Pursuits in Collision: Affiliation, Disaffiliation, and Multimodality in Persian Interaction

This study is on pursuing an interactional outcome in the face of a co-interactant’s resistance. Despite at least a forty-year history of research on pursuits in social interaction (Jefferson, 1981; Pomerantz, 1984b), there is still much to explore about this ubiquitous social phenomenon. This research employs a multimodal conversation analytic methodology to address some less-explored questions on pursuits: what practices does an interactant use to further their course of action against their co-interactant’s resistance? Do the details of these practices have implications for the trajectory of the interaction towards escalation or de-escalation? What do these practices tell us about the agentive stance adopted by the pursuing party? And how can interactants heading towards an escalated pursuit manage disaffiliation? Two different types of pursuit sequences are introduced: persisting in furthering one’s course of action and gradually desisting from a course of action. The findings show a novel phenomenon called multimodal gradation: a temporally coordinated up- or downgrading of a multitude of resources that are simultaneously used in formatting a social action. Borrowing Mondada’s terms (2014), a whole “multimodal Gestalt” by which a turn at talk is delivered is up- or downgraded. Multimodal upgrading of a pursuit turn projects further expansions to the pursuit sequence and it can escalate an initial clash. On the other hand, multimodal downgrading of a pursuit turn projects a contingent sequence closure and de-escalation. Also, upgrading the multimodal Gestalt of a pursuit turn displays the pursuing party’s stronger agentive stance compared to downgrading the turn. The project introduces another multimodal phenomenon termed mock aggression. Used between intimate interactants, mock aggression offers opportunities for affiliation despite its aggressive appearance. The findings have implications for our understanding of sequence and preference organization in CA, multimodality, agency, and conflict management. Data are in Persian and collected in Iran.