Verbal and bodily practices for addressing trouble associated with embodied moves in game play

We provide a first systematic account of how interactants manage trouble that is not localizable in talk but rather in embodied conduct in table-top game play. Interventions targeting embodied problems have been termed “remedial actions” (Lerner and Raymond 2021) or “remedies” (Arminen and Auvinen 2013: 19). Focusing on game-playing interactions in German and English, we show that remedial actions addressing a coparticipant’s prior embodied move, or the absence of a move, as troublesome can take one of three different forms: they can be embodied, verbal, or a combination thereof. We show a systematic link between the form of remedial action and the type of trouble addressed: Remedial actions that are exclusively embodied address deviations from shared playing practices, typically involving problems with game piece placement. Exclusively verbal remedial actions address violations of codified game rules such as premature moves. Remedial actions that combine verbal and embodied resources target established practices or formal rules but accomplish additional actions, for example doing teaching or reproaching. By highlighting the systematic interplay between talk and embodiment, our study contributes to a new, multimodal perspective in Interactional Linguistics.