In:Storytelling across Japanese Conversational Genre
Edited by Polly E. Szatrowski
[Studies in Narrative 13] 2010
► pp. 211–238
Chapter 7. Telling about experiences in three-party survey interviews
“Second stories” within the interview participatory framework
Published online: 29 September 2010
https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.13.11ch7
https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.13.11ch7
This paper analyzes cases in which respondents answered questions in
semi-structured three-party interviews with consecutive stories about
similar experiences. In each interview a researcher asked two respondents
questions for a sociolinguistic survey. In particular, we investigate how
the respondents tell “second stories” and interact with each other, while
accommodating to the participatory framework of the survey interview. The
analysis shows that “second stories” can contribute to the respondents’
mutual understanding and interpersonal involvement even in survey interviews
despite differences between this genre and casual conversations. We
demonstrate that the interaction during the “second stories” is
qualitatively different from the direct verbal and nonverbal exchanges
between the two respondents and the interviewer. Furthermore, the
participatory framework of the interview discourse influenced the
respondents’ strategies and story design in significant ways. For example,
the respondents designed their stories so as to make them worth telling as
answers to the interview question or as a contribution to the overall topic
of the interview. We conclude that the interview participatory framework
operates not as a static, restrictive rule, but rather as a resource that
can be used in the talk-in-interaction.
