How is conversation organised? How do we know when it is our turn to talk? How is talk managed so that only one person speaks at a time? Do you know the rules for starting a conversation? Are there any "rules" for closing a conversation? This course will seek to answer these questions by examining everyday interaction. It will examine actual interaction to see how people organize their talk so that only one person talks at a time. It will look at the structure of interaction and examine how  speakers move from one topic to another. This course is relevant for anyone interested in talk-in-interaction and in understanding how we use language within society.

On satisfying the expectations of the course, students should be able to:

1. Collect examples of naturally-occurring everyday conversation.
2. Transcribe examples of naturally-occurring everyday conversation, using conversation analysis transcription conventions.
3. Explain, and argue for, the structural ‘rules' of everyday conversation e.g. rules for ensuring that only one person talks at a time, rules for opening and closing conversations, rules for determining what is a ‘turn at talk' and rules for determining the structural organisation of these turns at talk.
4. Work in a group to analyse how conversations are structured.
5. Think about, write and present an argument using conversation analysis.

12 units (2 Linguistics courses) or permission of the Convenor.

Liddicoat, A. (2007) An Introduction to Conversation Analysis. Continuum.

Psathas, G. (1995) Conversation Analysis: The Study of Talk in Interaction. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

This course can be counted towards an Applied Linguistics, Linguistics major or International Communication major.