Language and Social Interaction

'Norm Violation' as Analytic Construct: A Lesson from the Field

In the light of the author's recent ethnographic investigation of the cultural meaningfulness of the term 'hate speech' (gyűlöletbeszéd) in Hungary, this paper investigates the implications of the use of the concept of norm violation as analytic construct.

'What Happened'? An Epistemics of Before and After in Police Questioning

When police arrive at the scene of a possible crime or accident, they make inquiries of participants to determine what sort of prior events have transpired to lead up to the situation.

What is the Status of 'Status'? Understanding the Action of Soliciting an Update On Equipment being Repaired

This paper uses conversation analysis to examine simple status solicitation calls to customer-service agents in an electronics-repair organization, and what participants constitute as an adequate response to these solicitations.