Hør dog hvad de siger - Note-to-Self: Trials & Errors

Furthermore, there is a clear correlation between the alternative meaning of ‘mother tongue’
and social background. Of the working class informants in the interviews, at least as many
present the alternative definition of mother tongue as those presenting the linguists’. The ma-
jority of the working class informants however, do not explicate which definition they sub-
scribe to. Due to the ‘dynamics of interviewing’, probing for the informant’s meaning
of ’mother tongue’ would probably prove difficult; rather than clarifying matters probes could
just as well lead to a collapse if the informant hears the clarifying question as implicitly ques-
tioning her knowledge of the subject. See for example this excerpt with a middle class infor-
mant, who at this point several times stated that he would prefer that everyone shared English
as their mothertongue. Still, his response to the interviewer’s logical implication of his state-
ment receives a very negative uptake.
(2) 1 Interv: har du børn
’do you have children’
(0.5)
2 Resp: ja
’yes’
3 Interv: kunne du finde på at opdrage dem på engelsk
’could you imagine rearing them in English’
(1.3)
4 Resp: nej ikke når de bor i Danmark så k det kunne jeg ikke
’no not when they live in Denmark I couldn’t’
5 Interv: nej (1.2) så vi er ikke så tæt på men det er mere sådan en
6 fremtids (0.5) vision (0.8) øh at øh at alle taler (.) engelsk som
7 (.) som førstesprog
‘no so we are not that close it is more like a vision for the
future uh for everybody to speak English as their first
language’
(2.3)
8 Resp: nej øh det var ikke det jeg b jeg blev ikke spurgt om jeg syntes
9 at mine børn skulle tale engelsk jeg blev spurgt om jeg syntes
10 det ville være praktisk at vi alle sammen talte engelsk og der og
11 det svarede jeg ja til men nej altså jeg vil ikke gå hjem og
12 opdrage mine børn [på engelsk]
‘no uh I was not asked if I thought my children should speak
English I was asked whether I thought it would be practical for
all of us to speak English and to that I replied yes but no I will
not go home and rear my children [in English]’
3.2 Answers are set in a context
Another consequence of the collaborative nature of conversation is that both interviewer and
respondent presume that any given utterance is in some way significant and relevant at this
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