ABSTRACT

Drawing inspiration from a broad range of work that focuses on processes of register formation, human contact, and social value this chapter proposes the concept of modeling contact talk. My empirical focus are a range of television broadcasts. I use the term model to refer to how such representations model language in social life as well as how certain models have more social value than others. I use the term contact as a cover term that emphasizes that all human contact represents contact between strangers. Talk refers not just to the exchange of semiotic forms in encounter but also to their discursive evaluation during encounter.