“Aratda!”: Intersubjectivity-in-action in a multilingual Korean reality TV show

Abstract

Examining a Korean reality TV show, Babel 250, with seven participants who do not share a native language, we aim to illuminate how they pursue and sometimes achieve intersubjectivity as they accomplish everyday practical and social activities. The main concept of Babel 250 is that the participants strive to construct a community, each using only their own native language (as mandated by the show's rules) along with a new shared language system they create as they go, “Babel-e.” Using multimodal conversation analysis, we present a collection of examples that showcase how participants use multimodal resources and embodied displays to achieve understanding with each other. The analysis shows that pursuing intersubjectivity involves the participants’ intricate recipient-design of their talk and sustained orientation toward repair practices. The study contributes to a better understanding of intersubjectivity-in-action in extremely constraining circumstances.