Republic of Iraq

Ministry of Higher Education

and Scientific Research

University of Kerbala

College of Education for Human Sciences

Department of English

Conversation Analysis

Submitted by
Hussein Hassan Rukun

Supervised by
Asst. Prof. Ghanim Juwaiyd al-Saeedy
Conversation Analysis
Introduction
Conversation analysis is an approach to the study of social
interaction and talk. It is the study of the ways in which we discover and
produce meanings in the social context of everyday life. The objective of
this work is to delineate the typographical method in conversation analysis
research with a view to it being extended into a coding system that would
be ultimately useful for automatic speech recognition transcription and
machine translation, grooming conversational search engines for human-
computer interaction. The roots of any analysis come from the notion that
conversation is a system of turn-taking. It is predictable, systematic, and
orderly.
Turns at talk form a sequence, and it is from these conversational
sequences that inferences can be made about the conversationalists and the
situation or context in which the conversation took place. Subtle nuances
through timing of turn-taking and length of turn operate as cues to
conversationalists, signaling when turns begin and end. All these factors
contribute to the study of turn-taking and turn-sequences in conversation
and have implications with structure on conversation at large (Liddicoat,
2021, Wong & Waring, 2020, Steensig, 2020).
A major area of study in the analysis of discourse is conversation analysis.
Conversation analysis is an approach to the analysis of spoken discourse
that looks at the way in which people manage their everyday conversational
interactions. It examines how spoken discourse is organized and develops
as speakers carry out these interactions. Conversation analysis has
examined aspects of spoken discourse such as sequences of related
utterances (adjacency pairs), preferences for particular combinations of
utterances (preference organization), turn taking, feedback, repair,
conversational openings and closings, discourse markers and response

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tokens. Conversation analysis works with recordings of spoken data and
carries out careful and fine-grained analyses of this data.
Background to conversation analysis
Conversation analysis originated in the early 1960s at the University of
California, Los Angeles. It has its origins in the ethnomethodological
tradition of sociology and, in particular, the work of Garfinkel (e.g., 1967)
and Goffman (e.g., 1981). Following on from this work Sacks (e.g., 1992,
2007) and his colleagues developed conversation analysis as:
“An approach to the study of social action which sought to investigate
social order as it was produced through the practices of everyday talk.”
(Liddicoat 2011: 4)
Sacks had a particular interest in the orderly nature of talk and the ways in
which there might be systematic commonalities in spoken interactions that
occur across participants and contexts (Liddicoat 2011).
Conversation analysis started with the examination of telephone calls made
to the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Centre. This work then continued
with the examination of more ‘ordinary’ telephone calls and conversations
and has since been extended to include spoken interactions such as doctor–
patient consultations, legal hearings, news interviews, psychiatric
interviews and interactions in courtrooms and classrooms.
Key Concepts in Conversation Analysis
Some of the key concepts in conversation analysis include:
Turn-taking: The system of rules that governs how people take turns
speaking in a conversation.
Topic management: The way that people introduce, develop, and change
topics of conversation.
Repair: The process of fixing misunderstandings that occur in
conversation.

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Preference organization: The way that speakers signal their preferences
for different conversational outcomes.
Speech acts: The actions that speakers perform with their words, such as
making requests, giving orders, or offering apologies.
1.3 Scope and Limitations of Conversation Analysis
Conversation analysis is a powerful tool for understanding how
communication works in everyday life. However, it also has some
limitations.
Focus on spoken language: CA primarily focuses on spoken language,
and may not be as well-suited for analyzing other forms of communication,
such as written communication or nonverbal communication.
Limited generalizability: The findings of conversation analysis may not
be generalizable to all cultures or communication contexts.
Complexity of analysis: Conversation analysis can be a complex and
time-consuming process.
Analytical Techniques in Conversation Analysis
Conversation analysts use a variety of techniques to analyze conversations.
Some of the most common techniques include:
Sequence analysis: This technique involves looking at the order in which
different conversational elements occur.
Conversational openings and closings: Conversation analysts are interested
in how conversations are opened and closed.
Preference organization: This technique involves looking at how
speakers signal their preferences for different conversational outcomes.
Repair: Conversation analysts are interested in how misunderstandings are
repaired in conversation.

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Ethical Considerations in Conversation Analysis
There are a number of ethical considerations that need to be taken into
account when conducting conversation analysis research. These
considerations include:
Informed consent: Participants in the study should be informed about the
purpose of the study and how their data will be used.
Confidentiality: The identities of the participants in the study should be
kept confidential.
Anonymity: In some cases, it may be appropriate to anonymize the data.

Applications of Conversation Analysis

Conversation analysis has a wide range of applications in communication
studies. Here are a few examples:
Interpersonal communication: CA can be used to study how people
communicate with friends, family, and romantic partners.
Organizational communication: CA can be used to study how
communication works in organizations, such as in meetings or
presentations.
Mass communication: CA can be used to study how news media, social
media, and other forms.

CONVERSATIONAL STYLE
Conversational style is divided by two categories according to the speaker
(Yule, 1996a):
a. High involvement style Speakers icipation in a conversation will be
very active, that speaking rate will be relatively fast, with almost no
pausing between turns, and with some overlap or even completion of the
other‘s turn.

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b. High considerateness style. Speakers use a slower rate, expect longer
pauses between turns, do not overlap, and avoid interruption or completion
of the other‘s turn.
ASPECTS OF CONVERSATION ANALYSIS
1. Opening and Closing
Opening and closing is an important part in conversation shown in pairs of
utterances. According to Paltridge (2000: 86), “openings and closings in
conversations are often carried out in typical ways.” They are also context
and speech-event specific. For example, how we open a conversation at the
bus stop is very different from how we do it on the telephone. Openings
and closings often make use of pairs of utterances (adjacency pairs), such
as: „Hi‟, „How are you‟ and „Bye‟, „See you later‟, which are often not
meant to be 40 taken literally. Closings are often preceded by pre-closings,
such as: „Okay‟, „Good‟, statements such as „Well, it‟s been nice talking
to you‟ or „Anyway, I‟ve got to go now‟, and an accompanying fall in
intonation.
2. Turn Taking
The definition of turn taking based on (Yule, 1996a) is the change of
speaker during conversation. Conversation analysis has also examined how
people take and manage turns in spoken interactions. The basic rule in
English conversation is that one person speaks at a time, after which they
may nominate another speaker, or another speaker may take up the turn
without being nominated (Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson 1974, Sacks
2004). The point in a conversation where a change of turn is possible is
called Transition Relevance Place (TRP).
There are a number of ways in which we can signal that we have come to
the end of a turn. This may be through the completion of a syntactic unit,
or it may be through the use of falling intonation, then pausing. We may
also end a unit with a signal such as ‘mmm’ or ‘anyway’, etc. which signals

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the end of the turn. The end of a turn may also be signaled through eye
contact, body position and movement and voice pitch.
By contrast, we may hold on to a turn by not pausing too long at the end of
an utterance and starting straight away with saying something else. We
may also hold on to a turn by pausing during an utterance rather than at the
end of it. We may increase the volume of what we are saying by extending
a syllable or a vowel, or we may speak over someone else’s attempt to take
our turn.
Turn taking, then, varies according to particular situations. In a classroom,
for example, it is often the teacher who nominates who can take a turn. A
student may, or may not respond, or students may compete to take the turn
(as in the example above). Students may also put up their hand to ask
permission to take a turn. Turn taking may also depend on factors such as
the topic of the conversation, whether the interaction is relatively
cooperative, how well the speakers know each other and the relationship
between, and relative status of, the speakers (Burns and Joyce 1997).
Turn taking involves three basic strategies
1. taking the floor which means the response from the listener to give
comment or to answer the current speaker’s question which consists of ,
starting up, which means the beginning of conversation.
talking over, which means take a turn to speak.
interruption ,which means the speaker do not want to wait until the TRP.
overlapping , means that a participant talk in a time together.

2. Holding the floor, means to carry out on talking , the

participant who hold the floor has the right to bring conversation as
much as he wants.
3. yielding the floor, means give a turn to the next speaker to
yield someone the turn can use a question and a statement .

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3. Adjacency Pairs
Adjacency pairs are a fundamental unit of conversational organization and
a key way in which meanings are communicated and interpreted in
conversations. Adjacency pairs are a basic feature of conversation analysis
that is very important for conversation openings and closings, as they are
used in both of them. Adjacency pairs are utterances produced by two
successive speakers in a way that the second utterance is identified as
related to the first one as an expected follow-up to that utterance.
Doctor: Are you sleeping well?
Patient: No, not at all.

Teacher: What is the capital of Italy?

Pupil: Rome, Miss.

Adjacency pairs across cultures

It is important to point out that what is an expected follow-up to a
seemingly everyday utterance in one language and culture might be quite
different in another. Be´al’s (1992) study of communication problems in a
workplace setting between French and English speakers provides an
example of this. Be´al found that the French workers often responded to
the everyday greeting ‘Did you have a good weekend?’ by stopping and
telling the English-speaking workers all about their weekend. The English-
speaking workers were irritated by this and did not realize that a French
speaker would not ask this question if they did not want a real (and
complete) answer. They did not realize, further, that this is not a typical
question French speakers would ask each other in an everyday
conversational situation and, even though they sometimes responded by
telling them about their weekend, they also saw the question as an invasion

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of their privacy. Expected follow-ups in the use of adjacency pairs, then,
vary across language and cultures.

Adjacency pairs and stage of the conversation

The particular context and stage of the conversation are especially
important for assigning an utterance the status of a particular pair part. For
example, ‘Hello’ can perform many different functions in a conversation.
It can be a summons in a telephone call and it can be response to a summons
in a telephone call. It can also be a way of greeting someone in the street,
although clearly not the only way. An utterance such as ‘thanks’ equally
can be a response to a compliment, a congratulation or a response to an
offer of service. An utterance, thus, may play more than one role in a
conversation.

There are many kinds of Adjacency Pairs

1. Requesting - Agreement :Requesting is asking someone to do
something which can be responded with acceptance or refusal.
e.g.: A: “Would you mind to close the door?” B: “Of course.”
2. Assessment-agreement :Assessment can be formed into opinion seek
or comment, which is asking another‟s opinion or agreement. It is
responded with agreement or called opinion provide.
e.g.: A: “What do you think about that kitten?”
B: “So cute.”
3. Question-answer: Question can be formed into information seek,
clarification seek, etc. It is about asking something to someone. It is
responded with information provide, clarification provide, etc.
e.g.: A: “Where do you live?”
B: “I live in London.”

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4. Compliment-acceptance Compliment is the way of praising another
person about something he or she has. It is responded with acceptance.
e.g.: A: “What a nice cloth?”
B: “Oh, thanks.
5. Greeting-greeting :The way of saying hello and salutation
e.g.: A: “Hi!
B: “Hello!
6. Leave taking adjacency pair: The utterances which is have purpose to
end the conversation.
e.g.: A: “See you.
B: “See you .
7. Complaint-apology :Complaint is utterances which indicate feeling
unsatisfied about something. However, apology is the way to response the
complaint, which expresses regretfulness.
e.g.: A: “This food is too salty.
B: ―I‘m sorry, sir. I‘ll give you another one.
8. Warning-acknowledgement: Warning is utterances to warn someone
about something. While acknowledgement is statements which show that
the warning is already acceptable.
e.g.: A: “Beware of the hole in the street.
B: ―Okay. Thank you.
9. Blame-denial Blame: is utterances that express that someone is
responsible about the mistake. Denial is statement to say that something is
not true.
e.g.: A: ―You lose the key, don‘t you?
B: ―No. I don‘t .
10. Threat - counter-threat, etc :Threat is utterances that indicate the
intension of harm. However, counter threat is utterances that express the
defeat of someone‟s threat.

9
e.g.: A: ―You got to get out of here or I‘ call the security.
B: ―No, I won‘t.
11. Offer-Acceptance: Offer is utterances which giving something to
someone, it may be in the form of goods or services. Acceptance is
response indicates that the offer is accepted.
e.g.: A: ―Here is your book.
B: ―Thanks a lot .

Initiating Act
According to Stenstrom (1994: 39) initiating act is the signal of what the
speaker wishes to open the exchange. Initiation can be in the form of
making a statement, asking a question, and putting forward a request.

1. Question
Question is the act of asking information or confirmation and expected to
be answered. It can be sub classified according to
WH questions
Yes / No questions
Tag questions

2 Statement
Statement is the act of supplying information and expected to be
acknowledged. To state means to put into words. Statement can be of two
kinds :
Inform
Inform presents neutral information. They are typically realized by a
declarative utterance.

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E.g. A: I mean I I. The very first person I met before lunch was … The
utterances that A has produced are purely informative because A tells the
truth of the fact.

Opine
Opine is expression of the speaker‟s personal opinion, his/her feelings and
attitudes.
E.g. I think to myself I don‘t care whatever they‘re sort of …. Particular
devoted or not. They‘re so lovely I think. In the example above, the very
beginning, I think to myself, is the first clue that expresses the opinion.
Moreover, I think in the last utterance emphasizes that this is a question of
the speaker‟s opinion.

Request
Request is the act of asking the speaker to do something or to the addressee
to do something and expect to be accepted. There are two categories of
request, which are action request and permission request.
1. Action request Action request is the act of telling somebody to do
something
E.g. A: could you give me another recommendation?
B: oh yes Action request is realized by interrogative, declarative, and
imperative utterances.
E.g. Interrogative: Could you give an example?
Declarative: I want you to get back as quickly as you can
Imperative: Give it to him!
2. Permission request Permission request is the act for a go a-head E.g.
A: can I smoke in here David?
B: yes of course old fellow

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Permission request is also realized by interrogative, declarative, and
imperative utterances like the action request does.
E.g. Interrogative: May I read your message?
Declarative: I would like, if I may, to turn to two points.
Imperative: Let me finish

1. Responding Act
According to Stenstrom (1984) responding act is the signal what the
addressee wishes to continue or terminate the exchange. The way people
respond is a result of what has been done in the initiating move. If the
previous speaker made a statement, the addressee will have to respond to
it by acknowledging, agreeing or objecting the statement; if s/he asked a
question, the addressee will have to respond to it by complying, implying,
supplying, evading or disclaiming the question; if s/he made a request, the
addressee will have to respond it by accepting, evading or rejecting the
request from the speaker.

Responding to Question
1. Comply: answering directly and adequately to a question.
E.g. A: when is it? B: four thirty tomorrow.
2. Imply: the act of giving adequate information implicitly.
E.g.
A: do you want people to come to the registry office?
B: not many
3. Supply: Supply is part of answer, which gives inadequate information.
It does not really answer the question or does not give a clear answer.
E.g.
A: was he a personal friend of yours?
B: mmm… well… eee…he used to be my tutor.

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4. Evade: Evade is part of answer in which it is avoiding answering
consciously.
E.g.
A: mm well have you any other suggestions?
B: well he didn‘t give me any.
5. Disclaim declares that the answer remains unknown.
E.g.
A: what happens if anybody breaks in and steals it? Are we covered or …
B: mmm—I don‘t know quite honestly.
Responding to statement
When a speaker makes a statement, she/he expects a reply signaling some
kind of reaction. There are three subcategories of the reply, which are,
acknowledge, agree and object.
1. Acknowledge to inform and opine. Acknowledge is the signal that B
accepts what A said as a valid contribution to the conversation.
E.g A: I haven‘t got any marks B: oh
2. Agreeing to inform and opine Agree is the indication that B approves
what A means. If A just provides information, there is no need for B to do
more than approve and let a go on.
A: …. I‘m seeking if Methuen will stump up any money to cover the
Man‘s time .B: Good ---
3. Objecting to inform and opine.
Object is the signal that B does not agree with A. it would be impossible to
say that B agrees to everything A said. It would either give the impression
that B did not have an opinion of her/his own, or that s/he either did not
have anything to conversation . A: I always thought they got on well
together both have strong wills. B: yes but Milord... mmm
Responding to request

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Request can be responded to by a positive responding act and a negative
responding act. Accepting, being a positive action is no big problem. On
the other hand, rejecting being a negative action, often requires tact and
diplomacy.
1. Accept :Accepting is an act that is fully satisfactory
E.g. A: and also could you get some cheese please? B: I‘ll get some. Yes.
2. Evade Evade is unable to do what the speaker requests by giving the
reason why, but not answering in plain words.
E.g. A: could you see what‘s still to come Fanny. Cos I think they … there
are two performances of each one. B: trouble is I don‘t regularly have a
paper it doesn‘t get delivered. So I sometimes buy one and …
3. Reject Reject is the act of disagreeing what the speaker‟s request.
Usually, reject is often followed by a justification of giving the reason why
E.g. A: can you pick your own trousers up? B: no. I don‘t think it‘ll. Likely
I‘ve got this … meeting at three thirty.

5. Topic Management
Topic management is one of the important aspects of conversation. In
doing the conversation, how the speaker maintains the topic is related to
the social culture where the speaker appears. “Topic management also
includes an awareness of how speakers deal with changes in a topic, how
they maintain a topic, and how they repair the interaction when a
misunderstanding occurs”, Burns and Joyce in Paltridge (2000:94).

6. Feedback
Another aspect of spoken interactions that has been examined by
conversation analysts is the ways speakers provide each other with
feedback; that is, the ways in which listeners show they are attending to
what is being said. This can be done, for example, by the use of ‘response

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tokens’ such as ‘mmm’ and ‘yeah’, by paraphrasing what the other person
has just said or through body position and the use of eye contact.
Feedback varies cross-culturally. For example, a common feedback token
in Japanese is „hi‟ which, taken literally, means „yes‟. However, in
Japanese interactions the use of this feedback token does not necessarily
mean agreement as „yes‟ might in English, but rather, simply, „I am
listening to what you are saying‟, much as „uh huh‟ might in English
(Paltridge 2000: 95).

7. Repair
Repair is a correction of what has been said by the speaker about the
previous statement they said during the conversation. There are two types
of repair, self repairs and other repairs (Paltridge 2000: 95). Self repairs
are repairs done by speaker about what has been said before. Nevertheless,
other repairs are repairs done by another speaker as interlocutor. For
example, we might correct what we have said
(self repair) as in: A: I‟m going to the movies… I mean the opera.
Or the other person might repair what we have said (other repair)
A: I‟m going to that restaurant we went to last week. You know the Italian
one Ratalui?
B: You mean Ratatui, don‟t you?

References
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Steensig, J. (2020). Conversation analysis and affiliation and alignment.
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[Link]
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