Complaining

Andrea Rodriguez
The University of Queensland
Table of contents

Troubles and their management constitute an underlying component in how human relationships and society are formed and maintained. People spend a considerable amount of time in interaction dealing with internally perceived issues through a wide range of social actions that ultimately lead to problem-solving and bonding (Drew 1998). Examples of social actions subsumed under the umbrella term “troubles-talk” include criticism, complaints, accusations, blamings, and denunciations. Among them, complaints are considered most complex as they may take various courses of action depending on how interlocutors position themselves in relation to the complainable matter, the co-interactant, and the context. Research has demonstrated that different participation frameworks (direct or indirect), contexts (institutional, casual, online talk), and relationships ([a-]symmetrical, close/distant) constrain the way in which interactants introduce, develop, and close complaints. However, while various dimensions and pragmatic features of complaining have been explored separately, a systematic synthesis that delves into these multiple layers to capture its complexity is much needed. Therefore, taking a discursive-pragmatic perspective, this chapter aims to provide a concise overview of research on the interactional dimension of naturally occurring complaints.

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