Affectivity in Interaction
Description
Informed by Interactional Linguistics and Conversation Analysis, this project investigates displays of affectivity in social interaction. The core part of this work, which resulted in the publication of a research monograph Affectivity in Interaction: Sound Objects in English (Benjamins, 2012), focuses on affect-laden sound objects, including primary interjections (e.g., English oh, ah, and ooh) as well as non-lexical sounds (e.g., clicks and whistling). Sound objects are used in highly systematic, situated ways and are characterized by recurrent patterns of formal (phonetic-prosodic, sequential) and functional (interactional, social) features. Lexical and non-lexical sound objects may serve similar functions in interaction.
The term sound object has been received nationally and internationally and has since been granted a separate entry in the Encyclopedia of Terminology for Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics (Reber 2024).
Grants and awards
Nomination of the monograph “Affectivity in Interaction: Sound objects in English” (John Benjamins, 2012) for the American Sociological Association Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis Book Award, 2013.
Research groups
Associated member of the project “Emotive Involvement in Storytelling“ (directors: Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen, Prof. Dr. Margret Selting), Cluster of Excellence “Languages of Emotion“, Free University Berlin. (2008 – 2010)
Member of the bilateral project “Interactional Linguistics in Cross-linguistic Perspective: Swedish-German-English“ (director: Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen), funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT). (2004 –2006)
Published research
Reber, Elisabeth. Under review. Interjection. In: Hilary Nesi (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. 3rd ed. Elsevier.
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Nilsson, Jenny, Jan Lindstr?m, and Elisabeth Reber. Forthcoming. Avslag och affekt. Problemsekvenser vid utebliven service i svenska kundsamtal. [Rejection and affect. Problem sequences due to lack of service in Swedish service interaction]. Spr?k och stil.
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Reber, Elisabeth. Forthcoming. Non-lexical sounds. In: Melisa Stevanovic (ed.), Research Handbook on Social Interaction. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
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Reber, Elisabeth. 2024. Sound object. In: Alexandra Gubina, Elliott Hoey, and Chase Wesley Raymond (eds.), Encyclopedia of Terminology for Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics. International Society for Conversation Analysis (ISCA).
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Reber, Elisabeth. 2024. Vocalization. In: Alexandra Gubina, Elliott Hoey, and Chase Wesley Raymond (eds.), Encyclopedia of Terminology for Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics. International Society for Conversation Analysis (ISCA).
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Reber, Elisabeth. 2022. Review of Hans Schottmann. 2020. Schwedische Interjektionen und Partikeln. Dortmund: readbox unipress. European Journal of Scandinavian Studies 52: 334-336.
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Reber, Elisabeth. 2020. Interjektionen – Naturlaute oder lautsprachliche Zeichen? In: Michael Elmentaler and Oliver Niebuhr (eds.), An den R?ndern der Sprache (Kieler Forschungen zur Sprachwissenschaft), 39-65. Berlin u.a.: Peter Lang.
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Reber, Elisabeth. 2018. Interjektionen. In: Frank Liedtke and Astrid Tuchen (eds.), Handbuch Pragmatik, 229-239. Stuttgart: Metzler.
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Reber, Elisabeth. 2012. Affectivity in Interaction: Sound objects in English (Pragmatics and Beyond New Series 215), Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
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Reber, Elisabeth. 2011. Interjections in the EFL classroom: teaching sounds and sequences. ELT Journal 65:4, 365-375.
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Reber, Elisabeth. 2010. Double function of prosody: Processes of meaning-making in narrative reconstructions of epileptic seizures. In: Dagmar Barth-Weingarten, Elisabeth Reber, and Margret Selting (eds.), Prosody in Interaction, 295-301. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
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Reber, Elisabeth. 2009. Zur Affektivit?t in englischen Alltagsgespr?chen. In: Mareike Buss, Stephan Habscheid, Sabine Jautz, Frank Liedtke, and Jan Georg Schneider (eds.), Theatralit?t des sprachlichen Handelns. Eine Metaphorik zwischen Linguistik und Kulturwissenschaften, 193-215. München: Fink-Verlag.
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Reber, Elisabeth and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen. 2010. Interjektionen zwischen Lexikon und Vokalit?t: Lexem oder Lautobjekt? In: Arnulf Deppermann and Angelika Linke (eds.), Sprache intermedial: Stimme und Schrift, Bild und Ton, 69-96. Berlin/New York: de Gruyter.
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Reber, Elisabeth and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen. 2020. On ‘whistle’ sound objects in English everyday conversation. Special Issue ‘Sounds on the Margins of Language’ (Leelo Keevallik and Richard Ogden, eds.). Research on Language and Social Interaction 53:1, 164-187.
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Reber, Elisabeth and Hans Sauer. 2022. ‘Allas and weilawei’: Structure and use of the interjections in some of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (Fragment III: Wife of Bath, the Friar, the Summoner). Academic Journal of Modern Philology 15: 279-304.