Conversation Analysis: Comparative Perspectives

by Jack Sidnell

Overview

'Conversation analysis' is an approach to the study of social interaction that focuses on practices of speaking that recur across a range of contexts and settings. The early studies in this tradition were based on the analysis of English conversation. More recently, however, conversation analysts have begun to study talk in a broader range of communities around the world. Through detailed analyses of recorded conversations, this book examines differences and similarities across a wide range of languages including Finnish, Japanese, TΔl Mayan, Russian and Mandarin. Bringing together interrelated methodological and analytic contributions, it explores topics such as the role of gaze in question-and-answer sequences, the organization of repair, and the design of responses to assessments. The emerging comparative perspective demonstrates how the structure of talk is inflected by the local circumstances within which it operates.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521883719
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/17/2009
Series:	Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics , #27
Pages:	460
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jack Sidnell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Comparative perspectives in conversation analysis Jack Sidnell; Part I. Repair and Beyond: 2. Repetition in the initiation of repair Ruey-Jiuan Regina Wu; 3. The site of initiation in same turn self repair Barbara Fox, Fay Wouk, Makoto Hayashi, Steven Fincke, Liang Tao, Marja-Leena Sorjonen, Minna Laakso and Wilfrido Flores Hernandez; 4. Repairing reference Maria Egbert, Andrea Golato and Jeffrey D. Robinson; Part II. Aspects of Response: 5. Projecting non-alignment in conversation Anna Lindström; 6. Answers to inapposite inquiries Trine Heinemann; 7. Gaze, questioning and culture Federico Rossano, Penelope Brown and Stephen C. Levinson; 8. Negotiating boundaries in talk Makoto Hayashi and Kyung-eun Yoon; Part III. Action Formation and Sequencing: 9. Alternative responses to assessments Marja-Leena Sorjonen and Auli Hakulinen; 10. Language-specific resources in repair and asessments Jack Sidnell; 11. Implementing delayed actions Galina B. Bolden; Conclusion: 12. Commentary Emanuel Schegloff.

Editorial Reviews

Review of the hardback: 'Hooray! This is what we've been waiting for - a genuinely cross-linguistic perspective on the ways in which semiotic resources, including language and the body, are mobilized for the resolution of recurrent tasks in interaction.' Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen, University of Potsdam

Review of the hardback: 'Not only does this remarkable book represent a major collection of cross-linguistic work in Conversation Analysis, but the contributions, all by world-renowned scholars, covering ten languages, together form a stunning and important picture of the ways in which the resources of any particular language afford possibilities for social action accomplished through talk.' Sandra Thompson, University of California, Santa Barbara

From the Publisher