Grafting in interaction

A sequential analysis of interdiscursive ‘moments’ in American public school board meetings

Bibliographic Data

ID7901558
AuthorsNatalie Grothues (0009-0006-5658-1125, University of Colorado Boulder, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume55
Issue2
Pages1-22
Publication date2025-04-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404525000119
OpenAlexW4409890112
LanguageEN
References cited34

The concept of grafting —described by Gal (2018) as the use of authoritative discourses in distinct, inapposite arenas—is a significant contribution to understanding how individual speech events contribute to processes of enregisterment. While scholars thus far have concentrated on graftings in written and non-interactive texts, this focus occludes the emergent particulars of graftings as they are produced extemporaneously, within local contexts. In this analysis, I examine graftings in public comments during American public school board meetings held from March 2021 through January 2022, a period marked by contentious debates. A sequential analysis of graftings preceded by constructed dialogue contributes a novel view of graftings as interactional achievements. Their citation of prior talk within local contexts not only constructs sequences but also emphasizes that their authority is constructed locally. This analysis therefore expands our understanding of graftings as emergent interactional devices, used within the immediacy of ongoing discourse. (Interdiscursivity, intertextuality, constructed dialogue, reported speech, discourse analysis, sequential analysis, school board meetings

Grafting · Physics · Political science · Sociology · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology

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