Faces of common in communication: from sharing to disjunction

Abstract

A recurrent de nition of communication relies on the etymological root of the term, whose origin in Latin means an activity accomplished together, from a situation of social meeting. This original meaning of the word has spread in a signi cant parcel of studies in this area, indicating that communication would be the product of a common action. In this paper, the implications of this form of grasping the interactional practices will be contrasted with another way to realize the sharing inherent in communication, driven by a distinct etymological root, linked to the disjunction and to the risks and obstacles that permeate the processes of joint coordination of actions. It is argued that this approach can enrich a critical perception in the eld of communication studies.