Chapter 2: CONVerSatION aNaLYSIS FUrther reaDING

Chapter 2:  CONVERSATION ANALYSIS FURTHER READING For a brief but detailed introduction to CA see Pragmatics (Levinson 1983: Chapter 6). For fairly gentle introductions see Analysing Talk: Investigating Verbal Interaction in English (Langford 1994), Everyday Conversation (Nofsinger 1991), The Language of Conversation (Pridham 2001) or Conversation Analysis: The Study of Talk-­in-Interaction (Psathas 1995). In class we use Conversation Analysis: Principles, Practices and Applications (Hutchby and Wooffitt 2008) which is very readable. The same is true of An Introduction to Conversation Analysis (Liddicoat 2007). We also use Doing Conversation Analysis: A Practical Guide (ten Have 2007) which, while slightly harder to read, does deliver exactly what it promises in its title. If you read only one journal article, it really should be Sacks et al.’s classic (1974) paper on ‘A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-­taking for conversation’ (a 1978 version of this paper can be found in Schenkein 1978), however, the most excellent contribution that we chose to put in our Reader (➔ R1.1) was Sacks’ 1987 chapter ‘On the preferences for agreement and contiguity in sequences in conversation’. Two really excellent collections of readings in CA can be found in The Handbook of Conversation Analysis (edited by Sidnell and Stivers 2013) and the four volume set Conversation Analysis (edited by Drew and Heritage 2006). Two really excellent websites must also be mentioned. The first is maintained by Paul ten Have (➔ W2.1). The second is the home page of Schegloff (➔ W2.2). Finally, if the analysis of talk really excites you and you want to take things further still, then you should pick up a copy of Sacks’ (1995) Lectures on Conversation – if only to feel the weight!