Pluricentric languages are languages spoken in more than one country. In Europe alone there are many examples: English, French, German and Swedish. But do people interact the same way in different countries simply because they speak the same language? Or do the communicative patterns vary? We know very little about this, which is exactly what the programme Interaction and Variation in Pluricentric Languages investigates.
The program compares the same type of interactions in similar environments in Sweden and Finland, focussing on the service, education and healthcare domains, where much of the interaction outside the private domain takes place. Conversations between people who know each other and ones who don't will be recorded, to chart differences in communicative patterns between Sweden Swedish and Finland Swedish conversations. Moreover, a searchable database, also available for future research, will be created.
An important part of the program is to contribute to the international theory development for the study of pluricentric languages. Using theories and methods such as conversation analysis and ethnography of communication the program will be able to describe and explain pluricentric language phenomena that previous research has not been able to identify. In this way the program contributes to the development of the field of variational pragmatics while also gaining new insights into what are unique patterns in Finland Swedish and Sweden Swedish conversations.