Abstract Using multimodal conversation analysis this article examines embodied and tactile greetings in social interaction, documenting their change during the Covid‐19 pandemic. Recognizing social interaction as foundational for human sociality, we consider greetings as a crucial normative, organizational, and ritual practice for mutually engaging in intersubjective action. Analyses use video recordings made in Switzerland (featuring (Swiss‐)German and English as a lingua‐franca), focusing on embodied greetings of acquainted people in public spaces at the age of Covid19—a historical moment in which physical proximity and contact are targeted by official measures restricting social interactions. Studying a range of tactile embodied greetings, the paper shows how they change from routine greetings to hesitated, suspended yet still completed ones, and to projected but resisted and refused ones. Furthermore, it reveals some ‘new’ practices of greeting (elbow/feetbumps, hugs‐in‐the‐air) and their non‐straightforward and accountable character, as well as how they sediment and normalize during the pandemic.

中文翻译：

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Covid-19 大流行时期的人类社会性：对问候语变化的系统考察


摘要 本文利用多模态对话分析研究了社交互动中的具体问候语和触觉问候语，记录了它们在 Covid-19 大流行期间的变化。我们认识到社会互动是人类社会性的基础，因此将问候视为相互参与主体间行动的重要规范、组织和仪式实践。分析使用瑞士制作的视频记录（以（瑞士）德语和英语作为通用语言），重点关注新冠病毒时代熟人在公共场所的具体问候——这是一个以身体接近和接触为目标的历史时刻通过限制社交互动的官方措施。该论文研究了一系列触觉体现的问候语，展示了它们如何从常规问候语转变为犹豫、暂停但仍完成的问候语，以及预测但抵制和拒绝的问候语。此外，它还揭示了一些“新”的问候方式（肘部/脚碰触、空中拥抱）及其非直接和负责任的特征，以及它们在大流行期间如何沉淀和正常化。