Justine Coupland
and Adam Jaworski
Transgression and intimacy
in recreational talk narratives
This paper extends the scope of previous research by the first author on small talk, which began with several papers, co-authored with colleagues, on phatic communion in intergenerational encounters and in medical consultations. More recently, an edited book on Small Talk enabled me to assemble research on small talk and gossip in a range of social contexts with the aim of foregrounding relational orientations to talk. The paper here looks at narratives told amongst small groups of friends on potentially transgressive or unsafe topics, and interprets these narratives as building rapport through enjoyment of talk as transgression. Like phatic communion, these stories exhibit conventionality, the sterngthening of relational ties, and low commitment to veracity. Like gossip they exhibit newsworthiness and high involvement. The two authors are currently preparing paper on othering in gossip.
Justine Coupland is Senior Lecturer and Adam Jaworski is Reader in the Centre for Language and Communication Research at Cardiff University
