Institut for Nordiske Studier og Sprogvidenskab, Københavns Universitet
Abstract
It is a well-known phenomenon that participants orient to several things, people or topics within conversations. Sometimes, this can develop into what Maria Egbert (1993) calls schisming, namely when a single conversation diverges into several conversations that are not necessarily dependent on each other. This paper takes a conversation analytic approach to showing how some participants in a conversation (three members of a study group in this case) can create and take part in two different conversations, which are both dependent on the main conversation. Furthermore, it shows that participants create these subordinate conversations through intersubjective processes and contextualization of their roles and relationships. Lastly, it suggests and discusses a new phenomenon similar to the notion of schisming that we call primary and secondary conversational tracks/sequences, and how it can be further investigated in talk in interaction
