Themes in the experience of language

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to determine what adult speakers report being aware of when asked to describe their experience of language. The first study engaged a small number of participants in extensive dialogic interviews about the topic; the second study requested a much larger group of respondents to list three situations in which they were aware of language and then to describe one of these in detail. Thematic analysis of responses produced in both studies revealed four different, but interrelated, meanings to an individual's experience of language: as a well structured system, as an aesthetic object, as a useful event, and as a aspect of the self or of the interpersonal world. Each theme appeared in all interviews and in most written descriptions, although individual participants emphasized one or another of the themes more strongly. In addition, the pattern of interrelationship among themes was similar in both studies despite significant differences in the specific situations described. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for theoretical and empirical approaches to language as well as in terms of the meaning of language to and for human speakers.