Institutional interaction

Abstract

When the participants in an interaction discuss matters connected to at least one of the participants’ work-related tasks, the interaction can be described as institutional. In contrast to everyday sociable conversations, there is in institutional interaction a purpose that participants try to achieve, for example when a person with a cold books an appointment with a medical doctor. However, the difference between everyday conversation and institutional talk is not straightforward or self-evident but rather a result of the participants’ orientations to the situation, manifested in the design of their talk (e.g. Drew & Heritage 1992: 22). Consider the following two examples, which both demonstrate a ‘how are you doing’ sequence in an opening phase of a doctor’s appointment in Finland.