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In:How Emotions Are Made in Talk
Edited by Jessica S. Robles and Ann Weatherall
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 321] 2021
► pp. 51–76

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Chapter 1.2
Affect in interaction

Working out expectancies and responsibility in a phone call

ORCiD logo with link | University at Albany, SUNY
ORCiD logo with link | University at Albany, SUNY
Published online: 12 May 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.321.02heb
Abstract
Affect refers to the public display of emotions and feelings. Affect displays occur in various ways, including response cries (Goffman 1978, 1981), laughter/crying, lexical choice, vocal intonation and prosody, timing and embodied actions performed in the production of utterances and other actions (cf. Hepburn 2004; Hepburn and Potter 2007; Potter and Hepburn 2010; Ruusuvuori 2007). Using CA, close examination of a telephone call reveals that affect marks differences in expectancies between interlocutors as problematic. When expectancies arise as problematic, participants work to (a) identify what misalignments may exist between participants’ expectancies, (b) assess the severity of the misalignment(s), (c) assign accountability and responsibility for the “consequent event” (Pomerantz 1978: 119) that serves as evidence of the misalignment, and (d) work to establish an alternative set of aligned expectancies. We suggest that affect displays are one way of explicitly foregrounding misalignments regarding the moral organization of participation in social interaction.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Analysis of a telephone call
    • 2.1Marking the breach
    • 2.2Exposing the breach
    • 2.3Escalation
    • 2.4De-escalation
  • 3.Discussion
  • Notes
  • References
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Cited by (2)

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2025. Negotiating Moral Responsibility for Remedying Troubles. In Morality in Discourse, ► pp. 66 ff. DOI logo
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