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Time in Embodied Interaction: Synchronicity and sequentiality of multimodal resources
Edited by Arnulf Deppermann and Jürgen Streeck
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 293] 2018
► pp. 161–202

Chapter 5
Questions on the move

The ecology of question-answer sequences in mobility settings

The paper contributes to the study of complex multimodal Gestalts involving mobile bodies in interaction and to an approach of action formation considering embodiment and the local ecology of the activity. The analyses deal with question-answer sequences in guided visits and provide for a systematic analysis of the interactional space in which they are produced. More specifically, it deals with questions asked when the guide is about to move vs. while the guide is walking ahead, showing different mobile practices making them possible – such as stopping, intercepting, catching up, joining, queuing. It then deals with answers, showing the mobile responsive practices implementing them – such as stopping, moving forward, body-torqueing, walking backwards. These embodied practices are consequential for the type of action accomplished and their participation framework: they configure the question as a public vs. a personal one, recipient oriented to an individual vs. to a group.

Keywords: conversation analysis, multimodality, mobility, walking, action formation, question/answer, participation, ecology
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: issues in multiple temporalities
  • 2.The ecology of questions/answers: when and where to ask questions
  • 3.Asking questions when the group is about to move
    • 3.1Questions after sequence completion, announcement of the walk and incipient walking
    • 3.2Answering: between stopping and progressing
      • 3.2.1 Stopping
      • 3.2.2Stopping vs. continuing to move forward
      • 3.2.3Mobile body torque: double orientation to the previous sequence and to the progressivity of the activity
  • 4. Asking questions on the move
    • 4.1Approaching and creating a new interactional space for the question
      • 4.1.1Intercepting: when the guide has already moved away
      • 4.1.2Catching up: addressing the guide walking ahead
        • 4.1.2.1Joining
        • 4.1.2.2Queuing: engaging after another has disengaged
    • 4.2Answering on the move
      • 4.2.1Answering while walking side by side (vs. not answering by passing by)
      • 4.2.2Answering and walking backwards
        • 4.2.2.1 Walking backwards as a double orientation to responsivity and progressivity
        • 4.2.2.2Walking backwards as occasioning a new sequence and a modification of the participation framework
      • 4.2.3Questions from behind: pivoting back, reconfiguring participation
  • 5.Conclusion
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 13 September 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.293.05mon
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