Following instructions and attempting to persuade: Performing an oral assignment in a seminar in Matvung

Abstract

This article is about instructing and persuading talk in social interaction. Two interactions are examined which revolved around an oral assignment delivered in a seminar session in Matvung, Papua New Guinea. I show how the interaction is achieved collaboratively by the seminar cohort, and how the cohort members assume event‐specific roles in doing so. At the same time they are drawing upon knowledge and practice already learned in the socio‐cultural setting of Matvung day‐to‐day life, resulting in an interplay between longer‐term roles on the one hand and the roles specific to the seminar session on the other.