The different forms of interaction and its status in a science of language: Considerations and questions

Abstract

This article is the written version of a conference lecture that proposed a survey of the studies on “language and interaction.” The first part proposes a brief commentary on the developement of the current Chomsky’s position, which now understands language as a communicative phenomenon, as well as the development of the interpretations of Saussure’s work which highlight the importance the scholar gave to the interactions between the levels of discourse and languages. The second part presents a critical summary of three approaches explicitly centered around verbal interactions: initially, the sciences of texts/discourse, which have their foundations on the work by Voloshinov, author who is central to the current conception of dialogism; the different approaches of interactional linguistics, inspired on Ethnomethodology and centered on the situated oral productions; approaches that analyze the effects of the e-learning devices, which constitute a type of natural laboratory for the study of the interactive phenomena. The main analysis refers to the contributions of the interactional linguistics and distinguishes the studies related to the structure itself of verbal interactions, the studies centered on the verbal productions in work situations and those centered on the verbal productions in the devices for the analysis of practices. The conclusion highlights the importance of the interactional epistemology, as it proposes to distinguish five levels: (a) the interactions between the and the gnosiological dimensions of language; (b) the interactions between general praxeology and language praxeology; (c) the constitutive interactions of the signs; (d) the concrete dialogical interactions; (e) the interactions between the structure of the verbal interactions and the different properties of the context.Key words: Dialogism, Discourse, e-learning, Interaction, Language, Praxeology, Sign.