Sequence organization: A universal infrastructure for social action

• Published in: Journal of pragmatics Vol. 168; pp. 119 - 138
• Main Authors: Kendrick, Kobin H., Brown, Penelope, Dingemanse, Mark, Floyd, Simeon, Gipper, Sonja, Hayano, Kaoru, Hoey, Elliott, Hoymann, Gertie, Manrique, Elizabeth, Rossi, Giovanni, Levinson, Stephen C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.10.2020; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Conversation; Conversation analysis; Cross-cultural; Form (Language structure); Language acquisition; Language universals; Linguistics; Sequence organization; Universals; Cross-cultural; Universals; Conversation analysis; Sequence organization
• ISSN: 0378-2166; 1879-1387
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2020.06.009

This article makes the case for the universality of the sequence organization observable in informal human conversational interaction. Using the descriptive schema developed by Schegloff (2007), we examine the major patterns of action-sequencing in a dozen nearly all unrelated languages. What we find is that these patterns are instantiated in very similar ways for the most part right down to the types of different action sequences. There are also some notably different cultural exploitations of the patterns, but the patterns themselves look strongly universal. Recent work in gestural communication in the great apes suggests that sequence organization may have been a crucial route into the development of language. Taken together with the fundamental role of this organization in language acquisition, sequential behavior of this kind seems to have both phylogenetic and ontogenetic priority, which probably puts substantial functional pressure on language form. •The article considers the cross-linguistic universality of sequence organization.•Examines data from a diverse sample of 12 languages.•Adjacency pairs, response pursuits, pre-expansions, insert expansions, and post-expansions are attested in all languages.•Observes some variation in the minor types of sequence expansion.•Concludes that sequence organization is part of a universal infrastructure for interaction.