Download (23MB) - University of Salford Institutional Repository

support of proffered positive clams is evidenced in LM's successive well's'
immediately following KM's contradiction which temporarily destabilises her as a
fully functioning conversational participant (something which might well be
conceived of as a temporary state of 'alignment shock').
As I argued above however, the consequences for the sociable
equilibrium of this non-ratification of positive alignment are not detrimental in
that sociability continues past his point in the gathering, and includes
subsequent periods of both positive and negative alignment with the sociable
ethos remaining - conversationally at least - intact. What'Other Cultures'
clearly demonstrates is that non-ratification of proffered claims can be achieved
as part and parcel of the routine playing out of sociable conversation.
In German sociable conversation, as one would expect, non-ratification
of solidaric claims also occurs. Strangely - and this can be perhaps attributed to
preferred conversational style in general -n on-ratifi cation of proffered solidaric
claims appears a more routinised affair. As a result German conversational ists
seem better equipped (at least conversationally) to deal with it. Due to the
predominance of objective discussion as part and parcel of German
conversational style, non-ratification of a solidaric self usually involves a
rejection of a proposition made by any given participant and often leads onto
what is manifest conversationally as disagreement. Sequentially speaking - and
this is essential to understanding why German sociable conversation 'pans out'
the way it does compared to its English counterpart - converse to English
sociable conversation, rather than collectively and collaboratively pursuing
solidarity, non-ratification of positive claims usually marks the beginning of
extended disagreement episodes and a period of extended or enhanced
negative alignment. A nice example of German non-ratification and non-support
of a positive claim occurs in the following episode.
Excerpt 6.8 'beim Einkaufen'
The immediately preceding talk has been about similar experiences of having to
queue in mutually known supermarkets
HB: Bei Aldi habe ich mich oft drüber geärgert ich >sage mir was soll das<
1 A4