Parties, persons, and one-at-a-time: conversation analysis and ELF

Abstract

AbstractDrawing on an analysis of ELF data, this article deals with the characteristics and complexities of turn-taking in interactions involving three or more participants. Sacks et al.’s (1974) often quoted framework for turn-taking in conversations, which can still be regarded canonical reading in the conversation analytic literature, serves as a starting point for this investigation. The aim of this paper is to scrutinize the applicability of the turn-taking model for group interactions. A key concept in this regard is the notion of aparty: the conversation analytic model for turn-taking posits that turn-taking does not take place between individual speakers, but between parties (hence the termmulti-party conversation) which can potentially consist of several speakers (cf. Schegloff 1995: 32–33). In group interactions it is thus possible that overlap occurs among co-incumbents of the same party. This kind of simultaneous speech, however, has not yet been subject of systematic empirical analysis. The present paper offers a preliminary account of this aspect of turn-taking in multi-participant interaction by discussing data extracts from an ELF workplace meeting of seven speakers and suggests possible avenues for further research on the phenomenon.