and robot sound should therefore be analyzed and designed multimodally, and c) sound can be easily adapted for complex par- ticipation.

Vi kommunicerar inte enbart med hjälp av språket, utan tar även hänsyn till en rad andra aspekter som tillsammans lägger grunden för vad vi faktiskt förmedlar till varandra. För att analysera kommunikation har man traditionellt betraktat språket som det centrala när det gäller att få fram ett budskap. Men sedan videoinspelning blev möjlig har det växt fram betydande kunskap om hur inte bara hörbara utan även synliga beteenden spelar roll vid meningsskapande, en kunskap som till stor del kommit till genom detaljerade närstudier av mänskligt handlande inom det fält som kallas multimodal interaktionsanalys. Sådana beteenden och deras funktion kan vara uppenbara, såsom ett leende "hej" eller en uppsträckt hand efter lärarens fråga. Men de kan även omfatta små beteendedetaljer, såsom en kort paus eller en lätt förskjutning av kroppens tyngdpunkt, vilka mycket väl kan utgöra avgörande pusselbitar i hur människor förstår varandra i verkligheten. I detta kapitel vill vi visa hur de olika kommunikativa resurser som kroppen erbjuder - i form av gester, blickar, kroppspositionering och rörelse - kan vara med i detta meningsskapande.

Research on interaction has recently ventured into the domain of sensoriality, hitherto considered inaccessible for video analysis. This article contributes to this emerging field by targeting the interface of touch and vocal sound, dissecting the intersubjective potential of sounding when bodies are intertwined. Studying naturally occurring affective episodes between romantic partners at their homes with the methods of multimodal interaction analysis, we demonstrate how vocalization can express comfort and thus lead to extension of mutual bodily contact, or inform of discomfort, which leads to swift release of the problematic contact. We argue that, by providing immediate and nuanced access to other participants' ongoing bodily experiences, haptic sensoriality is partially distributed into the auditory domain. The relevance of progressivity in body contact is continuously negotiated and has moral, social, and relational implications, providing grounds for continuous realization of consent. Data are in Finnish., Funding Agencies|Emil Aaltosen Sti; Emil Aaltonen Foundation Post Doc grant [VR2016-00827]; Swedish Research Council [P21-0447]; Riksbankens Jubileumsfond

In this article we investigate spoken professional interaction at construction sites in Sweden, where workers from Poland, Ukraine and Estonia are temporarily employed as carpenters, ground workers and kitchen installers. We study how the workers use resources associated with different languages and how these resources are mobilized along with embodied resources for meaning-making. The analysis aims at investigating what social space the workers construct by going between or beyond different linguistic structures, as defined in the theory of translanguaging. The study is based on Linguistic Ethnography and Conversation Analysis is used for close analysis. We focus on instances of translanguaging, such as Swedish-sounding institutionalized keywords, practices of receptive multilingualism and the search for communicative overlaps in repertoires. The findings from busy construction sites show that the stratifying aspect gives some workers a voice in the organization, while others remain silent. Hence, it is primarily professionals functioning as team leaders, who talk to different occupational categories and use resources associated with different languages. The data provide an opportunity to investigate the theory of translanguaging and its transformative power in relation to professional settings that are linguistically diverse, but also strictly hierarchical.

Conceptualizing agency is a long-standing theoretical concern. Taking an ethnomethodological and conversation analytic perspective, we explore agency as the oriented to capacity to produce situationally and sequentially relevant action. Drawing on video recordings of families interacting with the Cozmo toy robot, we present a multimodal analysis of a single episode featuring a variety of rapidly interchanging forms of robotic (non-)agency. We demonstrate how agency is ongoingly constituted in situated interaction between humans and a robot. Describing different ways in which the robot’s statuses as either an agent or an object are interactionally embodied into being, we distinguish “autonomous” agency, hybrid agency, ascribed agency, potential agency and non-agency.

In this course you will learn how to use video data for prototyping. The course provides hands-on training in working with video clips, including transcription and identifcation of relevant actions. You will familiarize with core interaction analytic concepts (grounded in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis) and will learn how to do an action-by-action analysis. Working on the design case of everyday interaction with automatic doors, you will learn how video interaction analysis can be embedded in an iterative design process.

This paper asks whether there are any pseudo-cleft structures in Estonian. Grammars do not account for them, but we found fitting examples from both spoken and written usage, in particular from public speeches. Functionally, they are similar to what has been described in other languages: what-initial constructions project longer explanations and launch new topics, thereby structuring discourse and (re-)engaging participants. Since studies on pseudo-clefts in spoken interaction have revealed a high degree of structural variability even in languages that make prolific use of them, such as French and Hebrew, we suggest that they are also grammaticized in Estonian., Kirjutises vaatleme ebalohklausete esinemust eesti keeles. Kuigineid grammatikates ei käsitleta, leidsime näiteid nii suulisest kõnest, eriti avalikustsuhtlusest, kui ka tõlkekorpustest. Funktsionaalselt vastavad need juba kirjeldatudmustritele teistes keeltes: mis/mida-algulised konstruktsioonid alustavad pikemaidselgitusi ja uusi teemasid, olles seega eelkõige diskursuse liigendajad ja osalejatetähelepanu (tagasi)tõmbamise vahendid. Kuna ka kõige ohtramalt ebalohklauseidkasutavate keelte (nt prantsuse ja heebrea keele) suulises kasutuses on täheldatudnende rikkalikku vormilist varieerumist, küsime, kas ka eesti keele puhul võiksrääkida juba grammatiseerunud lausetüübist.

Communicative action can be carried out by not only verbal but also embodied means. People regularly use multimodal resources to make sense for each other. Consider a mundane activity, such as a greeting. In addition to the choice of lexical items to fit the relationship, such as “hi,” “yo,” or “good morning, Mister Smith,” extreme prosody featuring high pitch, increased loudness, and extensive lengthening on a “hi” may be necessary for your friend to feel recognized and truly appreciated. In some contexts and relationships, a handshake, a bow, or a hug may be mandatory, while the appropriate duration of those behaviors, the adequate spatial distance, and the exact positions of touch are culturally significant. Across activity settings, bodily behavior is regularly treated as meaningful by coparticipants, as it plays a role in action formation alongside the use of lexicon and grammar. Qualitatively different semiotic resources are juxtaposed so that they mutually elaborate each other and constitute actions within the locally emerging interactional sequences, as understood by the current participants. Aspects such as gaze, gesture, posture, objects, and movement are all potentially recruited to achieve social action, depending on the praxeological context. It is, for example, crucial to pay attention to a specific area in the surrounding space when someone does a pointing gesture or to adjust one’s pace when interacting on the go. We are held socially accountable for our embodied behavior, be it designed for others or not, and the body is constantly interpreted in regard to its action import. Social actions can furthermore be exclusively carried out by the bodies within their spatial, material, and praxeological settings.

In this case study we investigate the role of transnational networks and language brokering in labour migration within the European Union. By describing the working days of Estonians hired by a city maintenance company in Sweden, we demonstrate how language skills and network ties of a manager enable work migration in the local context. Most of the recruited workers belong to the managers circle of family and friends. The manager is thus both capitalising on his social relationships and reinforcing a social support network in the receiving country for the individuals involved. The article promotes our understanding of the interface between migration, multilingualism, and language brokering in the understudied blue-collar workplaces and dissects the social and economic values of linguistic resources in work migration across the Baltic Sea. The data consist of ethnographic observations of daily work routines, video recordings of interaction, and interviews., Funding Agencies|Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies [66/17]

In this article we investigate spoken professional interaction at construction sites in Sweden, where workers from Poland, Ukraine and Estonia are temporarily employed as carpenters, ground workers and kitchen installers. We study how the workers use resources associated with different languages and how these resources are mobilized along with embodied resources for meaning-making. The analysis aims at investigating what social space the workers construct by going between or beyond different linguistic structures, as defined in the theory of translanguaging. The study is based on Linguistic Ethnography and Conversation Analysis is used for close analysis. We focus on instances of translanguaging, such as Swedish-sounding institutionalized keywords, practices of receptive multilingualism and the search for communicative overlaps in repertoires. The findings from busy construction sites show that the stratifying aspect gives some workers a voice in the organization, while others remain silent. Hence, it is primarily professionals functioning as team leaders, who talk to different occupational categories and use resources associated with different languages. The data provide an opportunity to investigate the theory of translanguaging and its transformative power in relation to professional settings that are linguistically diverse, but also strictly hierarchical.

This study targets conventional mutual touch in dance hold positions and shows how dancers orient to extended out-of-dance holds as being awkward and illegitimate. It focuses on transitions from teacher instruction to practice in classes of Lindy Hop that recurrently pose practical problems for the students: when to take a hold of the prospective dance partner and how to let go, in case the projection of an upcoming practice is suspended through further teacher talk. The paper documents practices of diverting and releasing touch and shows that they involve various types of self-grooming, as well as steps and shifts in balance away from the prospective partner. A dance hold release is a distinct social achievement that is accomplished jointly as soon as possible after the prospect of a dance is delayed.

In this paper we examine how participants multimodal conduct maps onto one of the basic organizational principles of social interaction: preference organization - and how it does so in a similar manner across five different languages (Czech, French, Hebrew, Mandarin, and Romanian). Based on interactional data from these languages, we identify a recurrent multimodal practice that respondents deploy in turn-initial position in dispreferred responses to various first actions, such as information requests, assessments, proposals, and informing. The practice involves the verbal delivery of a turn-initial expression corresponding to English I dont know and its variants (dunno) coupled with gaze aversion from the prior speaker. We show that through this multimodal assembly respondents preface a dispreferred response within various sequence types, and we demonstrate the cross-linguistic robustness of this practice: Through the focal multimodal assembly, respondents retrospectively mark the prior action as problematic and prospectively alert co-participants to incipient resistance to the constraints set out or to the stance conveyed by that action. By evidencing how grammar and body interface in related ways across a diverse set of languages, the findings open a window onto cross-linguistic, cross-modal, and cross-cultural consistencies in human interactional conduct., Funding Agencies|Swiss National Science FoundationSwiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)European Commission [100012_178819]; Israel Science FoundationIsrael Science Foundation [1233/16, 941/20]

People speak not only under relaxed conditions but also during strenuous activities, and grammatical resources can be used to achieve displays of strain. This study looks at the relationship between progressivity of talk and bodily strain, focusing on the practice of temporarily suspending syntax while the speaker is accomplishing a physically challenging task. Based on examples from two different physical activities, rock climbing and opera rehearsals, the paper argues that the practice of suspending syntax is a resource available across contexts to render prominence to the strained body and highlight ongoing movement or other bodily action. By placing the strain-based display of incapacity to talk at a moment when the emerging syntactic structure is incomplete, participants maintain rights to resume talk while also presenting themselves as possessing the physical capacity to do so. Suspending syntax is shown to be a minutely timed speakers technique that takes advantage of the emergent nature of syntax and that demonstrates how speakers organize language in relation to the sensing and moving body., Funding Agencies|VetenskapsradetSwedish Research Council [2016-00827]