The neglected listener

How phenomena are arranged in a transcript always incorporates a theory of the phenomena represented by it. The playscript transcripts of conversation analysis embody a logocentric view of interaction: they arrange interaction around the sequential progress of talk and obscure relations of mutual influence between the speaking behavior of speakers and the listening behavior of listeners. A transcription system that adapts musical scores is better able to capture the embeddedness of talk in interaction and the coordinated timing of instrumental acts that provides an independent resource of interactional organization. In this way it contributes to a renewed effort toward the study of space, time, and visual phenomena in social interaction. The chapter includes examples of  quasi-musical transcription whose notation  shows both the sequential and the simultaneous occurrence of verbal and nonverbal actions of speakers and listeners.

Published online: 18 August 2010
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.196.11eri