A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation

Harvey Sacks; Emanuel A. Schegloff; Gail Jefferson

doi:10.2307/412243

journal article Dec 01, 1974

A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation

Harvey Sacks Emanuel A. Schegloff Gail Jefferson

Language Vol. 50 No. 4 pp. 696-735 · Cambridge University Press (CUP)

View at Publisher Save 10.2307/412243

Abstract

The organization of taking turns to talk is fundamental to conversation, as well as to other speech-exchange systems. A model for the turn-taking organization for conversation is proposed, and is examined for its compatibility with a list of grossly observable facts about conversation. The results of the examination suggest that, at least, a model for turn-taking in conversation will be characterized as locally managed, party-administered, interactionally controlled, and sensitive to recipient design. Several general consequences of the model are explicated, and contrasts are sketched with turn-taking organizations for other speech-exchange systems.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

40

[1]

Jaffe (1970)

[2]

Beckett (1972)

[3]

Beardsley (1959)

[4]

Schenkein

[5]

Sudnow (1972)

[6]

10.1016/0001-6918(67)90005-4

[7]

Goffman (1971)

[8]

Jefferson, G. 1972. Side sequences. In Sudnow, 294–338.

[9]

Barker (1951)

[10]

10.1080/00332747.1955.11023008

[11]

Mitchell (1956)

[12]

10.1515/semi.1973.8.4.289

[13]

Moerman, M. 1972. Analysis of Lue conversation: providing accounts, finding breaches, and taking sides. In Sudnow, 170–228.

[14]

10.1037/h0033031

[15]

Jordan, S. , and Fuller, N. , MS. The non-fatal nature of trouble: sense-making and trouble managing in lingua franca talk. To appear in Semiotica.

[16]

Goffman, E. 1964. The neglected situation. In Gumperz & Hymes, 133–6. 10.1525/aa.1964.66.suppl_3.02a00090

[17]

Sacks (1974)

[18]

Yngve, V. 1970. On getting a word in edgewise. Papers from the 6th Regional Meeting, Chicago Linguistic Society, 567–77.

[19]

10.1525/aa.1968.70.6.02a00030

[20]

Jefferson, G. , and Schenkein, J. MS. Some sequential negotiations in conversation: unexpanded and expanded versions of projected action sequences. To appear in Schenkein et al.

[21]

Schegloff, E. MS. On some questions and ambiguities in conversation. In Schenkein, et al.

[22]

Duncan, S. D. Jr. . 1972b. Distribution of auditor back-channel behaviors in dyadic conversation. To appear in Journal of Psycholinguistic Research.

[23]

Moerman, M. , and Sacks, H. , MS. On understanding in conversation.

[24]

Sacks (1974)

[25]

Garfinkel (1967)

[26]

10.2307/2088227

[27]

Goldberg, J. MS. A system for the transfer of instructions in natural settings. To appear in Semiotica.

[28]

Isaacs (1933)

[29]

Bales (1950)

[30]

Coleman (1960)

[31]

Albert, E. 1964. ‘ Rhetoric’, ‘logic’, and ‘poetics’ in Burundi:, culture patterning of speech behavior. In Gumperz & Hymes, 35–54. 10.1525/aa.1964.66.suppl_3.02a00020

[32]

Bales (1970)

[33]

10.1515/semi.1973.9.1.29

[34]

Garfinkel (1970)

[35]

Schegloff, E. 1972. Notes on a conversational practice: formulating place. In Sudnow, 75–119.

[36]

Matarazzo (1972)

[37]

Gumperz "The ethnography of communication" American Anthropologist (1964)

[38]

10.1037/007084

[39]

Sacks, H. 1972. An initial investigation of the usability of conversational data for doing sociology. In Sudnow, 31–74.

[40]

10.1515/semi.1973.9.1.47

Cited By

8,395

The idiodynamic method as an innovative research tool in L2 motivation

Peter MacIntyre, Nathan Ducker · 2026

Innovation in Language Learning and...

Phonetic Variants of Response Particles o and a in Mandarin Conversations: The Role of Nasalization and Glottalization in Interaction

Wei Wang · 2026

East Asian Pragmatics

A Study on the Social Interpretation of Silence in Virtual Human Interaction: Focusing on the Effects of Silence Duration and Intentionality Cues

Jiyoung Kang · 2026

Journal of Digital Contents Society

Medical information tailoring in somatic care consultations: A scoping review

A. van Ooijen, S.R. Dalhuisen · 2026

Patient Education and Counseling

Making sense of sense-making: The challenge of navigating interactional competence in dementia care

Alison Pilnick, Isabel Windeatt-Harrison · 2026

Communication & Medicine

Language, health and culture: problematizing the centers and peripheries of healthcare communication research

Youzhi Sun, Shenglan Yi · 2026

Asian Journal of Communication

“What the World is Made Up of”: The Chicago School’s Alternates and Laterals in Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis

Jakub Mlynář, Robin James Smith · 2025

The American Sociologist

The Emerging Science of Interacting Minds

Thalia Wheatley, Mark A. Thornton · 2023

Perspectives on Psychological Scien...

Practices in the construction of turns

Cecilia E. Ford, Barbara A. Fox · 2022

Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication o...

Improving Non-Native Speakers' Participation with an Automatic Agent in Multilingual Groups

Xiaoyan Li, Naomi Yamashita · 2022

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Com...

Investigating the user experience of customer service chatbot interaction: a framework for qualitative analysis of chatbot dialogues

Asbjørn Følstad, Cameron Taylor · 2021

Quality and User Experience

Analyser les interactions de travail. Le cas de la surveillance par bracelet électronique

Christian Licoppe, Sylvaine Tuncer · 2020

Sociologie du travail

Linguistic analysis of discourse in aphasia: A review of the literature

Lucy Bryant, Alison Ferguson · 2016

Clinical Linguistics & Phonetic...

What do we mean by prediction in language comprehension?

Gina R. Kuperberg, T. Florian Jaeger · 2015

Language, Cognition and Neuroscienc...

Behavioral Signal Processing: Deriving Human Behavioral Informatics From Speech and Language

Shrikanth Narayanan, Panayiotis G. Georgiou · 2013

Proceedings of the IEEE

Doing scalar politics: interactive scale framing for managing accountability in complex policy processes

Maartje van Lieshout, Art Dewulf · 2012

Critical Policy Studies

Turn Continuation and Clause Combinations

Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen · 2012

Discourse Processes

The Concept of ‘Work’ in CSCW

Kjeld Schmidt · 2011

Computer Supported Cooperative Work...

Professional autonomy in 21st century healthcare: Nurses’ accounts of clinical decision-making

Michael Traynor, Maggie Boland · 2010

Social Science & Medicine

The functional and social reality of discourse variants in a northern English dialect: I DON'T KNOW and I DON'T THINK compared

Heike Pichler · 2009

Intercultural Pragmatics

Metrics

8,395

Citations

40

References

Details

Published: Dec 01, 1974
Vol/Issue: 50(4)
Pages: 696-735
License: View

Authors

Cite This Article

Harvey Sacks, Emanuel A. Schegloff, Gail Jefferson (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50(4), 696-735. https://doi.org/10.2307/412243

A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation

You May Also Like