In the field of interactional dialectology researchers use theories and methods from Conversation Analysis and interactional linguistics to explore different kinds of dialectal data. A dialectal utterance (as well as a standard language utterance) is seen not only as a realization of an abstract linguistic system, but as situated in a specific interactional context in which it fulfills a pragmatic, interactional function. A central research question within the field of interactional dialectology is to investigate why a certain dialect feature is used at a certain moment in a conversation, and which consequence this might have for the following turns-at-talk. This methodological approach has, inter alia, a potential to explain intra-individual speech variation within a dialect interview or another recording of dialect speakers. Another central task within the field is to describe the traditional dialect interview regarded as a communicative activity where the interviewer plays an important role, rather than some kind of neutral, objective documentation of a dialect language system.
The primary aims of this article are to discuss conditions for the analysis of dialectal materials from an interactional perspective and present my own research in this field. My research can be described as a synthesis of Conversation Analysis, interactional linguistics, construction grammar and dialectology.