A multimodal analysis of the service-assessment sequence in haircutting interaction.

Abstract

In looking at the service-assessment sequence of haircutting interactions, this paper examines one of the many complex notions of CA, preferred/dispreferred turn shapes (Pomerantz 1984), from a multimodal perspective. Specifically, I explore whether participants simultaneously produce verbal and embodied actions for shaping preferred/dispreferred-action turn and what combinations of verbal and embodied actions are attended to by others as a “display of (dis)satisfaction” of a new cut. I argue that a multimodal look at preferred/dispreferred turn shapes reveals a larger diagram of communicative resources to display the degree of agreement, satisfaction, and so forth. Such analysis from this perspective will contribute to a better understanding of prior CA findings as a whole. In addition to this, it will bring further explanation to how participants interactionally come to share an agreement of aesthetic judgment and how a particular product (e.g. a new haircut) is interactionally achieved, as opposed to solely being the end result of a professional’s trade skills.