Perspective and Perspectivation in Discourse (review)

This volume is a collection of eighteen articles dealing with the notions of ‘perspective’ and ‘viewpoint’, terms which, due to their everyday currency, may be both confusing and discouragingly extensive in meaning. Therefore, in their introduction, Carl F. Graumann and Werner Kallmeyer (1–11) undertake to sketch the basic tendencies in the understanding and application of these notions in studies of human interaction in its social, psychological, and linguistic aspects. Having identified four major issues that serve as pivotal points for the cooperation between linguists on the one hand and social and behavioral scientists on the other, the editors organize the contents of the volume into four parts.

Part A focuses on perspectivity in discourse, the more specific issues including the distinction between perspective and knowledge (Klaus Foppa), explicitness/implicitness in perspectivity (Carl F. Graumann), textuality (Per Linell), the distinctness of linguistic perspectivity from its other types (Christiane von Stutterheim and Wolfgang Klein), and the role of the concept of perspectivity in grammar (Gisela Zifonun).

Part B tackles the problems of the dynamic nature of perspective setting in verbal interaction. Specifically, the papers deal with perspective grounding and problem solving in conversations (Werner Kallmeyer), a speaker’s conception of his/her professional role as a mediator between socially antagonistic groups (Inken Keim), the role of the German pronoun du in eastern and western German documents concerning the unification of the country (Ursula Bredel), perspectivation techniques of speakers representing nonmainstream viewpoints (Alissa Shethar), or various manifestations of staged intertextuality (Helga Kotthoff).

In Part C, attention is directed towards multiperspectival communication and the relevant divergencies therein. The individual papers deal with the nature of aggressive interactions (Sabine Otten and AMé lie Mummendey), the different interpretations of negative incidents between people, depending on the perception of one’s role in the incident (Gerold Mikula), perspective setting and taking in conversations between interlocutors with and without speech impairment (Ivana Marková and Sarah Collins), and the verbal strategies used in defendants’ and prosecutors’ closing speeches of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal compared with those used by lawyers in role-play type of training (Jeannette Schmid).

Finally, Part D is devoted to perspectivity in reconstructive texts. The specific problems include the transition from an outer to an inner perspective in the history of narration (Peter Canisius), the relationship between local and global perspectivation in the testimonies of expert witnesses in court (Uta M. Quasthoff), decontextualizing and recontextualizing in reporting someone else’s speech (Susanne Günther), and internal vs. external perspective in the cognitive processing of texts (Janós Lázló and Tibor Pólya).

Author and subject indices help the reader navigate through this conceptually rich and thematically diversified collection. In general, not only does the volume constitute a valuable contribution to our understanding of the role of perspective in various types of human interaction, but it also contains specific proposals for analyzing it.