DRINKING FOR SPEAKING: THE MULTIMODAL ORGANIZATION OF DRINKING IN CONVERSATION

Abstract

This article focuses on the coordination of speaking and drinking. Because physiological constraints largely preclude speaking and drinking concurrently, participants must balance their engagement in one with the other. I focus on environments in which a currently drinking participant is selected to speak next, since this requires the participant to manage the conflict between drinking now and speaking next. Participants are shown either upholding the progressive development of drinking and talk-in-interaction in parallel, or adjusting the trajectory of drinking to engage in talk-in-interaction. These orientations to the practical incompatibility between drinking and speaking reveal participants’ sensitivities to action modality.