This section presents another form of resistance to ratify and accept a previously terminated topic that is reinitiated by the chairperson. In this extract, the participants are all engaged in signing the minutes from the previous meeting as well as managing topics of the interaction.
Extract 6.02: It might relax a bit
[00:02:54 – 00:03:28]
130 2. break (.hhh)
((S4 gazes at S3 and S7))
((S3 lifts his head up to look at S4 then nods his head)) ((S7 turns his head and looks at S4))
((S2 is signing the minutes))
((S1 is checking the second minutes after signing them )) 3. S3 °yeah↑ well↓°
4. S4 two days and then (.)straight back into 5. (.)[advanced] hydrodynamics↓ that was fun↓
((S1 and S2 exchanging the minutes to sign)) 6. S3 [°yeah° ]
7. Ss ((laughter))
((S2 laughing while signing)) 8. S4 °yea:h°
9. (4.0)
((S1 passes paper to S4))
10. S7 ((S3 passes paper to S7)) i thought (.)arin used to do °would have done that one°
((S7 gazes at S1))
((S3, S1 and S2 gaze at S7))
((S4 gazes at S7 then quickly looks back at the paper in his hand)) 11. S3 °no°=
12. S1 =he does part of it ((S1 gazes at S7))
((S7 gazes at S1 and nods his head)) ((S2 gazes at S1))
((S6 and S3 look down)) 13. S2
°who did it↑°
((mutual gazing between S2 and S1)) 14. S1 °huh↑°=
((mutual gazing between S2 and S1))
15. S4 =so hopefully it'll er S2 = is that u:m ((S2 gazes at S1))
16.
it might it might relax a S1 (°unclear speech°)
((S2 gazes at S1))
17. bit S2 (°unclear speech°)
131 ((S4 straightens his back and gazes at S7 and S3))
((S3 looks down at the table))
((S7 looks at the paper received earlier from S2 and signs it))
((S2 and S1 are talking to each other)) ((S4 looks down again at the paper received from S1 and sign it))
18. S1 °the same chap↓°
((S1 nods and smiles at S2 while S7 passes paper to S3 then turns to look at S1)) 19. S2 oh aarin or darin=
20. S1 =yeah= 21. S2 =oh
22. S1 yeah no it's er i don't know(unclear speech)= 23. S2 =oh right=
After S4’s (the chairperson) work-related joke and the participants’ orientation to it (see extract 4.06), the recipients treat the shared laughter in line 7, S4’s soft and lengthened °yea:h° in line 8 and the long noticeable gap of 4.0 seconds, as a closing sequence of the work-related joke. As a result, the participants join in a different topic initiated by S7 in line 10. As analysed in the previous extract (4.06), all the participants turn their heads towards S7 and keep gazing at him until he reaches the end of his turn. However, S4 gazes at S7 but quickly shifts his gaze to look back at the document placed in front of him (the paper that he had received from S1) before S7 finishes his turn. The embodied action of gaze withdrawal and looking at the document is signalling S4’s withdrawal from the topic. The rest of the participants’ gaze is directed towards S7. Once S7 receives two SPPs in lines 11 and 12 for
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his FPP, S6, S3 and S4 look down at the documents in front of them, except for S2, who maintains her gaze at S1 (resulting in a mutual gaze) and directs her turn of FPP to him.
What appears to happen in lines 13-15 is that S6, S3 and S7 withdrew from the topic about Arin by withdrawing their gazes and busying themselves with the document. It is only S2 and S1 who continue to develop the topic further. Looking at where the participants are sitting, S2 and S1 are sitting close to each other. Their topic development is observed to be ‘exclusive talk’ between themselves because of the unclear soft low volume speech, which cannot be heard clearly from the recordings (audio and video). Talking in a lower volume than the rest of their utterances indicates the ‘exclusiveness’ of the topic development. The reason for this ‘exclusiveness’ could be that S2 and S1 are displaying prior experience whereby S1 and S2 draw upon their ‘mutually assumed knowledge of one another’s biography’ to occasion talk about the third party (Arin) (Maynard and Zimmerman 1984: 403; see also Stokoe 2000: 192). In line 15, the interaction is split into two sequences, i.e. schisming (Goffman 1963; Sacks et al., 1974). First, between S1 and S2 on one side (with their ‘exclusive talk’). Second, between S4 and the rest of the participants on the other side. This is illustrated below.
S4 straightens his back to self-select a turn in line 15 with a side sequence (Jefferson 1972) within two ongoing sequences of S2 and S1 interacting together, and the potential addressed recipients of S4 engaging in the activity of signing and looking down at their documents. S4’s turn in line 15 (so: hopefully it'll er it might it might relax a bit)is related to his previous topic of the work-related joke in lines 1, 2, 4 and 5. Given that, their weekend was brief and they have to go straight back to work, S4’s work-related turn is not only a joke but is also an outburst of sarcasm complaining about going to work after a brief weekend (‘British stereotype’ to complain about going back to work after the weekend). S4 in line 15 mitigates his sarcasm by hoping that ‘it will relax a bit’ (‘it’ refers to ‘work’). It is unclear whether S4 was attending (listening) to the topic about Arin but he self-selects after S7’s question (FPP) about Arin received an answer (SPP). S4 orients to the ‘exclusiveness’ of S1 and S2’s topic development as ‘exclusive talk’ by not addressing them as recipients. This is evident with S4 not including them in his gaze at the rest of the participants and he did not stop or attend to their ‘exclusive talk’. Once S4 straightens his back to take a turn in line 15 and produces the transition marker (so), he lifts his head to gaze at the potential addressed recipients in front of him (S3 and S7). None of the addressed recipients (not even S6) was attending to S4’s turn. They are all busy engaging with the activity of signing the minutes and checking their documents. S4 does not cut his turn or make any interactional movement or
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work to gain their attention. When S4 gets no response (verbally or non-verbally), he withdraws his gaze to look down at the document and sign it.
S4’s misplacement of his turn within two ongoing sequences resulted in an unsuccessful attempt to reintroduce a topic. Despite gazing at the other participants, which could be to invite a response, the participants show a form of resistance by not orienting to S4’s turn in line 15. S4’s turn gets no uptake by the other, it is not continued by the speaker himself, it is not returned to later in the meeting, and the fact that this topic is abandoned is not given special treatment. S4’s turn in line 15 is ‘doing non-next’ to the prior utterance (Arin), and not at all related to the prior speaker’s immediate talk (Nielsen 2013: 44). The reason and action for S4’s turn is ambiguous. It is not clear if S4’s turn is to re-establish his topic in lines 1, 2, 4 and 5, or if S4’s turn is a pre-closing statement of the MPT. If the participants respond to S4’s statement in line 15, it could have resulted in either developing the topic further or acceptance of the pre-closing statement. It is worth mentioning here that S4 did not show readiness to start the meeting while producing his turn; he was holding his pen and about to continue signing the documents (meeting minutes). In addition, the other participants do not show availability or readiness for the meeting to start either (see extract 5.01 for a continuation of this extract and how the chairperson made a disjunctive topic transition to meeting talk).