Description:

Genre and Conversation

Conversations belong to different genres. For example: Some conversations are aimed at information exchange, while others are aimed at deciding what to do. In some we make firm commitments, in others we merely explore options. In some we stick to the facts, while in others we engage in make-believe. Finally, some conversations are cooperative while others are adversarial. I argue that these kinds of genre don’t arise from social conventions, but are constituted by recurring patterns in the shared conversation plans that we build together in order to organize discourse. Different dimensions of genre variation arise from patterns at different levels within conversation plans, including our plans to resolve the “question under discussion,” as well higher-level plans that may or may not be shared by the interlocutors. Finally, I argue that a capacity to navigate genre is not, strictly speaking, necessary for all communication, but can make communication much more efficient. In this sense, this capacity should be understood as part of our pragmatic competence.