Speech acts, moves, and meta-communication in negotiation: three cases of everyday conversation observed among the |Gui former-foragers

Abstract

Interactive organizations of three cases of negotiations are systematically analyzed in the contemporary ethnographic context of the |Gui (Khoe-speaking Bushman people) in Botswana. The illocutionary acts that constitute these negotiations are identified, the principal of which is the requirement by one party. Another party's response includes two alternatives: refusal or obeying. When some sequence of speech acts functions as the move that affects the course of the negotiation, this move usually exerts an accumulative effect that is caused by iterating the same type of act. This hypothesis is well represented by the ‘balance model’ of speech acts, rather than the ‘billiard ball model.’ Apparently, a serious negotiation may be experienced as a verbal play-fight by the participants, as well as by the audience. This meta-communicative keying is supported by the convergence of participants’ attention onto the shared frame of action-coordination. If the participants hope to ‘play’ jokingly, they have to continue their interaction beyond the duration necessary for the transactional goal. Linking logically consistent moves and objecting to the opponent's definition of their social relationship are the best strategies for continuing a bout of face-to-face interaction. In this sense, logical consistency of speech acts is contiguous with emotional involvement in interactions.