ATLAS OF LANGUAGE

Contextual explanation · NAV-G03-011

Conversation analysis

This explanation addresses the term in its originating context. It is not an additional canonical Atlas profile.

Explanation

Analysis of conversation is used here as a broad description of research on spoken interaction. Its questions, data and evidential procedures depend on the approach adopted. Conversation Analysis is a specific tradition within this wider setting, particularly concerned with sequential organisation and participants' own displayed orientations. The existing Atlas profile for Conversation Analysis is therefore linked without treating the broader German label as its exact equivalent. The reference from feedback signal makes the distinction practical: a brief “mm-hm” cannot be assigned a function solely from its sound.

Movement of thought

1. Specify the research question. 2. Name the data and analytical tradition. 3. Examine a contribution in its local environment. 4. Test alternative interpretations of its function. 5. Limit the conclusion to what the evidence supports.

Example

The same “mm-hm” may function differently after a question and during an extended telling. Position and subsequent response matter.

Counter-test

A transcript with speaker labels is not yet an explanation of interactional organisation.

Scientific use case

Studies should disclose transcription conventions, data selection and the reasoning connecting observation to interpretation.

Effect

Naming the method clarifies which conclusions the evidence can support.

Resonance

A small signal gains definition from what precedes it and what follows.

Distinction

Do not equate this broad label with Conversation Analysis, discourse analysis or content analysis.

Sources