- My primary current interest is in formulation, particularly in what I call occasioned semantics. I have done fieldwo... moreMy primary current interest is in formulation, particularly in what I call occasioned semantics. I have done fieldwork in Thailand and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and have published on discourse and interaction, social theory, free market ideology, and Thai social organization. Copies of the papers can be obtained by emailing me at <bilmes@hawaii.edu>. Some recent publications can be downloaded directly from https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/58964edit
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In this paper, I analyze part of a 1973 phone conversation between President Richard Nixon and Special Counsel to the President Charles Colson, regarding the Watergate scandal. I find that the conversation is organized largely in terms of... more
In this paper, I analyze part of a 1973 phone conversation between President Richard Nixon
and Special Counsel to the President Charles Colson, regarding the Watergate scandal. I find that the conversation is organized largely in terms of three, successively developed contrasts. These contrasts brought into play two “dimensions of contrast”--pervasiveness and importance. The analysis resulted ultimately in a structure of meaning that included both taxonomical and scaling relations. It is shown how this structure is developed sequentially and collaboratively, how ambiguities are resolved, and how both participants
converge on a common interpretation of the situation. Throughout, Watergate is treated primarily as a news story rather than an event or crime. Matters of law and ethics are subordinated to matters of perception and public relations. The ultimate objective of this analysis is methodological--to add to the toolkit of occasioned semantics, the study of how structures of meaning are developed and manifested in verbal discourse. Whereas my previous work has focused primarily on co-categorization, inclusion structures, and scaling, this study shows how contrast can function as the primary element structuring meaning in talk.
and Special Counsel to the President Charles Colson, regarding the Watergate scandal. I find that the conversation is organized largely in terms of three, successively developed contrasts. These contrasts brought into play two “dimensions of contrast”--pervasiveness and importance. The analysis resulted ultimately in a structure of meaning that included both taxonomical and scaling relations. It is shown how this structure is developed sequentially and collaboratively, how ambiguities are resolved, and how both participants
converge on a common interpretation of the situation. Throughout, Watergate is treated primarily as a news story rather than an event or crime. Matters of law and ethics are subordinated to matters of perception and public relations. The ultimate objective of this analysis is methodological--to add to the toolkit of occasioned semantics, the study of how structures of meaning are developed and manifested in verbal discourse. Whereas my previous work has focused primarily on co-categorization, inclusion structures, and scaling, this study shows how contrast can function as the primary element structuring meaning in talk.
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This paper deals with the discussion of abortion in a number of U.S presidential and vice-presidential debates, from a scaling perspective. The interest in scales, as (co)constructed and negotiated by participants in the course of... more
This paper deals with the discussion of abortion in a number of U.S presidential and vice-presidential debates, from a scaling perspective. The interest in scales, as (co)constructed and negotiated by participants in the course of interaction, is a component of occasioned semantics. I found that, in the political debates that I examined, there are a number of different scales anchored by the contrast between "pro-life" and "pro-choice" positions. These are: 1. Stage of pregnancy, 2. Prescribed action, 3. Special circumstances, 4. Locus of enforcement, 5. Frequency. These scales are manipulated in various ways by the candidates to make their own stances seem reasonable and moral and their opponents' unreasonable and immoral. A position may be made to appear more moderate by adding a more extreme alternative to the scale, which is then rejected ("negative upgrading"). Also, common goals (in particular, reduction of abortion frequency) may be emphasized. The debaters also use "negative downgrading"-rejection of a more moderate position-to suggest an opponent's unreasonableness. It is noted that the availability of several scales affords various ways of formulating the reasonableness or unreasonableness of a particular position. The paper continues with a close examination of an extended debate sequence, illustrating the crucial role of implicature in the manipulation of scales, the attribution of attitude, and the practice of argumentation, and the possibility of dealing with implicature within a conversation analytic framework. The discussion is, at all points, grounded in and illustrated by the actual talk of the political candidates. It is suggested that viewing specific occasions of interaction in terms of the creation and negotiation of scales can yield a unique and revealing perspective on what is taking place.
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The purpose of this paper is to initiate the topicalization of upgrading and downgrading(regrading) in conversational interaction; that is, to offer some fundamental considerations for viewing regrading as an object of study rather than... more
The purpose of this paper is to initiate the topicalization of upgrading and downgrading(regrading) in conversational interaction; that is, to offer some fundamental considerations for viewing regrading as an object of study rather than as a taken-for-granted conversational practice. I begin by describing the conversation analytic conception and use of regrading and distinguishing three subtypes. I note further that regrading is a manifestation of scaling, the relationship between the two being reflexive. Regrading, from an interactional perspective, involves a positioning followed by a repositioning on a scale, and so is inherently sequential. I discuss the relationship of contrast and scaling, secondary scales, and certain sequential aspects of regrading. Through the examination of transcribed segments of talk, I comment on the prevalence of regrading as a conversational practice, and on scales as constituting, to a large extent, the underlying structure of talk. I want to claim that (1) Interaction consists, to some considerable extent, of movements, i.e. regrading, on various scales. (2) Understanding of those scales guides interpretation, especially implicature and implication. And (3) under-standing word choices as scaling choices is a key to the analysis of how utterances function
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This paper puts forward an argument for a systematic, technical approach to formulation in verbal interaction. I see this as a kind of expansion of Sacks' membership categorization analysis, and as something that is not offered (at least... more
This paper puts forward an argument for a systematic, technical approach to formulation in verbal interaction. I see this as a kind of expansion of Sacks' membership categorization analysis, and as something that is not offered (at least not in a fully developed form) by sequential analysis, the currently dominant form of conversation analysis. In particular, I suggest a technique for the study of ''occasioned semantics,'' that is, the study of structures of meaningful expressions in actual occasions of conversation. I propose that meaning and rhetoric be approached through consideration of various dimensions or operations or properties, including, but not limited to, contrast and co-categorization, generalization and specification, scaling, and marking. As illustration, I consider a variety of cases, focused on generalization and specification. The paper can be seen as a return to some classical concerns with meaning, as illuminated by more recent insights into indexicality, social action, and interaction in recorded talk. Sequential Analysis and Membership Categorization Analysis The work of Harvey Sacks resulted in two organized traditions of research— sequential analysis (SA) and membership categorization analysis (MCA). After Sacks' death, SA emerged as by far the dominant approach. This is due to a number of factors. SA has the more elegant and, many would argue, the more rigorous methodology. Moreover, it has a broader and more flexible approach than MCA. And we should not underestimate the influence of Emanuel Schegloff, the most prominent practitioner of conversation analysis (CA) since Sacks' death in 1975. Schegloff has been a firm advocate of SA. However, in recent years, MCA has begun, in a modest way, to flourish again. A major turning point was the publication of the edited volume Culture in Action (Hester and Eglin 1997). Perhaps the most telling indication of the increased interest in MCA is the recent publication of two papers on the topic by Schegloff (2007a , b). One gets the impression (I am going out on a limb here) that these papers were written less from Schegloff's own interest in the topic than as a response to others' interest. A central question with regard to the re-emergence of MCA is why it is happening at all. What analytic need has SA left unfulfilled? To begin with, SA tends to avoid (explicit) reliance on, or analysis of, cultural resources (but see, e.g., Turner 1971). The notion is that the analysis should be demonstrable from the data at hand. This approach has obvious virtues. But cultural resources (language to begin with) are brought into play in SA in a generally unexplicated way. Our cultures undoubtedly are a major factor in the way we talk, and the refusal to deal with culture explicitly can be argued to be a weakness of SA. The central tenet of
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Preference is treated as a single concept in conversation analysis, but it has in fact developed into an assemblage of loosely related concepts. It has also been construed in a variety of mutually incompatible, and sometimes... more
Preference is treated as a single concept in conversation analysis, but it has in fact developed into an assemblage of loosely related concepts. It has also been construed in a variety of mutually incompatible, and sometimes meth-odologically questionable, ways. This is due, at least ...
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Bilines, Jack. Discourse and behavior. Bibliography: p. Includes index. I. Social action. 2. Rationalization (Psychology) 3. Social norms. 4. Speech acts (Linguistics) 5. Discourse... more
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Bilines, Jack. Discourse and behavior. Bibliography: p. Includes index. I. Social action. 2. Rationalization (Psychology) 3. Social norms. 4. Speech acts (Linguistics) 5. Discourse analysis. I. Title. HM24.B465 1986 302 ...
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To discover some of the implicit and generally unrecognized cogni-tive tasks which underlie the achievement of coherent or &amp;quot;ac-countable&amp;quot; cognitive performances we examined videotapes of a series of science... more
To discover some of the implicit and generally unrecognized cogni-tive tasks which underlie the achievement of coherent or &amp;quot;ac-countable&amp;quot; cognitive performances we examined videotapes of a series of science experiments in a third grade classroom. These ex-periments are ...
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The first section of this article argues for an approach to interruption as a participant&amp;#x27;s, not an analyst&amp;#x27;s, phenomenon. For analysts, interruption is best treated as a topic, not a resource. The second section... more
The first section of this article argues for an approach to interruption as a participant&amp;#x27;s, not an analyst&amp;#x27;s, phenomenon. For analysts, interruption is best treated as a topic, not a resource. The second section examines how participants go about making interruptions OBSERVABLE ...
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Although there exists an extensive literature on mediation, little atten-tion has been given to the close analysis of talk in actual mediations. This article applies various analytic techniques, particularly those of con-versation... more
Although there exists an extensive literature on mediation, little atten-tion has been given to the close analysis of talk in actual mediations. This article applies various analytic techniques, particularly those of con-versation analysis and sociolinguistics, to provide a ...
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In Burundi, when one asks a man how many children he has, he may answer &quot;two&quot;, but when one asks the man&#x27;s wife, she may reply &quot;three&quot;. Upon investigation, the questioner learns that, in... more
In Burundi, when one asks a man how many children he has, he may answer &quot;two&quot;, but when one asks the man&#x27;s wife, she may reply &quot;three&quot;. Upon investigation, the questioner learns that, in Burundi, a man answers this question by stating the number of his sons, while a ...
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... FUNDAMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS JACK BILMES University of Hawaii at Manoa Ethnographers often rely heavily on the verbal reports offered by the people they study. ... Man (NS) IO, 60-71. Page 2. JACK BILMES direct access to the reality on... more
... FUNDAMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS JACK BILMES University of Hawaii at Manoa Ethnographers often rely heavily on the verbal reports offered by the people they study. ... Man (NS) IO, 60-71. Page 2. JACK BILMES direct access to the reality on which they are based. ...
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This article examines a discussion among US Federal Trade Commission attorneys concerning a passage in a draft memo. The focus is primarily on the expression &amp;#x27;we think it&amp;#x27;s bad public policy&amp;#x27;, which... more
This article examines a discussion among US Federal Trade Commission attorneys concerning a passage in a draft memo. The focus is primarily on the expression &amp;#x27;we think it&amp;#x27;s bad public policy&amp;#x27;, which is a reformulation, and a generalization, of what is said in the draft. I ...
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Page 1. Introduction The Evolution of Decisions in a Thai Village: A Quasi-Experimental Study JACK M. BILMES Jack M. Bilmes is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu. The research on which ...
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DISCUSSION. One may argue that this study is inadequate, and on scientific grounds this objection is perfectly correct. The households included in the analysis were not a random sample, and a mere ten cases are certainly not sufficient to... more
DISCUSSION. One may argue that this study is inadequate, and on scientific grounds this objection is perfectly correct. The households included in the analysis were not a random sample, and a mere ten cases are certainly not sufficient to establish any firm statistical conclusions. ...
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In writing this article, I have three objectives. The first (and the foremost) is to propose a model of interpretation. Second, I want to demonstrate that the model of interpretation places limitations on what can be accepted as an... more
In writing this article, I have three objectives. The first (and the foremost) is to propose a model of interpretation. Second, I want to demonstrate that the model of interpretation places limitations on what can be accepted as an adequate notion of &#x27;meaning&#x27;. Finally, I will suggest a ...
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Alternative logic in &amp;#x27;primitive thought&amp;#x27; SIR, There has been an irritating quality to most of the debates which have gone on concerning the &amp;#x27;rationality&amp;#x27; of... more
Alternative logic in &amp;#x27;primitive thought&amp;#x27; SIR, There has been an irritating quality to most of the debates which have gone on concerning the &amp;#x27;rationality&amp;#x27; of &amp;#x27;primitive&amp;#x27; or &amp;#x27;non-western&amp;#x27; logics; David Cooper&amp;#x27;s highly stimulating and informative recent article in Man (NS IO, 238-56) is an example of ...