Placed firmly within a conversation analysis framework, this volume is aimed at ‘scholars interested in emotion, social interaction, and the multisemiotic resources and communicative potential of human activity’ (16). After an introduction by Matthew T. Prior, which sets out the theoretical and methodological opportunities and challenges that the book seeks to address, the eleven chapters each focus on a different linguistic and social context, from family settings and social media to comedy shows and classrooms, covering interactions in English, Japanese, French, Swedish, Hindi, Italian, Arabic, Chinese, Hawaii Creole, and Spanish.
The authors seek to bridge the gap between research on multilingualism and research on discursive construction/management (2). In the introduction, Matthew T. Prior foregrounds the need to explore the production and construction of emotion by L2 or multilingual speakers, as research has so far been mostly restricted to L1 speakers (2). In addition, he also stresses the importance of ‘appreciating the various competencies and agentive work of the socially embedded multilingual language user’ (15).
Alfred Burch & Gabriele Kasper explore how a multilingual learner combines ‘language forms, cultural references, prosody, ideophonic vocalisations, and embodied action’ (58) in order to tell disaster stories in Japanese (57–85). Concepts of affiliation and alignment are probed from different angles in order to display ‘the “normality” of second language conversations’ (107). Gavin Lamb looks at one interaction between L1 and L2 English users to see how a story is co-constructed as humorous through a ‘crescendo'’process (29–56). Evelyne Berger & Virginie Lauzon examine how an L2 French-speaking au pair establishes ‘emotional solidarity’ with her host mother (87–110), and Priti Sandhu reflects on how the interview process impacts on the formulation of pejorative self-categorisations in the story-tellings of two Indian women (153–76). By concentrating on the management of emotions in healthcare settings, Federico Farini frames multilingual speakers as both responders and coordinators (177–201).
This collection also aims to showcase a wide range of tools and methods to approach the challenges posed by inconsistent operationalisation and lack of definitions (3–4). Both Tim Greer (111–30) and Asta Cekaite (131–52) explore emotion in a classroom environment. The former uses video recordings and pitch/volume analysis of Japanese students taking an English conversation test in order to show the production of ‘nonstandard’ tokens of awe and some implications for teaching. By contrast, Asta Cekaite employs ethnographic methods, observing the development of a seven-year-old child's formulations of refusals in L2 Swedish over the course of one and a half years. Toshiaki Furukawa's inquiry into humour and emotions in multilingual comedy performances in Hawaii (267–88) and Prior's work on the scaling of emotionality in an L2 English user (203–36) are both excellent examples of reflexive use of interviews.
By focusing on participants' interpretations of emotions and considering a variety of settings, languages and methodologies within conversation analysis and discursive psychology, this volume reads like an open discussion of how to take the field in new directions.
