Berger2020

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Berger2020
BibType ARTICLE
Key Berger2020
Author(s) Łukasz Berger
Title Forms of Talk in Roman Comedy. Reading Plautus and Terence with Goffman and Conversation Analysts
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Goffman, Plays, Participation framework, Footing, Latin
Publisher
Year 2020
Language English
City
Month
Journal Dionysus ex machina
Volume 11
Number
Pages 137-167
URL Link
DOI
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

The paper aims at examining different types of talk represented in the plays by Plautus and Terence. To this end, it combines Goffman’s participation framework with tools of Conversation Analysis, which serve to offer a more nuanced definition of speaking turns and the conversational floor. After discussing several types of footing within comedy dialogues, turns are differentiated from other strands of communicating: side comments (including theatrical asides), self-directed cries and backchannel talk. Moreover, verbal interactions in Plautus and Terence are analysed in relation to their floor structure and the kind of participation they entail for the interlocutors. Finally, the concepts here presented, as argued throughout the paper, help to revisit some of the existing accounts of verbal interaction in Roman comedy.

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