Conversation Analysis

"This book provides an introduction to conversation analysis as an approach and a method for studying social interaction usable not only for investigating the organization of naturally occurring talk, but for investigating the forms, the structures, and the machinery of a wide range of social actions."

--Lingua

Conversation Analysis is a set of rigorous systematic techniques designed to explore the everyday world of ordinary people through the language they use in mundane interactions. Developed over the past 30 years, conversation analysis has contributed enormously to the understanding of social life, social structure, the meaning ascribed by individuals to interaction, and the rules and structures of conversation. George Psathas' succinct introduction to conversation analysis outlines its procedures and its major accomplishments, including discussions of verbal sequence, institutional constraints on interaction, and the deep structure of talk. This book is of value to students in sociology, communication, social psychology, sociolinguistics, and cognitive science.