Sacks1979

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Sacks1979
BibType INCOLLECTION
Key Sacks1979
Author(s) Harvey Sacks, Emanuel A. Schegloff
Title Two preferences in the organization of reference to persons in conversation and their interaction
Editor(s) George Psathas
Tag(s) EMCA, Preferences, Person Reference
Publisher Irvington
Year 1979
Language
City New York
Month
Journal
Volume
Number
Pages 15–21
URL
DOI
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title Everyday Language: Studies in Ethnomethodology
Chapter

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Abstract

In conversation, persons have occasion to refer toother persons. Sacks and Schegloff examine here two preferences in such references. The first, minimization, involves use of a single reference form and the second, recipient design, involves the preference for recognitionals, e.g. name. Names may be used not only because the person is known but also in preparation for subsequent use in the conversation even when the person is not already known by the recipient/hearer. When recognition is in doubt, a recognitional with an accompanying (questioning) upward intonational contour, followed by a briefpause (or try- marker) may be used. The argument advanced by the authors is that members' uses of these, and succeeding try-markers in sequences, provide evidence for the preferential structure of effortsto achieve recognition in reference to other persons in the course of a conversation. Thus, the close examination of members' conversational interaction can reveal not only the organized, methodical practices they use, but also the structure of preferred solutions to particular problems that arise in conversation.

Notes

Reprinted in: N.J. Enfield and T. Stivers, eds. Person Reference in Interaction: Linguistic, Cultural and Social Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 23-28