Maynard1980
| Maynard1980 | |
|---|---|
| BibType | ARTICLE |
| Key | Maynard1980 |
| Author(s) | Douglas W. Maynard |
| Title | Placement of topic changes in conversation |
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| Tag(s) | EMCA, Topic, Topic management |
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| Year | 1980 |
| Language | English |
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| Month | |
| Journal | Semiotica |
| Volume | 30 |
| Number | 3-4 |
| Pages | 263–290 |
| URL | Link |
| DOI | 10.1515/semi.1980.30.3-4.263 |
| ISBN | |
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Abstract
Recent work in conversational analysis suggests, (..) that topicality is an achievement of conversationalists, something organized and made observable in patterned ways that can be described. Thus, attention is directed to the structure whereby topicality is produced in conversation. (...) Although conversational turns by and large exhibit understanding of prior utterances, there are places where a current utterance may not display a relationship to, or may not fit with, a prior one. A class of such utterances can be considered as topic changes; they are unrelated to the talk in prior turns in that they utilize new referents, and thus they implicate and occasion a series of utterances constituting a different line of talk. Topic changes (..) are not random happenings; they occur in specific environments and in characterizable ways. This paper considers topic change as a solution to a problem of unsuccessful transfer of speakership. The work that conversationalists do to produce continuous topical talk and how such work sometimes fails will be described (..) When topic talk does falter in these characterizable ways, topic changes regularly get utilized to restore a state of continuous talk. Certain formal features of the utterances that implicate a topic change will be discussed (..).
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