Framing and related concepts in interactional sociolinguistics

This essay provides an overview of the study of framing in discourse as conducated in the field of interactional sociolinguistics. We review key theorizing on frames and related concepts such as footing, positioning, and speech activity that provides the foundation for this research. We note two basic understandings of frame in our field: interactive frames relate to situational definitions of what is going on in an interaction; knowledge schemas account for participants’ expectations regarding people, objects, and so on. We give examples of how interactional sociolinguists have applied framing to illuminate moment-by-moment constructions of meanings, identities, and relationships across a range of contexts, as well as the role of knowledge and memory in these processes. With examples from studies of cross-cultural communication, everyday conversations among family and friends, and interaction in medical and digital discourse contexts, we emphasize how frames are transformed and laminated (or layered). While social movements have not been a central focus of interactional sociolinguistics research, we note that concern for social justice has been of foundational concern from the inception of this field, and note a number of studies that have demonstrated how micro-level moments of social activism and change are discursively constructed. These studies attest to the relevance of interactional sociolinguistic analysis of framing to researchers interested in social movements.