Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:18:35.593Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Elise Kärkkäinen, Epistemic stance in English conversation: A description of its interactional functions, with a focus on I think

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2007

Michael P. Lempert
Affiliation:
Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, mlempert@sas.upenn.edu

Abstract

Elise Kärkkäinen, Epistemic stance in English conversation: A description of its interactional functions, with a focus on I think. (Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 115). Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2003. Pp. ix, 207. Hb $102.00.

In this innovative study of epistemic stance marking in English conversation, Elise Kärkkäinen attempts to cross-fertilize discourse-functional linguistics with conversation analysis, and her effort bears fruit. She moves deftly between quantitative and qualitative methods, juxtaposing frequency tables with conversational transcripts, and comes out with a bold thesis in hand: “Showing commitment to the status of the information that one is providing, i.e. marking epistemic stance … [is] an essentially interactive activity” (p. 183).

Type
BOOK REVIEWS
Copyright
2007 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)