Rapport-building activities in corner shop interactions

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3645784
AutoresMaría Elena Placencia (0000-0002-5471-4661, Birkbeck, University of London, autor correspondente)
Ano2004
Volume8
Fascículo2
Páginas215-245
Data de publicação2004-05-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Sociolinguistics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1360-6441 • E-ISSN: 1467-9841
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-9841.2004.00259.x
OpenAlexW1989526754
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas31
Referências citadas28

This paper examines a range of interactional activities participants carry out in the course of corner shop transactions in Quito, Ecuador. These activities include: phatic communication exchanges as traditionally conceived, that is, conventionalized forms such as how-are-you and health inquiries; individualized exchanges in the form of conversational work around a range of topics (e.g. politics, health, school); and creative language play activities (e.g. wordplay and linguistic play with names). These activities are described as reflecting participants' orientation to the maintenance of positive rapport or friendly relations (Aston 1988a) with the effect that the service transaction becomes a pleasant and even an entertaining encounter. Such orientation is described here in relation to the familiarity existing between shopkeepers and customers as a result of frequent contact in the context of the barrio(residential neighbourhoods) in Quito. As such the study lends support, from a different socio-cultural perspective, to recent work in the area that highlights the centrality of phatic communication in task-oriented interactions in English (cf. Coupland 2000a, 2000b, 2003), and brings to the fore a wider range of activities which appear to be employed for rapport-building purposes in service encounters

Art · Business · Centrality · Context (archaeology · Database transaction · Geography · Linguistics · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Public relations · Service (business · Sociology · Visual arts · Work (physics · Computer Science · Digital Communication and Language · Engineering · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Psychology · Social Psychology · Spanish Linguistics and Language Studies · Marketing