Call for papers

Special issue overview

This special issue focuses on the role(s) that companions play in institutional interactions. Companions are interactants who support another to communicate, to complete a task or otherwise achieve a social or interactional goal that may typically be set up as a dyadic interaction (doctor – patient, teacher – pupil; etc). Companions can be relatives, friends or professional assistants to a person in need of support.

Some people need help to communicate with others due to their young age or challenges of various kinds, physical as well as cognitive. Assistance is likely to be especially needed in institutional interactions. In such situations, a companion might help the individual understand what is going on, and help them express their needs and wishes. But as yet, research is limited on the role companions play in these settings, the interactional resources companions use to enact their role, and what may facilitate or impede interactions between the person they support and the institutional interlocutor.

In order to shed further light on this important issue, this special issue will bring together research focusing on interaction involving people with communication support needs and their companions. The aim of the special issue is to contribute to the knowledge about the role(s) companions play in institutional interactions, and further our understanding on how the role(s) is talked into being and emerges in the interaction itself.

This special issue is seeking submissions which fall within these parameters. The submitted manuscripts for this special collection will be peer-reviewed before publication.

Please submit your manuscript to niklas.noren@edu.uu.se according to the following timetable for this Special Collection.

Manuscript deadline: August 31 2023