Keskustelutilanne

Keskustelutilanne is a concept used in sociolinguistics and discourse analysis to describe the communicative situation in a conversation. It refers to the situational conditions under which dialogue occurs, including who is involved, where and when the interaction happens, what its purpose is, and which social norms govern the exchange. The term emphasizes that language choices and interaction patterns are shaped by the surrounding context as much as by the words themselves.

Key components of a keskustelutilanne include the participants (speakers, listeners, or an audience), their roles and social relationships, and the power dynamics or levels of formality between them. The setting (physical place, time, and institutional or cultural context) and the channel or medium of communication (face-to-face, telephone, online chat, etc.) are also central. Norms for turn-taking, topic management, politeness strategies, and code-switching are routinely influenced by the situation. Shared knowledge or common ground between participants, as well as any specific goals (informing, persuading, negotiating, social bonding), further shape how the conversation unfolds.

Contexts can be micro (immediate interactional cues like gaze, pauses, and sequencing of turns) or macro (broader cultural or institutional norms). Keskustelutilanne affects language use, including register, pronoun choice, and discourse strategies. It is a focus of methods such as conversation analysis and discourse studies, and has practical relevance in education, intercultural communication, customer service, and the design of communicative technologies.