(Un-)Sicherheit, (In-)Konsistenz und vielerlei Maß

Abstract This paper deals with normative statements in interviews concerning the use of languages and varieties in university. A corpus of 123 interviews with teachers, students and administrative staff was used to investigate within an interactional approach the relation between the form of normative statements, the norms they refer to and the interactional situation in the interviews. This article shows by means of three exemplary analyses that the expression of normative expectations / evaluations is highly dependent not only on the validity, salience and effectiveness of the norms in question, but also on the interview situation itself. Seen as a social practice and not just as an instrument of elicitating attitudes and other metalinguistic data, the interview becomes a showcase of the interconnection of normative phenomena (norms, values, attitudes …), normative conflicts and their negotiation.