Co -Constructing Social Roles in German Business Meetings: A Conversation Analytic Study
Barske, Tobias G.
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/86341
Description
Title
Co -Constructing Social Roles in German Business Meetings: A Conversation Analytic Study
Author(s)
Barske, Tobias G.
Issue Date
2006
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Andrea Golato
Department of Study
Germanic Languages and Literatures
Discipline
Germanic Languages and Literatures
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Speech Communication
Language
eng
Abstract
In Chapter 1, I situate this dissertation within existing studies on business meetings and introduce the research methodology of conversation analysis. Chapter 2 examines all uses of the particle ok in German business meetings. In my presentation of the first description of ok in a language other than English, I argue that certain uses of ok relate to enacting the social role of 'doing-being-boss.' Furthermore, Chapter 3 examines the practice of how employees produce extended reports about ongoing projects. In discussing the social role of 'doing-being-employee,' I compare the practice of story-telling in ordinary conversation to that of producing reports during German business meetings. Specifically, I describe how speakers orient to a systematic use of intonation patterns to enable correct and complete reports. Moreover, Chapter 4 problematizes the notion of pre-assigned social roles. Using the concept of zones of interactional transition, I discuss instances where employees question the role of meeting facilitator, chairperson, and boss. In analyzing the interactional fallout in these examples, I offer additional evidence that social roles such as boss represent a social construct which depends on a constant co-construction of this role. Finally, in the conclusion I situate my findings within the field of institutional talk.
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