Sequence
Table of contents
In conversation, actions are not arranged serially, one after the other, like so many marching penguins but rather come grouped together in various ways. An answer, for instance, responds to a question and the two form together a paired unit. Some of the ways in which actions are grouped together and related to one another so as to form sequences are discussed in what follows. This leads to a consideration of the distinctive way in which understanding is achieved and sustained in conversation. It also leads to an examination of “preference” – a set of biases which operate across a wide range of sequence types.
References
Davidson, J.
1984 Dealing with Potential or Actual Rejection. In J.M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (eds.), Structures of Social Action: 102–128. Cambridge University Press. BoP
Drew, P.
1981 Adults’ Corrections of Children’s Mistakes. In P. French & M. Maclure (eds.), Adult-Child Conversations: 244–267. Croom Helm.
1984 Speakers’ Reportings in Invitation Sequences. In J.M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (eds.), Structures of Social Action: 152–164. Cambridge University Press. BoP
Ehrlich, S. & J. Sidnell
2006 ‘I think that’s not an assumption you ought to make’: Challenging presuppositions in inquiry testimony. Language in Society 35(5): 655–676. 
Goodwin, C. & M.H. Goodwin
1987 Concurrent Operations on Talk: Notes on the Interactive Organization of Assessments. IPrA Papers in Pragmatics 1(1): 1–52.
Goodwin, C. & J. Heritage
Heritage, J.
1984 Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. Polity Press.
Jefferson, G.
1988 On the Sequential Organization of Troubles-Talk in Ordinary Conversation. Social Problems 35(4): 418–441.
Kitzinger, C.
2000 Doing feminist conversation analysis. Feminism and Psychology 10(2): 163–193.
Lerner, G.
2004 Collaborative turn sequences. In G. Lerner (ed.), Conversation analysis: studies from the first generation: 225–256. John Benjamins. BoP
BoPLevinson, S.C.
1983 Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press.
2006 On the human “interactional engine”. In N.J. Enfield & S.C. Levinson (eds.), Roots of Human Sociality: Culture, Cognition and Interaction. Berg.
Pomerantz, A.
1978 Compliment Responses: Notes on the Co-operation of Multiple Constraints. In J. Schenkein (ed.), Studies in the Organization of Conversational Interaction: 79–112. Academic Press. BoP
BoP
1984 Pursuing a Response. In J.M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (eds.), Structures of Social Action: 152–164. Cambridge University Press. BoP
1986 Extreme Case Formulations: A Way of Legitimizing Claims. Human Studies 9: 219–229.
Quirk, R.
Sacks, H.
1975 Everyone Has to Lie. In M. Sanches & B.G. Blount (eds.), Sociocultural Dimensions of Language Use: 57–80. Academic Press. BoP
1987 [1973] On the Preferences for Agreement and Contiguity in Sequences in Conversation. In G. Button & J.R.E. Lee (eds.), Talk and Social Organisation: 54–69. Multilingual Matters. BoP
1995 [1971] Spouse Talk. In G. Jefferson (ed.), Lectures on Conversation, vol. 2: 437–443. Blackwell.
1995 [1965] Rules of conversational sequence. In G. Jefferson (ed.), Lectures on Conversation, vol. 1: 3–11. Blackwell.
1995 [1966] An introduction sequence. In G. Jefferson (ed.), Lectures on Conversation, vol. 1: 281–291. Blackwell.
Sacks, H., E.A. Schegloff & G. Jefferson
1974 A Simplest Systematics for the Organization of Turn-Taking for Conversation. Language 50: 696–735. BoP
BoPSchegloff, E.A.
1972 Notes on a Conversational Practice: Formulating Place. In D. Sudnow (ed.), Studies in Social Interaction: 75–119. Free Press. BoP
1979 Identification and Recognition in Telephone Openings. In G. Psathas (ed.), Everyday Language: 23–78. Erlbaum. BoP
1984 On Some Questions and Ambiguities in Conversation. In J.M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (eds.), Structures of Social Action: 28–52. Cambridge University Press. BoP
1986 The Routine as Achievement. Human Studies 9(2/3): 111–151.
1988 Presequences and Indirection: Applying Speech Act Theory to Ordinary Conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 12(1): 55–62.
1992 Repair after next turn: the last structurally provided for place for the defense of intersubjectivity in conversation. American Journal of Sociology 95(5): 1295–1345.
1995 Introduction. In G. Jefferson (ed.), Harvey Sacks: Lectures on Conversation I: ix–lxii. Blackwell.
1996 Confirming allusions: Toward an empirical account of action. American Journal of Sociology 104(1): 161–216.
2002 Reflections on Research on Telephone Conversation: Issues of Cross-Cultural Scope and Scholarly Exchange, Interactional Import and Consequences. In K.K. Luke & T.-S. Pavlidou (eds.), Telephone Calls: Unity and Diversity in Conversational Structure Across Languages and Cultures: 249–281. John Benjamins.
2007 Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Primer in Conversation Analysis I. Cambridge University Press. BoP
BoPSchegloff, E.A. & H. Sacks
Sidnell, J.
2004 There’s risks in everything: Extreme case formulations and accountability in inquiry testimony. Discourse and Society 15(6): 745–766. BoP
BoP
forthcoming. The design and positioning of questions in Inquiry testimony. In S. Ehrlich & A. Freed (eds.) “Why Do You Ask?”: The Function of Questions in Institutional Discourse Oxford University Press
Terasaki, A.K.
2004 [1976] Pre-announcement sequences in conversation. In G. Lerner (ed.), Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation: 171–223. John Benjamins.
Wootton, A.