Refereed article in compilation book (A3)
Pragmatic variation across geographical and social space
List of Authors: Nilsson Jenny, Lindström Jan, Bohman Love, Norrby Catrin, Marian Klara Skogmyr, Wide Camilla
Editors: Jucker Andreas H., Hausendorf Heiko
Publication year: 2022
Book title *: Pragmatics of Space
Title of series: Handbooks of Pragmatics
Volume number: 14
Start page: 611
End page: 636
ISBN: 978-3-11-069355-3
eISBN: 978-3-11-069371-3
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110693713-019
URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110693713-019
This chapter examines how pragmatic variation interfaces with several dimensions of space, not only geographical space but also social space. We approach space from a variational pragmatics perspective and conceive it as a layered phenomenon with local, regional, and national levels that are intertwined with one another as well as with social dimensions of space. We present an empirical study of greeting behavior in Swedish service encounters to illustrate how these layers of space interact and are relevant for pragmatic variation. Qualitative observations of greeting sequences combined with statistical analyses of several co-variables are used to unravel connections between the choice of a greeting form and spatial and social factors. We show that the levels of nation and region (i. e., data from a certain country and town) can account for a certain degree of variation in the choice of greeting forms, but the local levels of space (i. e., interactions in specific venues) and social variables like the speaker’s age and gender also have an explanatory force. Spaces can also bear recognizable cultural meanings to the people who interact in them, triggering certain kinds of social behavior that is symbolically represented in language use.