Constructing Collectivity: 'We' across languages and contexts(239 Pragmatics & Beyond New Series)

This is the first edited volume dedicated specifically to first person non-singular reference (‘we’). Its aim is to explore the interplay between the grammatical means that a language offers for accomplishing collective self-reference and the socio-pragmatic – broadly speaking – functions of ‘we’. Besides an introduction, which offers an overview of the problems and issues associated with first person non-singular reference, the volume comprises fifteen chapters that cover languages as diverse as, e.g., Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, Cha’palaa and Norf’k, and various interactional and genre-specific contexts of spoken and written discourse. It, thus, effectively demonstrates the complexity of collective self-reference and the diversity of phenomena that become relevant when ‘we’ is not examined in isolation but within the context of situated language use. The book will be of particular interest to researchers working on person deixis and reference, personal pronouns, collective identities, etc., but will also appeal to linguists whose work lies at the interface between grammar and pragmatics, sociolinguistics, discourse and conversation analysis.

Table of Contents:
1. Acknowledgements; 2. Preface (by Harre, Rom); 3. Constructing collectivity with 'we': An introduction (by Pavlidou, Theodossia-Soula); 4. Part I. Semantic and pragmatic perspectives on 'we'; 5. Referentiality, predicate patterns, and functions of we-utterances in American English interactions (by Scheibman, Joanne); 6. Singular perception, multiple perspectives through 'we': Constructing intersubjective meaning in English and German (by Whitt, Richard Jason); 7. Referential and functional aspects of the Norwegian first person plural vi (by Borthen, Kaja); 8. Grammar, interaction, and context: Unmarked and marked uses of the first person plural in Italian (by Bazzanella, Carla); 9. The pragmatics of first person non-singular pronouns in Norf'k (by Muhlhausler, Peter); 10. Part II. Interactional perspectives on 'we'; 11. 'We' as social categorization in Cha'palaa, a language of Ecuador (by Floyd, Simeon); 12. Replying with the freestanding 'we' in Greek conversations (by Pavlidou, Theodossia-Soula); 13. Establishing social groups in Hebrew: 'We' in political radio phone-in programs (by Dori-Hacohen, Gonen); 14. Why 'we'?: Between person marking, ideology and politeness in contemporary Polish (by Duszak, Anna); 15. Children's use of English we in a primary school in Wales (by Bateman, Amanda); 16. Part III. Genre-specific perspectives on 'we'; 17. "Nail polish - We've chosen the nicest shades for you!": Editorial voice and 'we' in a Flemish women's magazine (by Temmerman, Martina); 18. Author positioning and audience addressivity by means of 'we' in Greek academic discourse (by Vladimirou, Dimitra); 19. Bulgarian 'we' and audience involvement in academic writing (by Vassileva, Irena G.); 20. On the use of 'we' in Flemish World War II interviews (by Van De Mieroop, Dorien); 21. "Judge us on what we do": The strategic use of collective we in British political discourse (by Fetzer, Anita); 22. Author index; 23. Subject index

Review :
The most important contribution of this book is that it provides us with different lenses or approaches for examining the use of ‘we’ in terms of personal pronouns, person deixis, collective identities, and category-bound activities within the context of situated language use. Many related issues or future research directions are proposed in the final section of each chapter, which can be a good guide to scholars and graduate students who are interested in the study of the interface between grammar and pragmatics. The most interesting part of this volume is that the use of ‘we’ in various interactional and genre-specific contexts in different languages has many versatile functions, which provides us insight into the nature of the phenomenon of constructing collectivity with ‘we’.