Orientations to the extremity of extreme case formulations--expressions using extreme terms such as "all,""none,""most,""every,""least" and so on--are initially shown in how they are sometimes qualified or softened. Further examination shows how ECFs can work as devices for doing "nonliteral," in the sense of being not accountably accurate…

Conversation analysis (CA) has repeatedly been criticized for being unresponsive to the "sociological agenda." This article argues that CA should, and can, respond to this criticism, and that CA should work toward making its contribution to the sociological agenda much more explicit. (Author/VWL)

Uses conversation analysis to investigate reported speech in talk-in-interaction. Beginning with an examination of direct and indirect reported speech, the article highlights some of the design features of the former, and the sequential environments in which it occurs. (Author/VWL)

A study investigated the form of diagnostic talk occurring between veterinarian and client before or during the physical examination and before the clinical diagnosis. Data are from six cases from a corpus of veterinary consultations. Analysis focuses on use of qualifiers, hedges, and evidential mitigators in communicating both good news and bad…

Considers issues in interdependence--the micro-macro issue in particular--to be important theoretical matters for future work in language and social interaction. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the development of conversation analysis (CA) and the recognition it has earned in a number of disciplines, including communication. Suggests that, during the next period of development, CA methods will become more quantitative. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the emergence of language and social interaction as a scholarly field and how the field can improve its impact on members of the general public. Proposed in terms of conversation analysis, suggestions are offered for communicating the benefits to a wider audience. (Author/VWL)

Suggests that research on language and social interaction can best proceed by engaging in the puzzle-solving enterprise that characterizes normal research. Systematic explorations are needed of the language phenomena deemed relevant by the respective paradigms. (Author/VWL)

Raises issues of concern related to the field of language and social interaction (LSI): (1) LSI cannot be properly studied by treating language as a transparent medium; (2) discourse is a multimodal activity system; (3) LSI research has the potential to contribute to a wide range of language research; and (4) technology is deepening the…

Defines the most prominent aspects of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and discusses how such a research program enables individuals to cope with the changes in societies. Also identifies social problems deserving investigation.(Author/VWL)

Investigates the communicative treatment of secrets, presenting examples from recorded communicative interactions in a wide range of social milieus and settings in which the participants revealed knowledge of secrets, tried to dig out old secrets without appearing to be doing so, and occasionally, appeared to be hiding some items of knowledge from…

Investigates moral issues in delivering good and bad news, examining episodes of good and bad news in ordinary conversation and in institutional settings, then describing an interaction between a teacher and a parent. As the parent blames the teacher for the student's poor performance, and the teacher delicately notes the student's need to mature,…

Examines a corpus of audio and audiovisual recordings of people engaged in acrimonious argument, in which complaints and accusations are being made about the behavior of copresent parties. Analysis focuses on the sequences immediately following complaints. (Author/VWL)

Examines the problem posed to ethnographic research on speech communication by the traditional distinction between text and context as figure versus ground, or as hierarchical organization of focal events, or as phenomena within which those events are embedded. An ethnographic perspective on discourse within which text and context form an…

This article introduces the topic of this special issue of the journal. Explains the separate worlds hypothesis, discusses feminist critiques of separate worlds, and introduces children's gender indexing and considerations of culture, context, and power. (Author/VWL)