CLIC Speaker Abstracts

Paul Drew (Sociology, University of York), January 28, 2000.

"An Exercise in Comparative Analysis of Institutional Talk: The Case of Formulations."

There is now a significant body of research in conversation analysis into talk-in-interaction in 'institutional' settings, such as medical consultations, courts, news broadcasts etc.. Broadly, this research focuses on how participants use language to conduct their affairs in such settings, thus foregrounding the production and management of activities through language (eg. examining, diagnosing, and advising). Whilst the fundamental practices of talk-in-interaction are generic (ie. derive from ordinary conversation and underlie talk in all settings), it is assumed that some practices will be shaped by the specific institutionally relevant and circumscribed activities in which participants are engaged. Thus a certain practice may manifest differences when compared with a similar practice in other settings, including ordinary conversation. This paper offers a sketch of a comparative method, in which the practice of formulating what the other has said is examined in four settings - in psychotherapy, in news interviews, in talk radio, and in industrial negotiations. It appears that the practice exhibits a number of differences, but also similarities across settings. This is an exercise in what might be gained through such a comparison.