Interaction by inscription

Abstract

This paper investigates uses of inscriptions — graphic acts and the marks resulting from them — as rhetorical and socio-symbolic devices in face-to-face interaction. The analysis of a business-negotiation between two German entrepreneurs reveals that the integration of inscriptions and talk often yields hybrid symbols: while signifying within an instrumental domain such as record-keeping or accounting, they may simultaneously participate in the ‘mise-en-scène’ of conversational action or serve as metaphoric ‘graphic gestures’. Reconstructing these local meanings of inscriptions requires close analysis of the co-ordination of talk and graphic activity, of the movement patterns of graphic acts, and of the visual gestalt of graphic marks. The paper ends with a discussion of inscriptions as turn-construction units.