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One aspect of the chairperson’s role is to take responsibilities for ensuring the agenda is fully covered in the time available (Holmes and Stubbe, 2003). This involves moving the co- participants back to the agenda topics during the action of topic transition. In this data, topic control strategy is typically signalled verbally and nonverbally by a firm and explicit

statement.

The following extract shows how S4, S7 and S1 are involved in topic negotiation sequence of S7 and S1 interacting to develop the topic through a stepwise topic transition and S4 resist this transition twice by not accepting it. The subsequent analysis of the extract reveals step by step how this sequence of topic negotiation is initiated, picked up, stopped and how the series of verbal and nonverbal actions are accounted for. It also reveals the interactional work done by S4, S7 and S1 through the investigation of their verbal and embodied actions and how they are intertwined, yet deployed in an orderly interactional means.

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Prior to this extract, S1 started to provide an update of his work on prop design after being selected by the chairperson S4. This extract illustrates how topic shift is negotiated and how turn allocation and topic are overtly managed by the chairperson functioning as a ‘central switching station’ for the meeting (Boden, 1994: 99).

Extract 6.03: Just a question for you

[00:14:46 - 00:15:36]

1. S4 =>yeah but< they're not THAT big are they↑ 2. (0.5)

3. S1 well no (.) we'll just go bigger↑ 4. (0.3)

5. S4 NO↓ i'm just saying it'll be (.) interesting [to: ↑ ] (.) have a 6. S1 [yea:h↑ ]

7. S4 a prototype design fo:r↑ (.) a very very large duct↓ ((sniggering)) 8. (0.7)

9. S1 °yes (.) interesting who's ducted now↑°=

((S4 moves his body back, straightens his back and gazes down at the agenda))

10. S7 =°jus-° just a question for you dough↓ (0.1) d-do you have any ti:me

((S7 gaze at S1))

((S4 gazes at S7 then places both of his arms on the table))

((S1 turns to gaze at S7, raises his eyebrows and tilt head right side)) ((S2, S3 turns to look at S7))

11. f- (0.8) sca:les o:r any: to >you know↑< whe:n (.) thin [gs will ] 12. S1 [WHEN i ] 13. want to get things done↓ (.) er::m=

135 ((S1 raises his eyebrows and lifts his head upright))

((S4 turns to glance at S1))

((mutual gaze between S1 and S7))

14. S4 =((tongue click)) this is↓ (.) the next discussion↓

((S4 gazes at S7, raises his right hand with index finger pointing at S7)) ((S3, S7, S2 and S1 gaze at S4))

15. (0.3)

((S4 continues pointing at S7 with index finger)) ((S3,S7,S2 and S1 continue gazing at S4)) 16. S7 °sorry↓°

((S7 quickly raises his right hand up then down at S4)) ((S4 stops pointing at S7 and lowers his right hand)) ((S1, S2 and S3 look at S4))

17. S4 [so:↑ °i just°]

18. S7 [°okay↓° ] (.) JUST BECAUSE i want to see:↓ (.) [where we]

((S4 gaze at S7))

((S7 gazes at S1))

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((S1 nods his head and smile)) ((S4 gazes at S1))

((S2, S3 gaze at S7)) 20. S7 can fit↓ how we can help [and that] sort of [things↓] (.) [cos ] 21. S1 [ i know↓ ]

22. S1 [ yeah↓ ]

23. S4 [yea:h↑]

((S4 gazes down at the paper on the table with a left open palm up gesture))

24. S7 it's e:r= 25. S1 =yea:h↓ no i'm aware of that↓ (0.3) er:m (0.2)=

((S1 is gazing away)) ((S2, S3 and S7 look at S1))

26. S4 =i just wanted to hear what everyone (0.6) was gonna do first↓

((S4 looks at S7 then looks down at the agenda))

((S7 nods and quickly raise his right hand then places it down)) ((S1,S2 and S3 look at S4))

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((S4 gazes at S7))

((S1 and S2 gaze at S4))

((S3 nods his head and gazes down)) ((S7 nods his head))

28. S7 [yeah] 29. S7 [>sure↑<]

30. S4 everything done in time [(0.5) ] together↑ (0.3) bu:t i mean↑= 31. S7 [>sure<]

32. S1 =yeah [er: ] okay fine↓ 33. S7 [>yeah↓< ] 34. (0.3)

35. S4 yeah↓ well i was just (0.6) wondering where (0.4) ellie (0.3)

((S4 points at S2 with an open hand while looking at the agenda)) ((S4 turns to look at S2))

((S1, S2 and S7 gaze at S4)) ((S3 gazes down))

36. where are you gonna (0.6) [go ] with this now↑

((S7, S3, S4 and S1 are looking at S2)) ((S2 is looking at S4))

In lines 1-9, S1 and S4 reach the end of their topic as S1 in line 9 takes a turn with summary assessment produced with a soft voice °yes (.) interesting who's ducted now↑°, serving to affiliate with S4’s prior turn and terminate the topic from further discussion

followed by a gap (Howe, 1991). By doing so, S1 not only ends a topic but also brings a close to the sequence (lines 1-8) and opens up the interactional space for speaker shift. During S1’s production of the summary assessment, S4 moves his body back from the table, straightens his back and gazes down at the meeting agenda as a way to signal topic termination and transition.

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In line 10, S7 self-selects to take a turn by latching with the prior one preventing the topic from terminating. He does so by directing FPP to S1, addressing him by his name and gazes at him =°jus-° just a question for you dough↓. Once S1’s name is addressed, he instantly responds with mutual gaze, raised eyebrows and tilted head to his right side. S1’s non-verbal response shows his acceptance of S7’s FPP. While S7’s producing the beginning of his turn, S2 turns to gaze at S7, S4 gazes at S7 then places his arms on the table, indicating attentive listenership.

In lines 10 and 11, S7 continues to formulate his turn of FPP with hitches, lengthening and pauses due to uncertainty and hesitation. S7’s turn in lines 10 and 11 provides to initiate an embedded question sequence (Button and Casey, 1984), which results in an apparent attempt to stepwise topic transition. In line 12, S1 overlaps with a reformulation of S7’s FPP in line 13 [WHEN i] want to get things done↓ (.) er:m (0.2)=. S1’s turn is accompanied with gesture of S1 raising his eyebrows again and lifting his head upright to the ‘home position’ (Schegloff, 2002), indicating a shit from being a recipient of S1’s FPP to a primary speaker selected by S7 -a non-primary and non-chair speaker- to provide SPP. S1’s overlap is ‘progressional’ (Jefferson, 1983, 1986) as it is placed at a grammatical point in the prior turn whe:n (.) thin[gs will] where there has been some type of breakdown in the

progressivity of the turn with S7’s hitches, lengthening and pauses. Jefferson observes that this type of behaviour may be aimed at getting the recipient to become active (the same analytical point is made by Goodwin, 1981; also by Chevalier, 2008, a later researcher on this phenomena). It is also ‘recognitional’ (Jefferson, 1983, 1986) in that it attends to the general sense of the ongoing utterance.

During S1’s turn in lines 12 and 13, S4 turns to glance at S1 while S1 and S7 maintain their mutual gaze and S1 produces a lengthened hesitation marker er::m to give him more time to think in order to provide SPP. However, in line 14, S4, who has been silent for some time listening, intrudes to prevent the stepwise topic transition before they have covered all the relevant topics in relation to the meeting agenda (Holmes and Stubbe, 2003). S4 immediately latches with the previous turn with an audible tongue click that cuts off S1’s lengthened hesitation marker. In line 14, S4 designs his turn as a firm explicit statement that this is the next discussion point and it does not fit at this point this is↓ (.) the next discussion↓. S4 heavily supports his explicit statement with embodied actions as he gazes at S7 (the

initiator of the stepwise topic transition) and raises his right hand with index finger pointing at S7 while all the co-participants gaze at S4. S4 continues to point at S7 with mutual gaze until

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S7 apologises in line 16 °sorry↓° accompanied with iconic gesture by quickly raises his right hand then down again at S4.

After S7’s apology, S4 in line 17 produces a prolonged transition marker so:↑, which serves to control topic and bring the group back to the agenda topics (Holmes and Stubbe, 2003: 73, 74). However, this turn is interrupted with an overlap by S7 in line 18. S7’s turn in lines 18 20, 24 is designed as an explanation for his action in lines 10 and 11[°okay↓°] (.) JUST BECAUSE i want to see: (.) [where we] can fit↓ how we can help [and that] sort of [things↓] (.) [cos] it's e:r=.

S7’s overlap in line 18 is interruptive and competitive as he raises his voice at the third beat [°okay↓°] (.) JUST BECAUSE while moving his right hand to point forward as he raises his volume and competes for the floor, whereas S4 lowers this voice at the third beat [so:↑°i just°] and drops out from the overlapping talk (Schegloff, 2000). This is different from how the participants compete for the floor in social talk (see Chapter 5) by continuing their turns until one of them drops out.

Interestingly, during the production of S7’s turn (lines 18, 20 and 24), he gazes at S1, not S4, to explain his previous action. Addressing S1 with this combination of talk and directed gaze aims to get S1 the recipient to become active (Goodwin, 1981) in developing the topic. By doing so, S7 is making a second attempt to pursue his FPP in lines 10 and 11. S7’s turn in lines 18, 20 and 24 is a reformulation of his previous turns in lines 10 and 11 by targeting a specific item - ‘S1’s time scale or plan for finishing certain things in his part of the project’. On the one hand, in lines 19, 21 and 22, S1 affiliates and aligns with S7 nonverbally by nodding his head and smiling, and verbally with multiple affirmative response tokens

produced with falling intonation [yeah↓] [i know↓][yeah↓]. On the other hand, S4 in line 23 displays disaffiliation by giving a short verbal response said with raising intonation [yea:h↑]and nonverbally by withdrawing his gaze from S7 towards the paper on the table, with his left hand open-palm-up gesture.

In line 25, S1 latches with the previous turn with i'm aware of that↓ as an upgrade of [i know↓], displaying an understanding of S7’s reasons for his question initiated in lines 10 and 11 (time plan) and that he is aware of it. Then he continues to hold the floor with a prolonged hesitation marker in an attempt to answer S7’s previous question. The same action is

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same action previously deployed in line 14 by intruding and taking a turn to cut off S1’s ongoing turn being held with a hesitation marker that indicates he is thinking of SPP to respond to S7’s question. However, the way S4 designs his turn is different from his first attempt to stop the transition in line 14. This time S4 orients to the meeting agenda.

S4’s turn in lines 26, 27 and 30 is designed to reaffirm the proceeding of the meeting agenda and oriented to his situated identity as the chairperson. Firstly, S4 refers to the ongoing topical agenda that has not finished yet (roundtable update) =i just wanted to hear what

everyone (0.6) was gonna do first↓ then indicates the next agenda item, which is the time plan for each one’s work and that is where S7’s proposed topic will be discussed [and ] then we can discuss [how] we're gonna ↑(0.4) get everything done in time [(0.5) ] together↑ (0.3) bu:t i mean↑=.

While S4 produces his turns, he orients to the meeting agenda. He first looks up at S7 to secure a mutual gaze as he starts uttering his turn =i just wanted, then looks back down at the meeting agenda during his production of to hear what everyone, before lifting his head up to gaze at S7 and the rest of the co-participants for the rest of his turn.

During S4’s extended turn (lines 26, 27 and 30), all of the co-participants, one after the other, display affiliation and align with S4. They display alighnment verbally with minimal

affirmative responses produced by S1 and S7 [yeah],[>sure↑<], [>sure<], =yeah [er:] okay fine↓, [>yeah↓< ]in lines 28, 29, 31 and 32 as well as nonverbally with head-nods while gazing at S7 or down (lines 26 and 27) and iconic gesture in line 26 by S7 (the same iconic gesture that has been deployed by S7 when providing an apology in line 16). Minimal responses suggest that a participant has nothing further to contribute to the topic (they are part of the pre-sequence for closings in dyadic conversations; see Schegloff & Sacks 1973).This combination of talk, directed gaze and body movement serves to accept S4’s verbal and nonverbal actions to resist and stop the stepwise topic transition and cease the topic

negotiation sequence. The gap in line 34 reconfirms this topic termination (Howe, 1991) as the co-participants pass the opportunity to take a turn. It is then that S4, in lines 35 and 36, takes a turn and makes a stepwise topic transition to the next update by allocating a turn to S2. He does so by pointing at S2 with an open hand while gazing down at the agenda, before gazing at S2, which results in a mutual gaze and indicating her name.

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S4’s interactional work is a form of resistance to stop S7’s stepwise topic transition and to reorient the group to the interactional trajectory of roundtable update. Overall, the

interactional ‘business at hand’ (Garfinkel, 1967) of negotiating topic and of implementing and re-implementing speech turns can be seen to constitute much of the interactional work.