Interaction & Constructions

Abstract

In this article, I observe how a construction emerges, through a method of turn construction which I call recycling with différance, in an informal conversation between four peers. Basing myself on a detailed analysis of the social impact of the turns at talk through which the construction emerges, I argue that a construction never substitutes for or absorbs a series of individual turns, but is a socially negotiated interim structuring of these turns. As such, it is potentially open to new modifications and new uses, which, however, also have to be socially negotiated.

There’s a piece that was torn from the morning

And it hangs in the gallery of frost

Leonard Cohen: Take this waltz

In this article, I explore what can be learnt from observations in the wild, i.e. observations of how constructions are created and maintained in ordinary conversation.