This day-long workshop is designed to improve participants’ understanding, and ability to apply, the rules for turn taking for (mundane) conversation as initially described by Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson (1974) and refined over the last 50 years (Institutional speech-exchange systems may be touched on, but will not be a focus). A rough outline is: (i) introduction; (ii) turn construction; (iii) turn allocation; (iv) overlapping talk; and (v) conclusion. The role of the body in turn taking is considered (e.g., gaze, gesture). A central theme is that turn taking is action taking (i.e., turns are vehicles for social actions), and thus a critical element of action formation. It will become evident that, and how, the rules for turn taking intersect and interact with other, fundamental orders of conversational organization (e.g., of sequences and repair). Data are primarily in English, although a range of languages will be featured.

Facilitated By: Jeffrey Robinson