Source: Paltridge (2012), Chapters 5 & 6

Chapter 5: Conversation Analysis

1. What Does Conversation Analysis Study?

• Type of Data: Naturally occurring conversations (recordings, transcripts).
• Focuses on spoken language in everyday interactions, including casual conversations and institutional discourse.
• Data is analyzed for patterns of interaction and conversational structure.

2. Main Interest of Conversation Analysis

• Understanding Social Interaction: Examines how people produce and interpret speech in real time.
• Focuses on turn-taking, sequence organization, adjacency pairs, and repair mechanisms.
• Investigates how meaning is constructed contextually through interaction.

3. Criticisms of Conversation Analysis

• Limitations: Overemphasis on micro-level details may ignore broader sociocultural factors.
• Its claim of neutrality is debated; critics argue it may overlook power dynamics.
• Challenges in analyzing meaning beyond the immediate interaction.

4. Why is Conversation Context-Based and Context-Renewing?

Context-Based: Conversations rely on prior knowledge, situational factors, and shared understanding. Context-Renewing: Conversations simultaneously shape and redefine the context through participants’ responses and interpretations.

5. Transition Relevance Place (TRP)

Definition (p. 93):

A point in conversation where a turn transition is possible. Often marked by pauses, intonation, or syntactic completion.

6. Archetype Closings