Changing the Topic: An Interactional Linguistics Analysis of Topic Flow in English Conversation

This book presents an in-depth analysis of how discourse topics are introduced, maintained, and closed in British English conversation. It highlights the crucial role of real-time negotiation and turn-taking in ensuring cohesive topic flow. Using an inductive, bottom-up approach, the book explores topicality through an operational definition grounded in the traditional Discourse Analysis (DA) concept of given versus new information. This operational framework is used to identify potential t...