Jan Svennevig

• Svennevig, Jan (2025). Getting acquainted. I Stevanovic, Melisa (Red.), Research Handbook on Social Interaction. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781035317257. s. 350–364. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This chapter presents the interactional characteristics of the activity of getting acquainted in a first conversation. It shows how acquainted and unacquainted interlocutors orient to different rights to engage in conversation and how introductions are carried out. It furthermore describes the sequential characteristics of how interlocutors engage in self-presentation and in initiating personal topics. The characteristics of this self-presentational sequence are discussed in light of how they realize the goal of sharing personal information, displaying affection and building trust. An empirical analysis is provided to show how interlocutors actively construct similarity and common ground. The chapter then presents an overview of research showing how the activity of getting acquainted may vary in different social contexts and in different media. Finally, it shows how practices of talk in first conversations, especially humour, may differ between cultures.

• Hansen, Pernille Bonnevie; Landmark, Anne Marie; Simonsen, Hanne Gram & Svennevig, Jan (2025). Seek, and you will find? Word finding in multilingual dementia. International Journal of Bilingualism. ISSN 1367-0069. (early online), s. 1–18. doi: 10.1177/13670069251374585. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Purpose: Among the first linguistic symptoms of several types of dementia are word-finding problems. Multilinguals with dementia may have stronger difficulties, as multilinguals are found to retrieve words more slowly than monolinguals, possibly due to larger vocabularies and the additional cognitive load of suppressing non-target languages. A deeper insight into the factors that influence word retrieval and trigger word-search sequences in multilingual dementia may inform linguistic theory, improve dementia assessment and help caregivers in overcoming communicative challenges. Approach: In this study, we combine a usage-based and a conversation analytic approach to language and communication to explore lexical aspects of word-finding problems in multilingual speakers with dementia. Data: The participants are seven multilingual persons with dementia with different first languages, but English and Norwegian in common. They completed a picture-based naming task with nouns and verbs, took part in a semi-structured interview on their language background and went through a cognitive assessment. Naming performance was scored, and conversation analysis was further used to assess the presence of word search sequences. Findings: With one exception, the participants scored highest in their self-identified strongest language. Despite long exposure to Norwegian, all seven scored higher in English. Word-search sequences were evenly distributed between these two languages, but notably more successful in English. Higher scores and fewer searches were observed for nouns than for verbs, and for words with high imageability and low age of acquisition. High frequency and cognateness were associated with higher scores. Implications: Theoretically, combining frameworks was a prerequisite for investigating word searching and word finding in union, and the approach allowed for a nuanced understanding of the mental and interactional accomplishment of lexical retrieval as gradual and situated rather than binary. Originality: The paper proposes a psycho-conversational model of word retrieval as a gradient.

• Svennevig, Jan & Hasund, Ingrid Kristine (2025). Pragmatic functions of the interjection hello. Journal of Pragmatics. ISSN 0378-2166. 250, s. 85–98. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2025.10.009. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  In previous research, the English interjection hello has been described as a greeting or as a call for attention (a ‘summons’). However, in informal spoken conversation, it has a range of other pragmatic functions that have not been accounted for. This article describes these functions as they are manifested in a corpus of televised talk shows. Using a conversation analytic methodology, we account for the sequential characteristics and the pragmatic meanings of the interjection beyond those of greeting and summons. We show that it may be used to express surprise or positive evaluation, to reproach someone for some misconduct, and to evaluate a state of affairs negatively. It may also mark a proposition as obvious. In many of the instances, the interjection is produced with one of two characteristic emphatic intonation contours. The article also discusses the semantic relationships between the different usages and meanings of the interjection.

• Lilja, Niina; Svennevig, Jan; Jokipohja, Anna-Kaisa; Piirainen-Marsh, Arja; Eilola, Laura & Eskildsen, Søren Wind [Vis alle 12 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2025). Manual Interventions. Research on Language and Social Interaction. ISSN 0835-1813. 58(1), s. 1–25. doi: 10.1080/08351813.2025.2450991. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Drawing on datasets of interactions in which the participants are engaged in manual activities, this article investigates manual interventions—that is, multimodal methods by which Other takes hold of an object that is handled by Self and starts manipulating it in a way that modifies the projected course of action. The analysis shows that manual interventions are achieved by Other first moving into the space in which Self handles the object, then grasping the object and claiming control over it, thereby stopping the ongoing practical action, and finally introducing an alternative way of accomplishing the action. In addition to providing assistance, manual interventions are used for correcting Self’s course of action and preempting projectable troubles. The analysis brings about new understanding about the role of manuality and organization of manual actions in interaction. Data are in Finnish and Norwegian with English translations.

• Landmark, Anne Marie & Svennevig, Jan (2024). Initiating and pursuing a topical agenda with limited communicative resources. I Plejert, Charlotta & Jones, Danielle (Red.), Dementia and Language. The lived experience in interaction. Cambridge University Press. ISSN 9781108424530. s. 175–194. doi: 10.1017/9781108339377.012. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Limited communicative resources due to dementia-related memory problems can be consequential for opportunities to claim epistemic rights and initiate and pursue communicative projects for persons living with dementia. This conversation analytic case study of a video-recorded homecare visit between Koki and his homecare nurse focuses on an extended negotiation concerning a factual disagreement related to a practical problem. The study explores how Koki manages to mobilize remaining communicative resources for initiating and pursuing a topical agenda, as well as how the caregiver recognizes and supports these initiatives. The analysis describes how a person with dementia manages to influence the course of action and, in collaboration with the interlocutor, succeeds in achieving two interrelated projects, one being within an epistemic domain and the other within a deontic domain. Koki’s persistent use of first actions, with repeated and upgraded knowledge claims, as well as embodied and verbal displays of a practical problem, contributes to influencing both the topical agenda and action agenda. The analysis shows how an attentive interlocutor may collaborate in identifying a practical problem and finding a solution to it, and thereby assist the person with dementia in taking control over his everyday life despite limited communicative resources.

• Landmark, Anne Marie; Hansen, Pernille Bonnevie; Simonsen, Hanne Gram; Knapskog, Anne-Brita & Svennevig, Jan (2024). Word searching in multilingual dementia: An interdisciplinary approach. International Journal of Bilingualism. ISSN 1367-0069. 29(4), s. 1–23. doi: 10.1177/13670069241256479. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Aims and objectives: This study investigates how multilingual speakers with dementia mobilise their multilingual and interactional resources when searching for words in a naming test setting, and how their word-search behaviour relates to lexical retrieval processes characteristic of multilinguals, as well as to aspects of cognitive decline. Methodology and approach: The study takes an interdisciplinary approach by combining conversation analysis (CA) with psycholinguistic perspectives on lexical access and neurological perspectives on cognitive decline. Data and analysis: Data for the study are video/audio-recordings of seven multilingual speakers with dementia carrying out a naming test in their two common languages, English and Norwegian. CA was used for analysing the data and developing a coding scheme for word-search strategies. These findings were explored with statistical analysis based on language background, test scores, word properties/psycholinguistic properties, and cognitive/diagnostic assessment. Findings/conclusions: Multilingual speakers with dementia mainly used six general word- search strategies in the Norwegian and English naming test sessions: turn-holding, semantic searches, phonetic searches, embodied demonstrations, code-switching to another language, and inviting help from the conversation partner. The participants used more search-strategies in English, although it was their stronger language. Code-switching appeared to be the most successful strategy in English and phonetic searches appeared to be the most successful strategy in Norwegian. In-depth analysis of two participants indicate a benefit of using multiple strategies, drawing on their full linguistic repertoire. Originality: The study adds new knowledge to the interrelated, but previously separated areas of psycholinguistic word-finding difficulties and interactional word-searching behaviour, in the context of multilingual dementia. Implications: The study has implications for our understanding of the relation between observable word-searching behaviour and mental processes of word finding in multilinguals with dementia. The study also contributes to our growing understanding of test situations as interaction, with implications for everyday interaction and clinical practice.

• Svennevig, Jan (2023). Self-Reformulation as a Preemptive Practice in Talk Addressed to L2 Users. Research on Language and Social Interaction. ISSN 0835-1813. 56(3), s. 250–268. doi: 10.1080/08351813.2023.2235967. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Self-reformulation is when a speaker produces a “second saying” of something, changing the wording but keeping the semantic content more or less unaltered. This conversational practice may constitute a method for avoiding potential understanding problems in talk addressed to second language users. Speakers preempt problems by substituting a potentially problematic word or construction with a version that is more recipient designed—that is, better adapted to the assumed linguistic competence and background knowledge of the interlocutor. The reformulations are self-initiated but may be triggered by a lack of response by the interlocutor. They may substitute for the original formulation by an alternative referring expression or by an explanation of word meaning. While most reformulations display an orientation to simplifying the wording, some instances involve reformulation from an everyday term to a technical one, displaying an orientation to language teaching. Data are in Norwegian.

• Svennevig, Jan (2023). Partikkelen å? som reparasjonsinnleder og nyhetsmarkør. NLT - Norsk lingvistisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0800-3076. 41(2), s. 233–256. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Denne artikkelen er en analyse av de pragmatiske funksjonene til partikkelen å produsert med stigende intonasjon. Analysen viser at partikkelen har to funksjoner, nemlig som reparasjonsinnleder og som nyhetsmarkør. Som reparasjonsinnleder brukes den til å signalisere to ulike typer problemer, forståelsesproblemer og akseptabilitetsproblemer. Når den brukes til å indikere et forståelsesproblem, gir den opphav til forklaringer av semantiske og pragmatiske forhold, slik som ordforklaring og spesifisering av referanse. Når den brukes til å signalisere et akseptabilitetsproblem, altså et problem med sannheten eller oppriktigheten av forrige ytring, består den etterfølgende reparasjonen i at taleren bekrefter ytringens sannhetsgehalt eller begrunner sin påstand. Den andre funksjonen til partikkelen er som nyhetsmarkør, det vil si et uttrykk for at informasjonen i forrige ytring er ny og interessant for taleren. Da gir den som oftest opphav til at samtalepartneren går videre med mer informasjon om emnet, og dermed bidrar den til å etablere saksforholdet som nytt emne for samtalen.

• Svennevig, Jan & Hansen, Jessica Pedersen Belisle (2023). Reparasjonssekvenser i tolkede samtaler. NLT - Norsk lingvistisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0800-3076. 41(2), s. 357–379. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Denne studien utforsker reparasjonssekvenser i skjermtolkede sykehussamtaler, altså tilfeller der helsepersonell og pasient ikke snakker samme språk, og tolk- ingen foregår via videoteknologi. Artikkelen tar opp tilfeller der tolken har problemer med å gjengi en deltakers ytring og innleder til reparasjon. Analysen viser at det særlig er to karakteristiske trekk ved reparasjonssekvenser i samtaler med konsekutiv tolking. For det første opptrer reparasjonsinnledningen noen ganger forsinket, det vil si senere enn ved første mulighet til å indikere et problem. Dette kan gjøre det vanskelig for taleren å vite hva som er problemkilden. For det andre skifter tolkene deltakerstatus underveis i samtalene ved å veksle mellom å opptre som animatør for samtalepartnerens ytringer og å tale på egne vegne (ofte indikert ved at de omtaler seg selv som «tolken»). Dermed kan det i noen tilfeller bli uklart om taleren i reformuleringen av sin opprinnelige ytring designer den for tolken eller for samtalepartneren.

• Svennevig, Jan; Urbanik, Pawel Kazimierz & Diepeveen, Aafke (2023). How police investigators seek to secure that suspects speaking a second language understand their rights in investigative interviews. Police Practice & Research. ISSN 1561-4263. doi: 10.1080/15614263.2023.2233660. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This study presents an empirical investigation of 54 police interviews in Norway conducted with suspects speaking Norwegian as a second language. Using Conversation Analysis as our method, we examine how investigators seek to ensure that suspects understand their rights. We find a range of practices for making rights more accessible compared to how they are formulated in legal acts. Investigators divide their turns into smaller segments and monitor the suspect for displays of understanding along the way. They simplify the syntax and substitute technical terms with plain vocabulary. Sometimes they supplement the wording of the prosecution instructions with explanations or reformulations. In a few instances, they also check understanding by asking a simple yes/no question. However, such questions only generate claims of understanding and no actual evidence of what has been understood. While there are isolated cases of requests to retell the rights, even these practices are problematic in generating strong evidence of understanding. This study discusses the importance of linguistic education and training in police forces for dealing with potential or emerging understanding problems during investigative interviews.

• Svennevig, Jan (2023). Samtaleanalyse som forskningsfelt i Norge. NLT - Norsk lingvistisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0800-3076. 41(2), s. 183–205. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Dette temanummeret er viet samtaleanalytiske studier av språklig samhandling i ulike kontekster, både i privatsfæren og i ulike institusjoner, slik som helsevesenet, sosialvesenet og skolen. Det kommer tjuefire år etter det første temanummeret av NLT om samtaleanalyse (Lind & Svennevig 1999). Det var en av de første utgivelsene om samtaleanalyse på norsk, men siden den gang er fagfeltet blitt etablert med livskraftige forskningsmiljøer ved en rekke universiteter og høyskoler, særlig UiO, NTNU og USN. Feltet er også etablert som undervisningsemne på en rekke studier, og det foreligger en norskspråklig lærebok (Skovholt et al., 2021). I 2022 ble det arrangert et første nasjonalt møte for samtaleforskere, De norske interaksjonsdagene, som samlet rundt 30 deltakere. Dette temanummeret er et resultat av det andre møtet i denne årlige møteserien, som ble arrangert i Oslo i januar 2023. I denne introduksjonen presenterer jeg først hva samtaleanalyse som disiplin studerer, dens studieobjekt. Deretter beskriver jeg noen metoder som brukes i ulike typer studier, og til slutt presenterer jeg noen temaer som har vært sentrale i norsk samtaleforskning.

• Diepeveen, Aafke; Svennevig, Jan & Urbanik, Pawel (2022). Suspects’ opportunities to claim their legal rights in police investigative interviews. International Journal of Speech Language and The Law. ISSN 1748-8885. 28(2), s. 171–200. doi: 10.1558/ijsll.20349. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  When interviewed by the police, suspects are to be informed that they have the right to remain silent and the right to obtain the assistance of a defence counsel. This article presents a conversation analytic study of how it is established in interaction whether a suspect wants to go through with the interview or end it by invoking their legal rights. The data is a corpus of audio recordings of authentic police interviews conducted in Norway. First, we present a quantitative measure of how often suspects are asked explicit questions about whether they want to exercise their right to silence and/or to legal counsel. Second, we investigate variation in the design of such questions, concentrating specifically on expressions involving a preference for one response option over the other. Third, we discuss formulations used while presenting the rights that may legitimise or inhibit a free and independent decision. The results show that suspects are often not asked to take a stance on their rights, and when they are, such questions often involve a bias towards waiving their rights. And although some officers explicitly inform the suspects that they are free to choose whatever option they like, others provide information about the interview that either presupposes willingness to talk or presents the option of waiving one’s rights as preferable to invoking them. These findings have important implications for the safeguarding of suspects’ rights and form the basis for recommendations to the police about how to give suspects the opportunity to take a stance on their legal rights.

• Killmer, Helene; Svennevig, Jan & Beeke, Suzanne (2022). Requests to children by parents with aphasia. Aphasiology. ISSN 0268-7038. doi: 10.1080/02687038.2022.2094335. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Background With an increasing number of young adult stroke survivors, there is a specific need to investigate how aphasia affects parenting. Raising a child happens through interaction, and centrally involves requests, such as ‘go to bed’, and ‘sit still’. Aphasia may impede participation in interaction and thus potentially also the possibilities to make requests to children and – from a wider perspective – do parenting. Aims This study aims to explore practices employed by parents with aphasia to ask their children to do or to stop an action during everyday interactions (e.g. mealtimes, games). The design of requests is systematically examined to shed light on the way deontic authority (the right to direct another person’s future action) is displayed by parents with aphasia. Methods & Procedures Using conversation analysis (CA), we carried out a collection-based study of 46 request sequences in 10 hours of video recordings involving three parents with aphasia (two with mild and one with severe aphasia). Outcomes & Results Stopping a child’s action may be easier to achieve than getting a child to do something, as it requires less specification of the action. Furthermore, the severity of aphasia may limit the fine-tuning of deontic authority. The persons with mild aphasia adjust the degree of authority for example by adding mitigating words, such as ‘a bit’. The person with severe aphasia uses requests that mostly show unmitigated authority for example by using higher volume. Structured contexts, such as games and mealtimes, may offer resources for all three parents with aphasia because they provide scaffolded interaction. Conclusions The analysis offers insights into practices that may allow or hinder these parents with aphasia to perform requests and thus to engage in parenting and participate in family life. Our findings suggest that people with aphasia could benefit from training to implement activities such as requesting in rehabilitation.

• Steien, Guri Bordal; Svennevig, Jan & Jensen, Bård Uri (2022). On the pragmatic function of utterance-level declination as deployed by speakers with multilingual repertoires. International Journal of Bilingualism. ISSN 1367-0069. 27(1), s. 87–103. doi: 10.1177/13670069221077957. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Aim and objectives/purpose/research questions: The aim of this study is to examine the pragmatic function of utterance-level declination as used in conversations in French and Norwegian by 10 migrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) living in Norway whose repertoires are highly multilingual. Design/methodology/approach: To investigate this contour, we draw on insights from different fields, that is, research on multilingualism, Conversation Analysis (CA), and phonetics/phonology. Data and analysis: By an automatic procedure, we examined pitch variations of 400 declarative utterances (200 in Norwegian and 200 in French). The procedure found that 38 of the utterances have declination. These were then analyzed qualitatively with methods from CA in the context of the sequence. The aim of the CA was to assess the pragmatic functions of the contour. Findings/conclusions: We found that utterance-level declination is a marked contour, that is, used to make certain utterances prominent in relation to other utterances of the sequence. The contour has the same functions in French and Norwegian for these speakers. Our conclusion is that the contour is a flexible resource of the speakers’ repertoires. Originality and significance/implications: This study is a contribution to the scarcely explored area of the prosody-pragmatics interface in speakers with varied linguistic repertoires. Moreover, our approach is emic and inspired by recent trends in the field of multilingualism.

• Killmer, Helene; Svennevig, Jan & Beeke, Suzanne (2021). Joint planning in conversations with a person with aphasia. Journal of Pragmatics. ISSN 0378-2166. 187(1), s. 72–89. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2021.10.021. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This study explores practices employed by a person with aphasia (PWA) and his wife to organize joint planning sequences and negotiate deontic rights (a participants' entitlement to initiate planning sequences and the entitlement to accept or reject a plan). We analyze two different conversations between a man with aphasia and his wife and their adult daughter. Using Conversation Analysis (CA), we identify practices that further the PWA's participation in the interaction while planning afternoon activities together with his wife. The PWA contributes to the planning talk by initiating and modifying planning sequences. The spouse supports his participation by aligning with his initiated actions and inviting him to collaborate in planning talk she initiates. Deontic authority is shared between the conversation partners and the PWA's agency is facilitated even during disagreement. The analysis offers insight into practices that allow a PWA to use his limited communicative resources to contribute competently to planning talk.

• Hansen, Jessica Pedersen Belisle & Svennevig, Jan (2021). Creating space for interpreting within extended turns at talk. Journal of Pragmatics. ISSN 0378-2166. 182, s. 144–162. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2021.06.009. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  In consecutively interpreted conversations, long multi-unit turns pose an interactional problem, as the interpreter may need to intervene into the turn space of the current speaker to interpret. This paper explores multimodal practices employed by medical professionals and interpreters to manage the temporary suspension of extended turns-in-progress. Using data from video-interpreted hospital encounters, we show how video-mediation poses challenges to the fine-tuned coordination involved in creating temporary suspension. We identify one practice used by medical professionals by which they produce turns in several chunks, or ‘installments’, temporarily suspending the ongoing turn and allowing the interpreter to begin interpreting. When a medical professional does not suspend their longer turns, the interpreter more actively signals the medical professionals, for instance through use of pre-beginning signals, to suspend the progressivity of their turn and yield for interpreting. We explore at what place during medical professionals' ongoing multi-unit turns interpreting is made relevant, how this is done and by whom.

• Svennevig, Jan & Hamilton, Heidi (2021). Fostering Storytelling by Persons with Dementia in Multiparty Conversation. I Røyneland, Unn & Blackwood, Robert (Red.), Multilingualism across the Lifespan. Routledge. ISSN 9781003125815. s. 169–188. doi: 10.4324/9781003125815-8. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Persons with dementia (PWDs) frequently find that communicative and cognitive problems may get in the way of participating in a multiparty conversation on a par with their healthy interlocutors. Such troubles may lead to their gradual withdrawal from involvement in the conversation and, if allowed to develop into a pattern, to even greater reductions in engagement in social interaction as a whole. This chapter describes strategies used by interlocutors to foster storytelling by PWDs and thus to counter this development. It investigates two extended cases from two very different types of interaction—an informal sociable lunchtime conversation with friends and a weekly meeting of an early memory loss support group. The analysis shows that healthy interlocutors may identify occasions for a PWD to tell a personal story and invite such telling by producing a story prompt or a request for elaboration. Once the story is launched, they may support the telling by asking topicalizing questions and by suggesting words and formulations as collaborative completions. They may also encourage the telling by giving the PWD time, even when problems of speaking threaten the progression of the story. Common to these strategies is that they support PWDs in speaking for themselves, rather than being spoken for. Such interactional practices build upon PWDs’ remaining communicative resources and promote their agency, empowering PWDs to participate more fully in social life.

• Landmark, Anne Marie Dalby; Nilsson, Elin; Ekström, Anna & Svennevig, Jan (2021). Couples living with dementia managing conflicting knowledge claims. Discourse Studies. ISSN 1461-4456. 23(2), s. 191–212. doi: 10.1177/1461445620966918. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This conversation analytic study investigates how couples manage conflicting knowledge claims when one of the persons has dementia (PWD). The data are video-recordings of 16 couples talking with a third party. The analysis focuses on the negotiation of epistemic rights, more precisely how partners initiate repair and correct claims made by the PWD on matters belonging to the latter’s epistemic domain. We identified three main practices for correcting the PWD: (1) correcting the statement, thereby claiming epistemic authority for oneself and denying it to the PWD, (2) inviting the PWD to self-correct, thereby attributing some epistemic authority to the PWD, and (3) disagreeing and providing reasons for one’s alternative claim, establishing a more symmetric epistemic gradient. The PWDs responses to the corrections displayed different degrees of acceptance, ranging from self-denigration to resistance and insistence.

• Killmer, Helene; Beeke, Suzanne & Svennevig, Jan (2021). Collaborative storytelling with a person with aphasia: Promoting agency in a multiparty interaction. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders. ISSN 2040-5111. 11(1), s. 78–104. doi: 10.1558/jircd.20902. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Introduction: This study explores practices employed by a person with aphasia (PWA) and his wife to organize collaborative storytelling in a multiparty interaction. We identify practices that further the PWA’s agency – his impact on action – while he is telling a story together with his wife. Method: Using conversation analysis (CA), we carried out a case study of a successful storytelling sequence involving a 39-year-old man with anomic aphasia during a conversation with friends. Analysis: The PWA contributed to the storytelling by initiating the story sequence and by producing short but significant utterances in which he provided essential information and displayed epistemic authority. The spouse aligned with the PWA’s initiated actions and supported his agency by giving him room to speak, for example, by gaze retraction. Discussion: The analysis offers insight into practices that allowed this PWA to achieve agency. Our findings show that communication partner training could benefit from implementing activities such as collaborative storytelling.

• Urbanik, Pawel & Svennevig, Jan (2021). Action-Depicting Gestures and Morphosyntax: The Function of Gesture-Speech Alignment in the Conversational Turn. Frontiers in Psychology. 12, s. 1–24. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.689292. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  The current study examines the role of action-depicting gestures in conversational turns by focusing on their semantic characteristics and temporal position in relation to their verbal affiliates (action verbs or more complex verb phrases). The data are video recordings of naturally occurring interactions in multilingual construction sites in Norway. The analysis distinguishes two modes of action depiction: generic depictions, which represent the action as a general type, and contextualized depictions, which in addition include deictic references to the spatio-material environment or iconic representations of the specific manner of action performance. These two modes typically occupy different positions in the turn. Generic depictions are mostly initiated before the verbalization of the action or are synchronized with it, while contextualized depictions mostly start simultaneously with the verbalization and extend beyond the verb phrase or the turn. The pre-positioned and synchronized generic gestures are shown to serve as a practice for facilitating recognition of the verbalized action and may be temporally manipulated in order to pre-empt understanding problems in the face of reduced common linguistic resources. The post-positioned contextualized depictions serve instead to add specifying information about aspects of the action referred to and thereby to complement or supplement the meaning of the verb phrase, securing understanding of action specifics. The study contributes to research on gesture-speech synchrony by demonstrating how variation in the alignment of action depiction and syntax is used to direct the recipient’s attention toward different interactional goals.

• Svennevig, Jan (2021). How to do things with signs. The formulation of directives on signs in public spaces. Journal of Pragmatics. ISSN 0378-2166. 175, s. 165–183. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2021.01.016. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This paper analyzes signs and written messages aimed at regulating people's behavior in public spaces. Based on a collection of more than 700 verbal and pictographic signs, the paper focuses on how the formulation of the directives reflect and construct the authors' deontic authority, how they account for the social legitimacy of the directive and how they seek to evoke the addressee's goodwill and cooperativeness. The analysis shows that the author's entitlement to perform the directive may be grounded in references to institutional authority, or that it may be manifested in the linguistic or pictographic expression itself, such as use of imperative mode, exclamation marks, or threats of sanctions. Entitlement may also be established by providing accounts for the legitimacy of the directive. These take the form of reference to rules and norms or information about benefits of the requested action to the recipients or third parties. Finally, the analysis shows how signs may seek to evoke positive attitudes in the addressee by creating affiliation or by using humor and poetic devices. By comparing with previous research on directives in conversation, the paper identifies request practices that are specific to this form of written communication.

• Gudmundsen, Jenny & Svennevig, Jan (2020). Multimodal displays of understanding in vocabulary-oriented sequences. Social Interaction - Video-Based Studies of Human Sociality. 3(2). doi: 10.7146/si.v3i2.114992. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  How do participants use multimodal means to display joint understanding after dealing with vocabulary problems in second language interactions? In this article, we investigate the resolution phase of vocabulary-oriented sequences, more specifically word searches, word explanation sequences and vocabulary checks. We argue that understanding is displayed not only by change-of-state tokens, but typically by a more encompassing multimodal gestalt involving facial expression, gestures, and torso movements. A central feature of this gestalt is what we propose to call the change-of-state face, which consists in raised eyebrows and widened eyes and is produced while the head and/or the torso is raised upwards. Typically, this display of a change-of-state is followed by further demonstrations of understanding, such as verbal and gestural repeats. Finally, the solution of the problem is often ‘celebrated’ by means of reciprocal smiling. Not all vocabulary-oriented sequences are equally successful. Facial expression and gesture may also be used to resist and question a proposal of a candidate solution to a word search or a request for an explanation. In this way, multimodal means are crucial to establishing the success of vocabulary-oriented sequences and returning to the main business of the talk.

Se alle arbeider i NVA

• Svennevig, Jan (2020). Språklig samhandling. Innføring i kommunikasjonsteori og diskursanalyse. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISBN 9788202626181. 301 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Telenius, Elisabeth Wiken; Krohne, Kariann; Czapka, Elzbieta; Hansen, Pernille; Ingebretsen, Reidun & Landmark, Anne Marie Dalby [Vis alle 11 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2020). Muistisairaan maahanmuuttajan hoito. Nordens velferdssenter. ISBN 9789188213594. 38 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Telenius, Elisabeth Wiken; Krohne, Kariann; Czapka, Elzbieta; Ingebretsen, Reidun; Hansen, Pernille & Landmark, Anne Marie Dalby [Vis alle 11 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2020). Demensomsorg for innvandrere - en håndbok. Nordens velferdssenter. ISBN 9789188213556. 36 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Telenius, Elisabeth Wiken; Krohne, Kariann; Czapka, Elzbieta; Hansen, Pernille; Ingebretsen, Reidun & Landmark, Anne Marie Dalby [Vis alle 11 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2020). Demensomsorg for indvandrere - En håndbog. Nordens velferdssenter. ISBN 9789188213570. 36 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Telenius, Elisabeth Wiken; Krohne, Kariann; Czapka, Elzbieta; Hansen, Pernille; Ingebretsen, Reidun & Landmark, Anne Marie Dalby [Vis alle 11 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2020). Demensomsorg för invandrare - En handbok. Nordens velferdssenter. ISBN 9789188213587. 36 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Telenius, Elisabeth Wiken; Krohne, Kariann; Czapka, Elzbieta; Hansen, Pernille; Ingebretsen, Reidun & Landmark, Anne Marie Dalby [Vis alle 11 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2020). Umönnun innflytjenda með heilabilun- Handbók. Nordens velferdssenter. ISBN 9789188213686. 36 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Bot, Kees de; Plejert, Charlotta; Simonsen, Hanne Gram; Fyndanis, Valantis; Hansen, Pernille & Norvik, Monica I. [Vis alle 8 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2020). Multilingualism and ageing. An Overview. De Gruyter Brill. ISBN 9789004445390. 98 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This publication provides an overview of research on a large range of topics relating to language processing and language use from a life-span perspective. It is unique in covering and combining psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic approaches, discussing questions such as: Is it beneficial to speak more than one language when growing old? How are languages processed in multilingual persons, and how does this change over time? What happens to language and communication in multilingual aphasia or dementia? How is multilingual ageing portrayed in the media? It is a joint, cross-disciplinary venture of researchers from the Centre for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan at The University of Oslo and the editors of this publication.

Se alle arbeider i NVA

• Svennevig, Jan (2026). Confrontation and non-cooperation during the presentation of evidence in police investigative interviews. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  When police question suspects, they regularly present evidence in the form of witness statements or technical evidence (e.g. phone logs). Investigators report that this can be a challenging task, especially when the evidence does not match the suspect's statement (Risan et al. 2025). Previous research has shown that disclosure of evidence is often associated with a decline in cooperation and sometimes the development of confrontation (Kelly et al. 2025). However, there is a lack of research describing how such hostility develops. This paper aims to address this question by analyzing the gradual development of hostility in a single investigative interview with a suspect speaking Norwegian as a second language. The interview is selected from a corpus of 80+ audio and video recordings of authentic investigative interviews. The guidelines for investigative interviewing recommend that investigators should make suspects aware of the grounds for suspicion and give them the opportunity to refute them. This should preferably be done by means of an ‘open question’ (State attorney’s working group, 2013). The analysis shows that in the case analyzed, the investigator starts by doing what the guidelines say. However, in following up the answers, he soon starts to ask argumentative and critical questions that explicitly or implicitly attribute guilt to the suspect. There are also responses that express doubts about the interviewee’s truthfulness. Such questions and responses often contribute to the suspect starting to defend himself and argue his innocence rather than providing new information about the case. In this way, these actions are counterproductive in gathering relevant information. They also compromise the interrogators' neutrality and go against the ‘presumption of innocence’ that should be guiding the investigators’ interviewing. An example is provided here. The interviewee is suspected of having chased his ex-partner in a car and having run over her. The police investigator has presented statements by two witnesses who observed the incident. The interviewee has previously reported that what happened is that he crashed the car in a wall and then panicked, and that he does not remember what happened after that. 01 PO: hva tenker du om at [to uavhengige ] vitner fortelle:r= what are your thoughts about two independent witnesses telling 02 SU: [nei altså de:t] well tha:t 03 PO: =det her? this? 04 SU: altså hvis je:g var (.) ute etter på >kjøre (henne,)< so if I: was trying to run over her 05 hvorfor kjørte ikke jeg på henne når ikke hun- hun gikk why didn't I run into her when she crossed 06 over veien? the street? 07 (0.5) 08 PO: ja [ det kan eh: det kan jo finnes ] veldig= well there may uh: there may be very 09 SU: [hun gikk jo rett over veien, hvorfor kjørt-] she was walking straight across the street why didn’t I- 10 PO: =mange grunn[er til Ola at du ikkje ]= many reasons Ola that you didn't 11 SU: [nei ikke sant hvorfor gjorde jeg ikke-] no, right, why didn't I 12 PO: =gjorde det der? do it there? 13 SU: nei men ikke sant, hvorfor eh: skulle jeg: (0.6) treffet no but see, why: would I (0.6) hit 14 en fortau, (.) fortau og så vegg, (0.5) og ødelagt bilen a sidewalk and then wall and destroyed the car The police investigator starts out by a question that is in line with the recommendations. The suspect’s answer takes the form of a ‘rhetorical question’, that is, a question with a purportedly self-evident answer. However, the investigator does not treat the question as rhetorical but instead provides an answer (lines 8-12). This answer is disaffiliative in that it expresses an opposing stance to the one implied by the suspect. In addition, this response is produced in a lengthy competitive overlap with the suspect trying to elaborate on his answer. The suspect also tries come in at a potential TRP in line 11, but the investigator once again continues his turn without ceding to the suspect. In this way, both the form and the content of the investigator’s turn is disaffiliative and displays a confrontational stance to the suspect’s account. References Kelly, C. E., Parker, M., Meehan, N., & McClary, M. (2025). Evidence presentation in suspect interviews: A review of the literature. The Police Journal, 98(1), 112-128. Risan, P., Myklebust, T., Bjerknes, O. T., & Oxburgh, G. (2025). Police interviewers’ experiences of the Tactical Interview Model (TIM): an exploratory study of suspect interviewing in Norway. Psychology, Crime & Law, 31(4), 439-461. State attorney’s working group [Riksadvokatens arbeidsgruppe] (2013). The methodology of investigative interviewing in the police [Avhørsmetodikk i politiet].

• Svennevig, Jan (2026). "Do you plead guilty?" Legal terminology as a trouble source in police investigative interviews. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Previous research from the United States has shown that L2 users who are questioned by the police may be considered more competent than they actually are because they can talk relatively effortlessly about everyday matters. However, this does not necessarily mean that they understand institutional language characterized by complex syntax and specialized legal terminology (Pavlenko, 2024). It has also been shown that even advanced L2 users do not understand their legal rights in interrogations as they are read to them from standardized formulations (Pavlenko et al., 2020). Against this background, this presentation will examine how legal terms are introduced and used in Norwegian police investigative interviews, and how they are perceived by L2 users. The data is taken from a corpus of more than 100 audio and video recordings of authentic police interviews with suspects conducted in Norway. Using conversation analysis as a method, we seek to analyze how and to what extent the interviewers anticipate problems with the legal terms and how the interviewees show their understanding of the terms. The analysis will focus on a question asked towards the end of the interview about whether the suspect ‘pleads guilty’ (Norwegian ‘erkjenner straffskyld’). This question is well suited to investigate understanding as the suspect must answer it and thus to a lesser extent can feign comprehension (as they may do while being informed about their rights). The interviewers’ anticipation of problems will be investigated by their use preemptive repair techniques (Raymond & Gill, 2025), whereas the interviewees’ understanding will be explored by analyzing how they respond, either producing an answer or initiating repair. The study is relevant for understanding how professional terminology is treated in expert-lay conversations, and for making the police aware of possible sources of problems in communication with L2 users and strategies to prevent them. References Pavlenko, A. (2024). Language proficiency as a matter of law: judicial reasoning on Miranda waivers by speakers with limited English proficiency (LEP). International Journal for the Semiotics of Law-Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique, 37(2), 329-357. Pavlenko, A., Hepford, E., & Jarvis, S. (2020). An illusion of understanding. The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, 26(2), 181-207. Raymond, C. W., & Gill, V. T. (2025). Pre-emptive repair of potential misunderstandings: Prospective procedures for managing intersubjectivity and steering social action. American Sociological Review, 90(4), 690-725.

• Svennevig, Jan (2026). -Erkjenner du straffskyld?Juridisk terminologi som problemkilde i politiavhør. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Tidligere forskning fra USA har vist at andrespråksbrukere som blir avhørt av politiet kan bli vurdert som mer kompetente enn de faktisk er fordi de kan snakke relativt uanstrengt om hverdagslige forhold, mens de ikke dermed forstår institusjonell språkbruk preget av kompleks syntaks og spesialisert juridisk terminologi (Pavlenko, 2024). Det er videre påvist at selv avanserte andrespråksbrukere ikke forstår sine rettigheter i avhør slik de leses opp for dem fra standardiserte formuleringer (Pavlenko et al., 2020). På denne bakgrunn vil dette innlegget undersøke hvordan juridiske termer introduseres og brukes i norske politiavhør, og hvordan de oppfattes av andrespråksbrukere. Dataene er hentet fra et korpus av mer enn 100 lyd- og videoopptak av autentiske politiavhør med mistenkte. Med samtaleanalyse som metode vil analysen søke å klarlegge hvordan og i hvilken grad avhørerne foregriper problemer med de juridiske termene ved å bruke preventive reparasjonsstrategier (Raymond & Gill, 2025), og hvordan de avhørte viser sin forståelse (eller manglende sådan) av termene. Analysen vil fokusere på spørsmålet om den mistenkte «erkjenner straffskyld», som er godt egnet til å undersøke forståelse ettersom den avhørte må svare på spørsmålet og dermed i mindre grad kan late som hen forstår. Studien er relevant for å forstå hvordan fagterminologi behandles i ekspert-lekmann-samtaler, og for å bevisstgjøre politiet om mulige problemkilder i kommunikasjon med andrespråksbrukere og strategier for å forhindre dem. Referanser Pavlenko, A. (2024). Language proficiency as a matter of law: judicial reasoning on Miranda waivers by speakers with limited English proficiency (LEP). International Journal for the Semiotics of Law-Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique, 37(2), 329-357. Pavlenko, A., Hepford, E., & Jarvis, S. (2020). An illusion of understanding. The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, 26(2), 181-207. Raymond, C. W., & Gill, V. T. (2025). Pre-emptive repair of potential misunderstandings: Prospective procedures for managing intersubjectivity and steering social action. American Sociological Review, 90(4), 690-725.

• Svennevig, Jan (2026). Kommunikative utfordringer ved presentasjon av bevis i politiavhør. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Brautaset, Live-Susann Myklebust; Svennevig, Jan & Sørensen, Søren Sandager (2026). Småprat og relasjonsbygging i norske politiavhør. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  I politiets retningslinjer kan uformelle samtaler i dag bli sett på som en ulovlig praksis på bakgrunn av at dette tidligere ble misbrukt for å «berede grunnen for en tilståelse» (Rachlew et al., 2020, s. 167). Samtidig understreker retningslinjene at det bare er rettsrelevante fakta som skal være av interesse under avhøret (Riksadvokaten, 2016, s.2). På den andre siden legger den norske KREATIV-modellen vekt på at avhøret skal være preget av empati og interesse (Bjerknes & Fahsing, 2024, s. 278), og naturlig småprat blir nevnt som en positiv del av kontaktetableringen (Rachlew et al., 2020, s. 169). Dette gjør at avhørere må forholde seg til motstridende hensyn når det gjelder småprat. Likevel viser nyere forskning at den mest benyttede teknikken for relasjonsbygging under avhør innebærer nettopp å diskutere felles interesser gjennom småprat (Vallano et al., 2015, s. 376). Det vi derimot vet lite om er hvordan dette viser seg i faktiske politiavhør. Med bakgrunn i dette, har denne studien tatt sikte i å belyse hvordan relasjonsbygging gjennom småprat manifesterer seg i praksis. Ved å gjennomgå en rekke autentiske avhør av mistenkte personer i Norge har vi funnet ulike eksempler på tilfeller av småprat. Studien har hatt som mål å avdekke hvordan politibetjenter selv legger opp til denne typen prat, hvordan de avhørte behandler denne praten, og hvilke relasjonelle funksjoner denne småpraten har. Våre foreløpige funn er at småprat særlig forekommer i kontaktetableringsfasen, men vi ser også at den viser seg i ulike faser av avhøret. Funnene viser også at det er stor variasjon i hvor ofte og hvordan politibetjenter legger opp til småprat, og om invitasjonen til småprat tas imot eller ikke. Det vi også ser er at småpraten ofte begynner med spørsmål og svar som er institusjonelt motivert, men som utvikler seg til mer detaljerte beskrivelser om den avhørtes historie og bakgrunn. Kilder: Bjerknes, O.T., & Fahsing, I.A. (2024). Etterforskning: prinsipper, metoder og praksis (2.utg). Fagbokforlaget. Rachlew, A., Løken, G.E., & Bergestuen, S.T. (2020). Den profesjonelle samtalen: En forskningsbasert intervjumetodikk for alle som stiller spørsmål. Universitetsforlaget. Riksadvokaten (2016). Politiavhør (Nr.2/2016). [Rundskriv] . https://www.riksadvokaten.no/document/politiavhor/ Vallano, J. P., Evans, J. R., Schreiber Compo, N., & Kieckhaefer, J. M. (2015). Rapport-Building During Witness and Suspect Interviews: A Survey of Law Enforcement. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 29(3), 369–380. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3115

• Svennevig, Jan; Diepeveen, Aafke & Sørensen, Søren Sandager (2026). “Do you plead guilty?” Legal terminology as a trouble source in police investigative interviews. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Previous research from the United States has shown that L2 users who are questioned by the police may be considered more competent than they actually are because they can talk relatively effortlessly about everyday matters. However, this does not necessarily mean that they understand institutional language characterized by complex syntax and specialized legal terminology (Pavlenko, 2024). It has also been shown that even advanced L2 users do not understand their legal rights in interrogations as they are read to them from standardized formulations (Pavlenko et al., 2020). Against this background, this presentation will examine how legal terms are introduced and used in Norwegian police investigative interviews, and how they are perceived by L2 users. The data is taken from a corpus of more than 100 audio and video recordings of authentic police interviews with suspects conducted in Norway. Using conversation analysis as a method, we seek to analyze how and to what extent the interviewers anticipate problems with the legal terms and how the interviewees show their understanding of the terms. The analysis will focus on a question asked towards the end of the interview about whether the suspect ‘pleads guilty’ (Norwegian ‘erkjenner straffskyld’). This question is well suited to investigate understanding as the suspect must answer it and thus to a lesser extent can feign comprehension (as they may do while being informed about their rights). The interviewers’ anticipation of problems will be investigated by their use of pre-emptive repair techniques (Raymond & Gill, 2025), whereas the interviewees’ understanding will be explored by analyzing how they respond, either producing an answer or initiating repair. The study is relevant for understanding how professional terminology is treated in expert-lay conversations, and for making the police aware of possible sources of problems in communication with L2 users and strategies to prevent them.

• Svennevig, Jan & Hårstad, Stian (2026). Snakker vi mindre enn før? Ja, ifølge en ny amerikansk studie. [Internet]. NRK.no. doi: https:/www.nrk.no/trondelag/snakker-vi-mindre-enn-for_-ja_-ifolge-en-ny-amerikansk-studie-1.17838495. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

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• Svennevig, Jan & Hårstad, Stian (2026). Kvifor er nordmenn så dårlege til å snakke? [Internet]. NRK.no. doi: https:/www.nrk.no/kultur/xl/kvifor-er-nordmenn-sa-darlege-til-a-snakke_-1.17815458. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Killmer, Helene; Beeke, Suzanne & Svennevig, Jan (2025). Future directions: Focusing on everyday family interactions of parents with aphasia. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Killmer, Helene; Beeke, Suzanne & Svennevig, Jan (2025). Parents with aphasia: navigating relations in everyday family interactions. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2025). Forebygging av forståelsesproblemer i samtaler med andrespråksbrukere i helsevesenet. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2025). Politiets formidling av rettigheter til andrespråksbrukere. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2025). Språk og kommunikasjon i politiets møter med fremmedspråklige. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2025). Presenting evidence to suspects in investigative interviews. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2025). Presenting evidence to suspects in investigative interviews. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hasund, Ingrid Kristine & Svennevig, Jan (2025). 'Hello, are you kidding?!' Pragmatic functions of the interjections 'hello' in English and 'hallo' in Norwegian. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan & Hasund, Ingrid Kristine (2025). 'Hello' som diskursmarkør. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan & Hasund, Ingrid Kristine (2025). 'Hello' som diskursmarkør i engelsk. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Gulbrandsen, Pål; Landmark, Anne Marie; Svennevig, Jan & Teig, Inger Lise (2025). Snakk om usikkerhet. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening (Tidsskriftet). ISSN 0029-2001. 145(11). doi: https:/tidsskriftet.no/2025/09/kronikk/snakk-om-usikkerhet. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan; Urbanik, Paweł & Sørensen, Søren Sandager (2024). Securing understanding of the suspects' rights in investigative interviews. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  In the beginning of each investigative interview in Norway, police officers are required to inform suspects about their right to silence and to have an attorney. To do so, Norwegian police do not use a scripted formula such as the Miranda warnings in the USA but leave it to the individual investigator to find the most appropriate and efficient formulation relative to the addressee. The officially recommended way of securing understanding is to (1) present the rights in a way that is understandable for a given suspect and (2) ascertain that they have been understood correctly (Bjerknes & Fahsing 2018). There is however no guidance on how to secure and ascertain understanding, which is especially important when the suspect is a second language (L2) speaker. The current paper presents an empirical analysis of audio and video recordings of 100 authentic police interviews, 70 with L2 suspects and 30 with L1 suspects. Using Conversation Analysis as our method, we examine how the investigators formulate the rights and check the suspects’ understanding of them. A previous qualitative study identified a set of conversational practices used in order to make the wording of the rights more accessible to L2 speakers, namely decomposition, simplification, term explanation, and reformulation (Authors, 2023). Practices used for checking understanding include polar interrogatives, such as “do you understand?” and question types that elicit a more comprehensive account, such as “can you tell me how you understand your rights?” The current study presents a CA-based quantitative analysis (Stivers 2015) of how often such comprehension strategies are used in L1 vs. L2 interaction. The results will contribute to raising awareness among police investigators about the importance of adapting the formulation of rights to the linguistic proficiency of the suspect and checking understanding.

• Svennevig, Jan & Sørensen, Søren Sandager (2024). Securing Understanding of the Suspect's Rights in Police Investigative Interviews. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  In the beginning of each investigative interview in Norway, police officers are required to inform suspects about their right to silence and to legal counsel. To do so, Norwegian police do not use a scripted formula such as the Miranda warnings in the USA but leave it to the individual investigator to find the most appropriate and efficient formulation relative to the addressee. The officially recommended way of securing understanding is to (1) present the rights in a way that is understandable for a given suspect and (2) ascertain that they have been understood correctly (Bjerknes & Fahsing 2018). There is however no guidance on how to secure and ascertain understanding, which is especially important when the suspect is a second language (L2) speaker. The upcoming lecture will present empirical analyses of audio and video recordings of 100 authentic police interviews, 70 with L2 suspects and 30 with L1 suspects. Using Conversation Analysis as our method, we examine two issues: First, how the investigators formulate the rights and check the suspects’ understanding of them, and second, how they establish whether suspects want to invoke their rights. First, we will describe a set of conversational practices that police officers use in order to make the wording of the rights more accessible to L2 speakers, namely decomposition, simplification, term explanation, and reformulation. Practices used for checking understanding include polar interrogatives, such as “do you understand?” and question types that elicit a more comprehensive account, such as “can you tell me how you understand your rights?” We will also present a quantitative analysis of how often such comprehension strategies are used in L1 vs. L2 interaction. The results show that understanding checks are rare, and while the other strategies are overall equally frequent, their use differs between the right to silence and right to legal counsel. The results also show that the rights are not communicated to L2 speakers with consistently more strategies than to L1 speakers, and that in some contexts, low proficiency L2 speakers are communicated to with fewer strategies than high proficiency L2 speakers. There may be a trade-off between reformulation (incl. explanation) and simplification in the sense that where reformulation is more common with L1 speakers and simplification more common with L2 speakers. Second, we will present our analysis regarding how often sus­pects are asked explicit questions about whether they want to exercise their right to silence and/or to legal counsel. We also investigate variation in the design of such questions, concentrating specifically on expressions involving a preference for one response option over the other. We identify formulations used while presenting the rights that may legitimise or inhibit a free and independent decision. The results show that suspects are often not asked to take a stance on their rights, and when they are, such questions often involve a bias towards waiving their rights. And although some officers explicitly inform the suspects that they are free to choose whatever option they like, others provide information about the interview that either presupposes willingness to talk or presents the option of waiving one’s rights as preferable to invoking them.

• Svennevig, Jan; Bjorvand, Agnes-Margrethe & Mustad, Erik (2024). Colletts kafé: "Forståelse og misforståelse i samtaler". Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan & Hasund, Ingrid Kristine (2024). The discourse markers 'hello' in English and 'hallo' in Norwegian informal spoken registers: A cross-linguistic, corpus-based investigation. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan & Urbanik, Pawel Kazimierz (2024). How doctors formulate requests to their patients. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2024). Sensitive ord. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan & Urbanik, Pawel Kazimierz (2024). Manuelle intervensjoner i bygningsarbeid. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2024). Samtale. Store Norske Leksikon (Nettutgaven). Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Greenall, Annjo Klungervik; Sjo, Klara & Svennevig, Jan (2024). Skuddår, skyveår, hoppeår, og spasergarderobe. [Radio]. NRK. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Urbanik, Pawel Kazimierz & Svennevig, Jan (2024). Object use in explanation sequences on the construction site. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan; Diepeveen, Aafke & Urbanik, Pawel Kazimierz (2024). Slik kan etterforskere bli bedre til å formidle rettighetene i avhør. Politiforum. ISSN 1500-6921. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan & Urbanik, Pawel Kazimierz (2024). L2 doctors’ formulation of requests for immediate action during physical examination. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  In this article, we examine how Polish doctors working in Norway ask their patients to perform various physical actions in connection with examination of the body. The data is taken from video recordings of authentic hospital consultations. From this material we have collected 158 requests for immediate physical action. These are then analyzed with conversation analytic methods to identify expressions of the speaker's deontic authority, i.e. the marking of the person's right and authority to carry out the request. The distribution of different request formats is then compared with corresponding formats in Norwegian doctors' consultations, based on transcriptions in the AHUS corpus (481 cases). The results show that the Polish doctors use less imperative and present tense ("then you lift your leg"), while they use more modal interrogatives (can I V?), independent conditional clauses (if you (can) V?), and modal declaratives (you can V). What these formats have in common is that they express lower deontic authority. Polish doctors thus seem to show greater respect for the patients' right to decide over their body.

• Svennevig, Jan (2024). Accounting for interventions in manual projects. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2024). Manuelle intervensjoner i bygningsarbeid. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Neteland, Randi & Svennevig, Jan (2023). kodeveksling. Store Norske Leksikon. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  https://snl.no/kodeveksling

• Lilja, Niina; Eskildsen, Søren Wind; Wagner, Johannes; Eilola, Laura; Gudmundsen, Jenny & Härmävaara, Hanna-Ilona [Vis alle 11 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2023). A Nordic model for supporting language learning in everyday contexts. Fast Track to Vision 2030. ISSN 1890-0429. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  We argue that the present challenges in the linguistic integration of adult immigrants in the Nordic societies require radically new thinking about language and learning. The remedy to the current poor linguistic integration of adult immigrants is not found in organising more integration courses or in tweaking the classroom practices. Rather, we propose that the Nordic countries should join forces in developing a Nordic model for adult immigrants’ linguistic support based on ideas of language companionship and language mentoring on the job. Such a model would be one important step towards making the Nordic Region more socially sustainable.

• Svennevig, Jan (2023). "hvis du skjønner hva jeg mener" Om forståelse og misforståelse i samtaler. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Norvik, Monica I.; Köder, Franziska Maria; Simonsen, Hanne Gram; Hansen, Pernille; Landmark, Anne Marie Dalby & Svennevig, Jan [Vis alle 10 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2023). Multilingualism and language disorders. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Opsahl, Toril; Svennevig, Jan; Urbanik, Pawel Kazimierz; Goncalves, Kellie; Pájaro, Verónica & Arum, Nuranindia Endah (2023). Multilingualism in the workplace. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan & Diepeveen, Aafke (2022). Securing Understanding of the Suspect’s Rights in Police Interviews. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2022). How police investigators inform L2 speakers about their rights in investigative interviews. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2022). Samtaleanalysens historie i Norge. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2022). Språksnakk: Larmende stillhet, gibbal og skråsikker. [Radio]. NRK2. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan; Diepeveen, Aafke & Urbanik, Pawel (2022). Securing understanding of the suspect’s rights in police investigative interviews. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Diepeveen, Aafke; Gomes, Rafael Lomeu; Goodchild, Samantha; Ims, Ingunn Indrebø; Johnsen, Ragni Vik & Sollid, Hilde [Vis alle 8 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2022). Language, Globalisation and the Nation. The workshop series from a Norwegian perspective. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Ommeren, Rikke van; Opsahl, Toril & Svennevig, Jan (2022). Kostebinderi, gå bak nova, ikke sant! [Radio]. Språksnakk, NRK P2. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2022). Norske barn seier ikkje lenger «nei takk». [Radio]. Dagsnytt 18, NRK2. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2022). Hvordan gå i dybden på tekster med diskursanalyse? [Internet]. Nasjonal digital læringsarena. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2022). Unge dropper punktum: – Det er veldig sint. [Internet]. nrk.no. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2022). Norske barn seier ikkje lenger «nei takk». [Internet]. nrk.no. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Steien, Guri Bordal; Svennevig, Jan & Jensen, Bård Uri (2022). On the pragmatic function of utterance-level declination as deployed by speakers with multilingual repertoires. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Killmer, Helene; Svennevig, Jan & Beeke, Suzanne (2021). Agency in Collaborative Storytelling - reflecting Competence in Aphasia. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Diepeveen, Aafke; Svennevig, Jan & Urbanik, Pawel (2021). Suspects’ opportunities to claim their legal rights in police investigative interviews. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan & Hamilton, Heidi (2021). Fostering Storytelling by Persons with Dementia in Multiparty Conversation. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2021). Unge dropper punktum. [TV]. NRK 1 Dagsrevyen. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2021). The formulation of directives on signs in public spaces. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan & Urbanik, Pawel (2021). Comprehension strategies in the communication of rights to L2 suspects in Norwegian investigative interviews. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Lanza, Elizabeth; Røyneland, Unn & Svennevig, Jan (2021). Språk og identitet i Etiopia. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2021). Dominerer du, eller underkaster du deg når du snakker med folk? [Journal]. Fædrelandsvennen. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2020). Forebygging av forståelsesproblemer i samtaler med andrespråksbrukere. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2020). Overview of the results of the MultiLing Dementia project. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2020). Multilingualism as a resource in dementia interaction. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2020). Demenskommunikasjon og språklig bevissthet. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan & Urbanik, Pawel Kazimierz (2020). Comprehension strategies in the communication of rights to L2 suspects in Norwegian investigative interviews. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2020). Forebygging av forståelsesproblemer i samtaler med andrespråksbrukere. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Landmark, Anne Marie Dalby & Svennevig, Jan (2020). Når man leter etter ord. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Landmark, Anne Marie Dalby & Svennevig, Jan (2020). How persons with dementia may claim epistemic rights and accomplish agency. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Pernille; Landmark, Anne Marie; Simonsen, Hanne Gram & Svennevig, Jan (2020). Word finding difficulties in testing and conversation: An interdisciplinary approach to the study of multilinguals with dementia. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Jessica Pedersen Belisle & Svennevig, Jan (2019). The temporary suspension of turns-in-progress in interpreted interaction. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Sandvik, Margareth; Kjeldsen, Jens Elmelund; Svennevig, Jan; Vatnøy, Eirik & Andersen, Ida Vikøren (2019). Debatt på TV – spiller det noen rolle? Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Jessica Pedersen Belisle & Svennevig, Jan (2019). Om å snakke for tolking – Midlertidige opphold i lengre taleturer. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Svennevig, Jan (2019). Negotiating tasks and responsibilities in meeting interaction. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

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