Moore2008

Moore2008
BibType	ARTICLE
Key	Moore2008
Author(s)	Robert J. Moore
Title	When names fail: Referential practice in face-to-face service encounters
Editor(s)
Tag(s)	EMCA, Reference, Institutional interaction, Gesture, referential practice, service encounter, conversation analysis, video analysis
Publisher
Year	2008
Language	English
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Month
Journal	Language in Society
Volume	37
Number	3
Pages	385-413
URL	Link
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1017/S004740450808055X
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
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Edition
Series
Howpublished
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Abstract

Referential practice – the variety of ways in and through which speakers refer to things in social interaction – involves a range of very different methods. When referring to physical objects or processes in face-to-face interaction, people may choose from a variety of resources, including verbal categories, names, pointing, verbal descriptors, depictive gestures, and prop demonstrations. This raises the question: Under what circumstances do speakers choose particular resources over others? To address this question, this study examines referential practice in a particular kind of face-to-face workplace setting, the service counter of a quick print shop. At the service counter, not only do customers use alternative resources in referring to the document services they want, but these resources appear to be ordered relative to one another in terms of a preference for minimization. In referring to document services, customers first try the most minimal form, the official name, but if that fails or is unknown, customers fall back on more expanded forms of reference, such as pointing or depicting.

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