Sinä, konteksti ja monitulkintaisuus: Yksikön 2. persoonan viittaukset arkikeskustelussa

This article examines the second-person singular reference in everyday Finnish conversation. Second-person singular forms are primarily used to refer to the addressee, but they can also be employed to create open reference, so that they do not refer exclusively to the addressee, but rather are more generic in their sphere of reference. The aim of the article is to describe the variation in the usage of second-person singular forms in Finnish conversations from the point of view of reference, and to analyse the special characteristics of open second-person singular reference forms in contrast to deictically specific ones. The study adopts the framework of interactional linguistics, supplemented by cognitive grammar. The data employed in the study consists of approximately 11.5 hours of video recordings of everyday face-to-face conversation in Finnish.

In the data, deictically specific second-person singular forms are the most frequent. They occur in the first turns of adjacency pairs like questions or requests, as well as in such turns that describe or evaluate the addressee or her actions. Open second-person singular forms are less frequent, but they are typical in sequences that involve evaluation, accounts of personal experience, and the description of hypothetical states of affairs. In such sequences, the open second-person singular is frequently used to exemplify concrete action in a specific situation. The article shows that while deictically specific second-person singular forms refer to a particular individual, open secondperson singular forms refer to a specific state of affairs on a general level or identify a certain experience.

The results of the study highlight the fact that creating personal reference is always part of a wider sequential action and can be used to modify the participation framework of the speech situation. Deictically specific second-person singular reference forms are typically used for selecting a particular party to produce the next turn, whereas the second-person singular with open reference is often employed in the course of interaction to establish beliefs and experiences that are construed as mutual and potentially shared.