Cover not available

In:Language and Food: Verbal and nonverbal experiences
Edited by Polly E. Szatrowski
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 238] 2014
► pp. 53–76

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

The structural organization of ordering and serving sushi

Published online: 10 January 2014
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.238.03kur
This paper explores the overall structural organization of dining activity by analyzing conversations videotaped in sushi restaurants in Japan. It illustrates that a single dining activity at a sushi restaurant has a structural organization that is composed of three phases: (1) an opening, (2) a continuing state of incipient ordering/ talk, and (3) a closing, which has a reference to the single overall unit of dining. These phases are constructed and delimited by conversational practices with bodily orientation through which dining parties demonstrate their orientation to the overall organization. This paper contributes to our understanding of people’s fine-tuned coordination through body and talk by utilizing projection and recognition of the other’s actions as a resource.
References (22)
References
Drew, P. and Heritage, J. (1992). Analyzing talk at work: An introduction . InPaul Drew and John Heritage, (Eds.) Talk at Work (pp. 3–65). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goffman, E. (1963). Behavior in public places: Notes on the social organization of gatherings . New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goodwin, C. (1981). Conversational organization: Interaction between speakers and hearers . New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2000). Action and embodiment within situated human interaction. Journal of Pragmatics 32 , 1489–522.
(2007). Participation, stance, and affect in the organization of activities. Discourse and Society , 18(1), 53–73. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hara, Y., Yamauchi, Y., Yamakawa, Y., Fujisawa, J., Ohshima, H., & Tanaka, K. (2012). How Japanese traditional “Omonpakari” services are delivered—a multidisciplinary approach. Unpublished manuscript.
Hayano, K. (2011). Claiming epistemic primacy: Yo-marked assessments in Japanese. InT. Stivers, L. Mondada and J. Steensig (Eds.), The morality of knowledge in conversation (pp. 58–81). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heritage, J. (2002). The limits of questioning: Negative interrogatives and hostile question content. Journal of Pragmatics , 34, 1427–1446. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuroshima, S. (2010a). Another look at the service encounter: Progressivity, intersubjectivity, and trust in a Japanese sushi restaurant. Journal of Pragmatics , 42, 856–869. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010b). Ordering sushi: The intersection of linguistic form, culture and social setting in the United States and Japan . (Doctoral Dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles).
Lerner, G. H. (2003). Selecting the next speaker: The context-sensitive operation of a context-free organization. Language in Society , 32(2), 177–201. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nishizaka, A. (2006). What to learn: The embodied structure of the environment. Research on Language and Social Interaction , 39(2), 119–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robinson, J. D. (1998). Getting down to business: Talk, gaze, and body orientation during openings of doctor-patient consultations. Human Communication Research , 25(1), 97–123. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robinson, J. & Heritage, J. (2005). The structure of patients' presenting concerns: The completion relevance of current symptoms. Social Science and Medicine , 61(2), 481–493. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schegloff, E. A. (1968). Sequencing in conversational openings. American Anthropologist , 70(6), 1075–1095. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1988). Body torque. Social Research , 65(3), 535–596.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2002). On ‘opening sequencing’: A framing statement. InJ.E. Katz & M. Aakhus (eds.), Perpetual contact: Mobile communication, private talk, public performance (pp. 321–325). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). Sequence organization in interaction: A primer in conversation analysis: . Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schegloff, E. A., & Sacks, H. (1973). Opening up closings. Semiotica , 8(4), 289–327. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schegloff, E. A., Jefferson, G., & Sacks, H. (1977). The preference for self-correction in the organization of repair in conversation. Language , 53, 361–382. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Takagi, T. (2007). Soogokooi tituzyo sooti to site no ‘eeto’ [‘Eeto’ as an interactional ordering device]. Tuda Aoi kyoozyu taikan kinen ronbunsyuu [Papers in honor of Dr. Aoi Tuda] (pp. 327–342). Tokyo: Eihosha.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zimmerman, D. (1992). The interactional organization of calls for emergency service. InJ. Heritage & P. Drew (Eds.), Talk at work (pp. 418–469). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Szatrowski, Polly
2022. How is laughter used to create and reinforce food attitudes in Japanese Dairy Taster Brunch conversations. Journal of Japanese Linguistics 38:1 ► pp. 5 ff. DOI logo
Li, Xiaoting
2019. Negotiating Activity Closings with Reciprocal Head Nods in Mandarin Conversation. In Embodied Activities in Face-to-face and Mediated Settings, ► pp. 369 ff. DOI logo
Karrebæk, Martha Sif, Kathleen C. Riley & Jillian R. Cavanaugh
2018. Food and Language: Production, Consumption, and Circulation of Meaning and Value. Annual Review of Anthropology 47:1 ► pp. 17 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2015. Sensory Adjectives in the Discourse of Food [Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research, 16], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue