Discussing Conversation Analysis: The Work of Emanuel A. Schegloff

"Discussing Conversation Analysis: The work of Emanual A. Schegloff" presents an in-depth view on Schegloff's complex and stimulating work in Conversation Analysis (CA) and offers clear insights into how it has and may be developed further as a research tool in social psychology, social science, artificial intelligence, and linguistics. What is the status of fine-grained empirical studies of human interaction in CA and how does CA relate to other approaches to linguistic interaction? What is Schegloff's contribution to CA and how does his work relate to that of Goffman, Garfinkel, and Sacks? How does CA distinguish its own analytical tools and terms from the categories of the participants in talk? What can CA reveal about human-computer interaction? What can CA contribute to the neurosciences in the study, diagnosis, and treatment of linguistically impaired individuals? How does CA account for the socio-historical dimension of the material and semiotic resources that participants co-deploy in talk? By addressing these and other questions this volume proposes a critical guide to CA and its applications with an extraordinary interview with Emanuel A. Schegloff, and new contributions towards a debate on his work by six commentators - conversation analysts (John Heritage and Charles Goodwin), critics (Rick Iedema and Par Segerdahl) and appliers of CA in the study of human-computer interaction (Pirkko Raudaskoski) and language disorders (Ruth Lesser). Schegloff's Response and a closing discussion with the editors conclude the volume, which also features a comprehensive bibliography of his work edited by Susan Eerdmans.