Using and in conversational interaction

In this article, I examine some features of the word and as used in conversational interaction. Beginning from the perspective of traditional linguistics, I describe how previous attempts to describe grammatical and semantic features of and as a coordinating conjunction do not explain many occurrences in conversation. Discourse-based analyses of and, particularly those that focus on conversational actions that employ and, have been more successful. In this article, I demonstrate that and is frequently used as a device to smooth over certain discontinuities in the discourse that may arise from interactional disjunctures as well as grammatical ones.