Interactional Sociolinguistics

Activities

Week 9

In-class Activity

You will be divided into several groups. Each groups should discuss one of the following topics, trying to relate the concepts to ICQ interaction. Use your own data to 

• Self presentation
• Participation units
• Face and Politeness (power and solidarity)
• Face threatening acts
• Frames and contextualization cues
• Conversational mechanics (openings, closings)
• Conversational mechanics (topic control, turn taking) 
• Conversational style
• Positioning

Fieldwork (include this in your field journal)

Interview (either face to face or using ICQ) someone you don't know very well about the role of ICQ in their lives. Ask them when they use it, with whom and why. See if you can find out some information about their user communities and about the different styles they use and different identities they take up when they are using ICQ. Write a summary of the interview in your field journal.  

Reflection (include this in your field journal)

Reflect on your own ICQ use and the role ICQ has in your life. Think about the relationship between face to face communication and ICQ communication. Also think about the communities of ICQ users you belong to. Do they have different norms or different patterns of communication?