Abstract for On an Actual Virtual Servo-Mechanism for Guessing Bad News
Emanuel A. Schegloff: "On an Actual Virtual
Servo-Mechanism for Guessing Bad News: A Single
Case Conjecture." Social Problems, 35(1988):442-457.
A conversation analytic treatment of a single
episode of talk-in-interaction is used to sketch
a mechanism for steering recipients of bad news
to better guesses of what the news is. The account
of the mechanism makes use of the notion of
"preferred/dispreferred response" and
distinguishes different usages of that notion.
The results of the exploration are used to
recommend an approach & specialized contexts in
which bad news is communicated, as well as an
approach to "specialized" talk more generally.
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