scholarly journals Transcribing silent actions: a multimodal approach of sequence organization

Author(s):  
Lorenza Mondada

This paper deals with a significant advance the use of video and the study of multimodality within conversation analysis have made possible: the possibility to analyse in detail the sequentiality of actions that are achieved by other resources than talk, and more precisely a diversity of embodied practices. A close attention to how we transcribe these silent embodied actions enables us to better understand their specific temporal unfolding, spatial arrangements, and sequential organization. The paper starts discussing silent second actions (responses to requests); then moves to silent first actions (requests achieved by handing over objects); and finally discusses embodied sequences fully realized in silence. The proposed transcript notation enables reflection upon the complex emergent and sequentially unfolding temporality of multimodally formatted actions. Taking into account the details of embodied conduct, it discusses the consequences for the principled notions of temporality, sequentiality and multimodality.

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena Vranjes ◽  
Geert Brône ◽  
Kurt Feyaerts

Abstract This paper contributes to the growing line of research that takes a multimodal approach in the study of interpreter-mediated dialogues. Drawing on insights from Conversation Analysis and multimodal analysis, we investigate how extended multi-unit turns unfold with interventions of an interpreter and, more specifically, what is the role of gaze in this process. The analysis is based on videos of interpreter-mediated dialogues (Dutch-Russian) recorded with mobile eye-tracking glasses. We argue that the interpreter’s gaze direction contributes both to the local management of turn-taking (next-speaker selection) and to sequence organization. More specifically, we show how interpreter’s gaze orientation bears on the negotiation of possible transition relevance places and how it contributes to the smooth continuation of the projected extended multi-unit turn.


2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Rossano

In recent years, some scholars have claimed that humans are unique in their capacity and motivation to engage in cooperative communication and extensive, fast-paced social interactions. While research on gestural communication in great apes has offered important findings concerning the gestural repertoires of different species, very little is known about the sequential organization of primates’ communicative behavior during interactions. Drawing on a conversation analytic framework, this paper addresses this gap by investigating the sequential organization of bonobo mother-infant interactions, and more specifically, how individuals solicit carries from one another. It shows how bonobos establish participation frameworks before producing a carry request gesture and how the ensuing communicative actions can be organized in adjacency-pair sequences. Moreover, the timing between the initiation of an action and its response is similar to what has been documented in adult human interaction. Finally, it outlines some of the orderly practices bonobos use to deal with the absence of response from the addressed participants in carry sequences. Keywords: adjacency pair; pan paniscus; conversation analysis; gestures; interactional time; sequence organization


Author(s):  
Abigail McMeekin

Abstract Analyzing approximately nine hours of video-recorded naturally-occurring conversations over eight weeks of study abroad between three L2 speakers of Japanese and their L1 speaker host family members, the present study uses conversation analysis to explore how the participants manage intersubjectivity using communication strategies in word searches. Specifically the study explores the following: (a) how participants deploy, manipulate, and respond to communication strategies as interactional resources used to co-construct meaning and progressively disambiguate the referent sought; (b) how strategies are used within the sequential organization of word searches to guide the trajectory of the search on a turn-by-turn basis; (c) how linguistic and non-linguistic resources such as intonation and eye gaze are used in conjunction with strategies to organize participant structure and relevant action in the unfolding talk; and (d) how a microanalytic, interactional approach can redefine our understanding of how strategic mechanisms are used and labeled in interaction.


Gesture ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-403
Author(s):  
Katja Dindar ◽  
Terhi Korkiakangas ◽  
Aarno Laitila ◽  
Eija Kärnä

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reportedly have difficulties in responding to bids for joint attention, notably in following pointing gestures. Previous studies have predominantly built on structured observation measures and predefined coding categories to measure children’s responsiveness to gestures. However, how these gestures are designed and what detailed interactional work they can accomplish have received less attention. In this paper, we use a multimodal approach to conversation analysis (CA) to investigate how educators design their use of pointing in interactions involving school-aged children with ASD or autistic features. The analysis shows that pointing had specific sequential implications for the children beyond mere attention sharing. Occasionally, the co-occurring talk and pointing led to ambiguities when a child was interpreting their interactional connotations, specifically when the pointing gesture lacked salience. The study demonstrates that the CA approach can increase understanding of how to facilitate the establishment of joint attention.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.K. Luke

Since Sacks’ pioneering work in the 1970s, storytelling has become a favourite topic of research within conversation analysis. Scholars have examined storytelling from the point of view of sequential organization (Jefferson 1978), participation organization (Goodwin 1984), story co-telling (Duranti 1986, Mandelbaum 1987, Lerner 1992), displays of epistemic statuses (Schegloff 1988), and action formation (M. Goodwin 1982, 1990; Mandelbaum 1993; Beach 2000; Beach & Glenn 2011; Wu 2011, 2012). Work has also been done on the management of storytelling in the context of other, concurrent activities (Goodwin 1984, Goodwin & Goodwin 1992, Mandelbaum 2010, Haddington et al. 2014). The aim of this paper is to apply the many insights that researchers have accumulated since Sacks to the analysis and understanding of a single instance of storytelling in a Cantonese conversation. A detailed, step-by-step unpacking of this story will reveal how the contingencies of an interaction, including the interplay of multiple contexts, may leave fine-grained imprints on the shape and character of a story.


Author(s):  
Maren Rüsch

Conversation analysis, which began to evolve in the 1960s, studies the structure of talk, and how speakers organize a mostly fluent talk without many gaps or overlaps in order to guarantee maximal mutual understanding. It is based on the analysis of natural speech in a culturally natural environment. In this chapter, basic concepts of conversation analysis as well as the methods used by scholars are explained. A collection of examples from several African languages illustrates terminologies such as turn-taking strategies, sequence organization, and repair of trouble-sources in talk and provides an insight into new linguistic approaches to conversation analysis, especially in African settings.


Author(s):  
Hanh thi Nguyen

AbstractThis paper uses conversation analysis to examine when Vietnamese speakers explicitly mark the source of represented talk or thought (RT) and when they may omit the RTs source in narratives in dyadic and multiparty family conversations. In Vietnamese, a pro-drop, non-inflectional language, RTs may be introduced by a verb of speaking and its subject, a verb of speaking without the subject, or no verb of speaking and no subject. The analysis focuses on how these three choices are employed in the sequential organization of narrative series, narrative participation frameworks, and narrative dramatization. The findings contribute to current understandings about source marking through linguistic devices as an interactional practice in conversations in addition to other resources such as voicing and embodied actions.


1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary L. Oelschlaeger

Conversation analysis was applied to answer the question of when and how a conversation partner participates in the word searches of a person with aphasia. Thirty-eight videotaped conversational sequences from eight naturally occurring conversations of a single couple were analyzed. Sequences were characterized by the spouse’s participation in the self-initiated word searches of her partner, who had aphasia. Sequences were analyzed on a turn-by-turn basis to reveal their sequential organization. Results showed that participation was determined by interactional techniques and interactional resources. Interactional techniques included direct and indirect invitations to participate. Direct invitation was constructed via direct gaze or a wh- question. Indirect invitation was constructed with verbal and nonverbal signals, including specific metalanguage and downward gaze. Interactional resources were information states derived from both life experience and online analysis. Research and clinical implications are discussed.


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