Sociolnguistics

The present investigation studies buying and selling encounters in a Mexican fruit and vegetable shop. It is a conversation-analytic study that shows aspects of the institutional character of these interactions, their overall organisation and sequential structure. It suggests that the core sequential structure of these encounters consists of two base adjacency pairs, buying (requesting-giving a product) and selling (requesting-giving money). In particular, the analysis describes the preparatory characteristics of the pre-expansions that precede the product request formulations, the linguistic composition and sequential positioning of request formulations, the insertions of the buying adjacency pair and the sequencing of the commercial exchange which is described as the climax of the institutional event. The designs of the first pair part of the selling adjacency pair and the product request formulations are presented as clear instances of the referential framework or common ground shared by seller and customer. " ...the term " language-game " is meant to bring to prominence the fact that the speaking of language is part of an activity, or of a form of life. " Wittgenstein, L. (1953: §23)

Le mot PAIX, très utilisé dans les organisations et les relations internationales, est un terme polysémique qui ouvre des perspectives intéressantes dans les langues africaines. Dans les langues ivoiriennes, la notion de PAIX implique des composantes culturelles, sémantiques et lexicales se référant à des éléments du corps humain ; elle montre à quel point ce mot renvoie à des connotations et manifestations diverses liées à ses différents usages. Sollicitant une approche sociolinguistique, cet article se propose de réfléchir sur l’importance du mot PAIX dans les résolutions des conflits sous l’arbre à palabres africain. Plus précisément, il s’agit d’identifier, à partir d’une enquête menée auprès de locuteurs de quelques langues ivoiriennes, des notions et des concepts relatifs à la culture de la paix en langues africaines. Cela peut contribuer à renforcer l’unité nationale dans un pays comme la Côte d’Ivoire, qui est actuellement en voie de réconciliation suite à des conflits divers.

Mots-clés : paix, culture de la paix, langues ivoiriennes, sociolinguistique Côte d’Ivoire

This special issue brings together a collection of case studies that
examine the making of speakerhood as experienced by migrants in Spain and Portugal. It focuses on moments in the life course of speakers as they navigate across transnational contexts where they face various linguistic demands. This involves being confronted with the norms, requirements and the values that define who is considered to be a speaker of the “language” or “languages” of the receiving community and being assessed in accordance with a given measure, that is, a canon of speakerhood in a particular community. The findings reveal the complexity of linguistic appropriation and the fundamental inclusive and exclusive nature of the making of a speaker in a world characterized by ambivalent historicities and uncertain investment outcome. The special issue allows critical questioning of notions such as nativeness and new speakerness through a theoretical and political engagement with speakerhood, and to interrogate what it means for whom to navigate linguistically and socially in receiving societies where personhood remains solidly attached to speakerhood.

Keywords: speakerhood, mobility, societal participation, indexicality, muda