Displaying Substantive Recipiency in Seminar Discussion

Abstract

C. Goodwin (1986) drew attention to the lack of "systematic study of the actions of hearers" (p. 205). Existing literature on recipient behavior has dealt with silence (e.g., Tannen & Saville-Troike, 1985), backchannel actions or continuers (e.g., Duncan & Fiske, 1977; Schegloff, 1982), the organization of repair (e.g., Schegloff, Jefferson, & Sacks, 1977), and the like. The purpose of this article is to describe a specific class of recipient practices that are less minimal in nature, which I call substantive recipiency. The phenomena of interest include verbal resources deployed in multiparty interaction to indicate "I'm following you" or "I'm trying to follow you" without actually saying so. Using data from a series of graduate seminars, I show how substantive recipiency is accomplished in reformulating, extending, and jargonizing and how these 3 devices perform a range of double duties besides their first-order action of understanding display. I argue that the practices of substantive recipiency work to shape and renew the context of an academic seminar. In short, this study is an attempt at making evident the doing of seminar discussion through substantive recipiency. The findings contribute to a growing literature on discourse in academic settings as well as an increasing understanding of recipient actions within the larger framework of language and social interaction.