Integrating the participants' perspective in the study of language and communication disorders

In an integrational perspective, meaning is considered experiential: “signs are not given to us by Nature” (Harris 2009, p. 87) - they require a process of continuous creation, performed by the language makers. Experience, knowledge, and meaning are closely tied together. This stated, signs articulate the complexity of our own situation and “their creation is itself the creation of knowledge, and, more importantly, the creation of untold possibilities for its further expansion” (Harris 2009, p. 87). This questions the observation of other humans’ language: Who are the experts? This methodological problem is discussed in a new approach to the study of language and communication disorders (Klemmensen 2018). My ph.d.-research investigates the pros and cons of an interdisciplinary practice approach incorporating three different schools, which claim to study the persons communicating, their actions, and their agency are the point of departure. Concepts from Integrational Linguistics are discussed in a joint framework and aligned with Practice theory and methods from Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis, resulting in the introduction of a new applied integrationism.

By revisiting the key theoretical concepts: contextualization and integrational proficiency, and inserting these in a practice research-framing, the emergence of an applied integrationism is conveyed and applied to the study of language and communication disorders - minus The Language Myth. With an emphasis on key theoretical and meta-theoretical questions involved in the above research project on language and communication disorders, this presentation, overall, aims at discussing the project’s theoretical approach, pointing towards a new analytical approach based on concepts from integrationism.

Harris, R. (2009). After epistemology. Gamlingay: Bright Pen.
Klemmensen, C. (2018). Integrating the participants’ perspective in the study of language and communication disorders: Towards a new analytical approach. Cham: Palgrave Pivot.