It seems I have always been inclined towards spoken language research. As a student I was interested in sociolinguistics, and later on pragmatics. I wrote my master’s thesis on colloquial expressions in newspaper articles, my licentiate’s thesis on the similarities and differences between spoken and written languages, and my dissertation on repetition in both speech and writing. However, it was not until the Samtalsspråkets Grammatik project that I delved into conversation analysis and communication studies. It was an exciting time, because we were—though we would only realise it later—pioneers of a new direction in linguistics which came to be known as interactional linguistics.

To me it was natural to approach spoken language phenomena from a perspective that systematised linguistic structures. That was perhaps because I had already been teaching Swedish grammar for several years. Svenska Akademien’s grammar of Swedish had just been published, and it was soon followed by Iso suomen kielioppi, a reference book of Finnish grammar by the Finnish Literature Society. I was inspired to write my own book on interactional linguistics and spoken language: Tur och ordning – introduktion till svensk samtalsgrammatik.

I am in the habit of telling my students that studying the structures of spoken language is a veritable goldmine. It is still to a large degree uncharted territory because to date much language research is based on what is common in written language. Oral communication operates on completely different terms. It is a great privilege to have a centre of excellence that focuses on these questions—Intersubjectivity in Interaction. I am a member of the executive committee, and together with Ritva Laury I head the team investigating Verbal and Non-Verbal Resources for Action Construction.

I am also pleased to have collaborated on a research project with political scientists from Svenska social- och kommunalhögskolan, through which I have come to experience inter-disciplinary research. I am referring to the DYLAN-project of 2007-2012 (Language Diversity and Managements of Diversity), in which we studied language conventions in the university environment. At the same time I also gained experience of how a large-scale EU project operates. It can be at once rewarding and frustrating.