Cognitive processes and social norms in natural discourse at the marketplace

Abstract

This study constitutes a preliminary attempt to begin answering the following question: how can we hope to reconcile two seemingly opposite views of natural discourse, namely one which focuses on cognitive processes and underlying knowledge structures, and another which focuses on the participants' ‘social construction of reality’ through ongoing interactive processes? An interesting source of inspiration for this task is the recently developed ‘communicator goal’ approach, which is strongly influenced by Schank and Abelson's view of interaction as guided by pre-existing goals. This cognitive model is used here in conjunction with the ethnomethodological model of social interaction which stresses its dynamic dimensions. The focus in this paper is on one particular dimension of communicative competence which relates to both models, namely the interactants' ability to deal with changeable goals during a conversation. My proposed methodological framework is tested through the analysis of a 45-minute transcript of naturally occurring speech recorded at a Southern California marketplace. Verbal interaction in service encounters is shown not to always follow a prototype scenario based on pre-existing knowledge structures and goals: discourse has emergent properties based on the particular circumstances of the situation.