Language as a mode of
practice
Ilkka Arminen, Dr.
Department of Sociology and Social
Psychology, University of Tampere
Meaning = code + infence
code systemic linguistics
inference ethnomethodology,
conversation analysis (pragmatics)
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 photographer’s 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 King’s civil rights and two were acquitted.
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
(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.
(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.
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: That’s correct. Force has now been elevated
to the previous level, (0.6) after this period
of de-escalation.
(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.
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.
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
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.
STOMP!
What’s that?
STOMP!
Run for your life… it is…it is… A Giant
Green Sociologist!!
STOMP
I’m at Esplanade!
Wow! Crazy!
Continuation for Friday afternoon
picture series. Pictures from the
store near by my childhood home.
Liisa
I continue the series Liisa started (man
and baguette) and invite others to join.
Here is man and paddle.
Minna
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?
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
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: ah[a,
I [see,
5 P: [että varo.
[that watch out.
”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
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
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
e:#rm# comes #m# THIS drives this left some
8 kymmene minuuttii myöhässä tai jotain.
ten minutes late or something.
9 (0.8)
10 R: halo-
11 C: nii lähdiksä sielt n[eljän jälkee.
so did you leave there a[fter 4 pm.
12 R: [(vähä hämminki) ootas
[(some trouble) wait
13 C: haloo?
14 C: haloo haloo,
15 R: odota vähä.
wait a bit.
Social fact (no activity
implication) (n=4)
6%
Interactional Emergent relevance
availability (n=10) for activity (n=6)
15 % 9%
Part of the ongoing
activity (n=14)
22 %
Precursor for activity
(n=31)
48 %
Figure 1 Types of location telling in mobile phone
calls (N=74)¹
Table 1 Social functions of location for mobile communication
Location Social Function of Location
I Interactional audio-physical and social features of proximal location: noise (disco), network
availability availability, (train, remote areas) , involvement with proximal interaction, intimacy
of situation (toilet, etc.)
II Praxiological spatio-temporal availability: readiness to engage in action (Are you doing
anything special? Can you come to x?)
spatio-temporal location of a party vis-à-vis the engaged activity: temporal
distance (half an hour [by car, by train, on foot, etc.]
real-time perspicuous location in an ongoing action: visibility (I’m at x where are
you), real-time location (I just saw a reindeer by the road, beware – [told to the car
driving behind])
instructable location: spatialized requests (I’m/accident at the crossroads of A & B,
etc.)
proximate praxiological location: microcoordination of activity (I’m feeling his
pulse, the wound stretches from elbow to breast, etc.)
virtual location (I’m on the web page x)
III socio-emotional significance of location: biographical relevance (I’m at the
Socioemotional cottage of x/my friend, I’m driving car with x), cultural significance (I’m visiting x
(old church, museum, medieval city, etc.), aesthetic significance (it’s very scenic
here)
Air traffic control system
(Palukka, Arminen 2005)
Approaches Area Control Departures
Terminal control
Tower
Airport
Halverson 1995
Coordinated team work in socio-
technical system
Socio-technical system
Division of labour
Communication (verbal and bodily)
“Back-up” capacity
Communication (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
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
”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?
”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
The air traffic control team work