{"id":1598,"date":"2011-06-03T22:00:33","date_gmt":"2011-06-03T20:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=1598"},"modified":"2011-06-01T13:04:18","modified_gmt":"2011-06-01T11:04:18","slug":"talk-in-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=1598","title":{"rendered":"Talk in action"},"content":{"rendered":"
Talk in action: <\/strong>Interactions, identities, and institutions. By John Heritage<\/strong> and Steven Clayman<\/strong>. (Language in society series 38.) Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Pp. viii, 312.\u00a0 ISBN 9781405185493<\/a>. $39.95.<\/div>\n

Reviewed by Richard W. Hallett<\/strong><\/a>, Northeastern Illinois University<\/em><\/p>\n

This book is the result of a conversation analysis (CA) course at the University of California at Los Angeles on the topic of talk and social institutions. Its aim is to offer examples of how interactional practices can be analyzed and explained.<\/p>\n

Following Ch 1, \u2018Introduction\u2019 (1\u20133), the main chapters are organized in five parts.\u00a0 Part 1, \u2018Conversation analysis and social institutions\u2019, is comprised of \u00a0Ch. 2, \u2018Conversation analysis: Some theoretical background\u2019 (7\u201319), which briefly discusses the contributions of some linguists to CA and lists the basic assumptions of CA; Ch. 3, \u2018Talking social institutions into being\u2019 (20\u201333), which discusses two views of talk and social context and characterizes adjacency pairs; and Ch. 4, \u2018Dimensions of institutional talk\u2019 (34\u201350), which offers the characteristics and distinctiveness of institutional talk.<\/p>\n

Three chapters constitute Part 2, \u2018Calls for emergency service\u2019. Ch 5, \u2018Emergency calls as institutional talk\u2019 (53\u201368), provides the hallmarks and overall structure of emergency calls. In Ch. 6, \u2018Gatekeeping and entitlement to emergency service\u2019 (69\u201386), the authors note, \u2018Calling 911 is not like ordering a pizza\u2019 (69), and examine callers\u2019 practices in ambiguous and marginal cases. Ch. 7, \u2018Emergency calls under stress\u2019 (87\u2013100), focuses on \u2018hot calls\u2019, i.e. emergency calls in which the caller is highly distraught.<\/p>\n

\u2018Doctor-patient interaction\u2019 is the theme of Part 3. Ch. 8, \u2018Patients\u2019 presentations of medical issues: The doctor\u2019s problem\u2019 (103\u201318), focuses on primary medical care. Ch. 9, \u2018Patients\u2019 presentations of medical issues: The patient\u2019s problem\u2019 (119\u201334), discusses patients\u2019 discourse, i.e. the perceived legitimacy of their medical conditions. Ch. 10, \u2018History taking in medicine: Questions and answers\u2019 (135\u201353), presents four fundamental features of question design. Ch. 11, \u2018Diagnosis and treatment: Medical authority and its limits\u2019 (154\u201369), examines the interactional dynamics of the expression of medical authority.<\/p>\n

Three chapters comprise Part 4, \u2018Trials, juries, and dispute resolution\u2019. Ch. 12, \u2018Trial examinations\u2019 (173\u201385), focuses on witness examinations and jury deliberations during trial. Ch. 13, \u2018Jury deliberations\u2019 (186\u201399), presents a case study, and Ch. 14, \u2018Informal modes of dispute resolution\u2019 (200\u201312), discusses phases of activity, participant roles, agency, and facilitation.<\/p>\n

Part 5, \u2018News and political communication\u2019, consists of four chapters and a conclusion. Ch. 15, \u2018News interview turn taking\u2019 (215\u201326), delves into the complexity of the turn-taking system in interviews. In Ch. 16, \u2018Question design in the news interview and beyond\u2019 (22744), the authors claim that of all the institutions they present in this volume, \u2018the news interview is the most nakedly exposed to the raw processes of social change\u2019 (244). In Ch. 17, \u2018Answers and evasions\u2019 (24562), they offer a vice presidential debate as a case study in resistance and pursuit. They discuss the preference for \u2018lists of three\u2019 in public speeches in Ch. 18, \u2018Interaction en masse: Audiences and speeches\u2019 (263\u201379). In Ch. 19, \u2018Conclusion\u2019 (280\u201382), the authors claim that \u2018Just as the workings of institutions are influenced by the interaction order, so too the interaction order is influenced by the institutional contexts of its implementation\u2019 (280). A set of \u2018Transcript symbols\u2019 (283\u201387) follows the conclusion.<\/p>\n

This volume is a good supplement to courses on CA and language and identity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Talk in action: Interactions, identities, and institutions. By John Heritage and Steven Clayman. (Language in society series 38.) Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Pp. viii, 312.\u00a0 ISBN 9781405185493. $39.95. Reviewed by Richard W. Hallett, Northeastern Illinois University This book is the result of a conversation analysis (CA) course at the University of California at Los Angeles on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1599,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598\/revisions\/1599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}