Directives in the construction site: Grammatical design and work phases in second language interactions with crane operators

Highlights

• Load relocation tasks are divided into phases built up by directive sequences.

• Phases are demarcated by intermediate goals directives cumulatively reach.

• Directives reveal orientations to a phase's overall structural organization.

• Grammatical variation in directive sequences serves to manage tasks temporally.

• Directives in L2 Norwegian carry additional features of local orientations.

Abstract

The paper investigates directives addressed to tower crane operators by a construction worker. By examining grammatical variation in connection with load relocation tasks, the study shows how the design and the sequential positioning of directive turns vary systematically according to a particular phase of the work task and the overall structural organization of the activity. The worker's selection of lexico-syntactic forms and embodied actions displays an orientation to the different stages of the work task being carried out. The sequential, compositional and morpho-syntactic differences in the formation of directives serve to manage and display task progressivity. The worker speaks L2 Norwegian with several unidiomatic features, but nonetheless displays a systematic differentiation between the forms in orienting to the sequential and phase-structural characteristics of the actions being performed.