Language and Social Institutions: The Conversation Analytic View

This paper considers some of the main lines of development in the application of conversation analysis(CA)to interactions in work settings such as medicine,education,law enforcement,courts,mass media etc.The paper describes some basic differences between ordinary conversational interaction and work-based institutional talk,that center on the range of language practices deployed in the two types of environment,and the forms of social change to which each is subject.Subsequently,six basic dimensions of organization are identified as sites of research on institutional talk:(1)Turn-taking organization;(2)Overall structural organization of the interaction;(3)Sequence organization;(4)Turn design;(5)Lexical choice;(6)Epistemic and other forms of asymmetry.Finally research on the causes of change in institutional language practices,and on the consequences of language practices for the outcomes of interactions is described.