Asimmetria e mediazione linguistico-culturale: le domande nelle rese multi-part come strategia compensativa

By applying a conversation analytic methodology, this paper aims at describing two types of linguistic and cultural mediators’ independent initiatives involving questions. The first is when a single question by a primary interlocutor is divided into two or more questions by the mediator. The second is when a question is added by mediator's initiative in a rendition of a turn-at-talk which did not contain any question. The data have been all audio-recorded, either in healthcare or educational settings, in the north of Italy and include the presence of public service users with a migrant background. The main argument which this paper puts forward is that such mediators’ initiatives prove to be effective communicative strategies which allow intersubjectivity to be maintained and, more generally, contribute to the positive outcome of the institutional encounter.