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THE DISCOURSE OF NEGOTIATION
STUDIES OF LANGUAGE IN THE
WORKPLACE
Edited by
ALAN FIRTH
Aalborg University, Denmark
PERGAMON
U.K. Elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington,
Oxford 0X5 1GB, U.K.
U.S.A. Elsevier Science Inc., 660 White Plains Road, Tarrytown, New York
10591-5153, U.S.A.
JAPAN Elsevier Science Japan, Tsunashima Building Annex, 3-20-12 Yushima,
Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, Japan
Copyright © 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means:
electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publishers.
First edition 1995
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
The discourse of negotiation : studies of language in the workplace /
edited by Alan Firth,
p. cm.
1. Interpersonal communication. 2. Negotiation in business.
I. Firth, Alan.
P94.7.D57 1994
302.2--dc20 94-17002
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
ISBN 0 08 042400 7
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Gaillard Printers Ltd,
Great Yarmouth
PREFACE
This book has its origins in a 3-day research symposium held at Aalborg University,
Denmark, 11-13 May, 1992. Entitled 'Negotiations in the Workplace: Discourse and
Interactional Perspectives', and attended by over 100 academics from 11 countries, the
symposium was a truly international and interdisciplinary event, reflecting the relevance
and importance of 'negotiation' throughout the social sciences. At Aalborg the attempt
was made to marshall the special interests of a group of scholars for whom 'negotiation'
had hitherto remained of largely peripheral interest; these were scholars of discourse
analysis and language-in-social interaction, researchers that people the departments of
linguistics, anthropology, sociology, and communications in our universities and
colleges. Although the term 'negotiation' appears in numerous studies in discourse
analysis, pragmatics, and language-in-social interaction, its use has been mainly
metaphorical and incidental; somewhat surprisingly, 'negotiation' has rarely been studied
and investigated as a discourse-based activity in its own right. The brief communicated
to the presenters at the symposium was intended as a form of 'corrective' to this state of
ν
vi Preface
affairs, the task being to explore, through analyses of naturally occurring materials
culled from 'workplaces', negotiation as a discourse phenomenon', i.e., an activity of
social decision making undertaken in and through situated, interactive language. The
motivations behind this can be traced to three perceived omissions and imbalances in
extant literature. First, whilst 'negotiation' has attracted considerable scholarly attention
over the last three decades, there is a striking paucity of work undertaken on the actual
discourse — i.e., the language in use — of negotiation. Second, overwhelmingly in
the literature, 'negotiation' is equated with a formal event, temporally and spatially
bound, where the event concerned is prototypically linked with the affairs of unions
and management, trade or diplomacy; rarely has negotiation been studied as an activity
that pervades myriad social contexts and interpersonal encounters. And third, existing
literature is dominated by studies of simulated negotiations conducted within laboratory
settings. Consequently, little is known of negotiation as it occurs in real-life contexts.
Based on detailed analyses of aspects of negotiation activity occurring in a wide range
of 'real-life' workplace settings, the studies in this book, selected from the presentations
at the Aalborg symposium, represent a collective attempt to redress these perceived
imbalances and omissions.
This book walks a seldom trodden (research) path, and by so doing contributes
to and extends existing (though embryonic) knowledge of negotiation as a discourse-
based, communicative process. We may hope that the work reported here advances our
understanding of the phenomenon of negotiation in particular, and of social interaction
in general, for the activity of negotiation is a pervasive feature of social life. Furthermore,
the book aims to provide scholars and students with insight into the researchable potential
of detailed, transcript-based studies of the discourse of actual negotiation, and by so
doing encourage and stimulate further work of this nature; certainly much remains to
be done in the area. Finally, the work collectively endeavours to shed light upon a
tenebrous terrain: the interactional foundations of modern workplaces — those
multivarious and variegated settings in which large numbers of the population spend
their daily lives. These are indeed tall orders, and as such the present volume constitutes
what we may hope will be if not an inaugural then at least an early and substantive
attempt to establish a discourse and interactional perspective on the study of negotiation.
In addition to acknowledging my gratitude to the participants at the Aalborg
symposium, whose contributions, professional commitment, and discussions during
the symposium made for a highly successful and intellectually stimulating event, sincere
thanks are due to the Danish Council of Social Science Research, and the Department
of Languages and Intercultural Studies, Aalborg University. Both bodies generously
provided funding for the symposium. Thanks are also due to the symposium coordinator,
Bente Vestergaard, and her assistants Jennifer Burke and Charlotte Nielsen. Throughout
Preface vii
the compilation of this book I have been thankful of the patience and cooperative spirit
of the individual chapter authors. I acknowledge my indebtedness to two scholars who
have directly influenced my work and interests in negotiation discourse. First, Jack
Bilmes, and second, Douglas Maynard. Both have undertaken exemplary work on
negotiation discourse, much of which has provided the research impetus for a number
of the studies in this collection.
The Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies at Aalborg University
granted me leave time to complete the work undertaken here, and the Department of
Sociology, University of York, U.K., provided me with access to research and
administrative facilities as well as a conducive research climate; I am most grateful to
both departments. During the book's production I have benefited from the skill and
professionalism of Chris Pringle and Tom Merriweather at Elsevier Science in Oxford.
Finally, a huge thanks to my wife, Marianne, for her continued and unfailing support;
and to Tim, who didn't complain too much when his father 'urked'.
Alan Firth
York, January, 1994
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Bell, D. V. J. Department of Political Science, Faculty of Environmental
Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, North York,
Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3
Bilmes, J. Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii at Manoa,
Honolulu, HI 96822, U.S.A.
Boden, D. Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster
LAI 4YL, U.K.
Button, G. Xerox EuroPARC, 61 Regent Street, Cambridge CB2 1AB,
U.K.
Firth, A. Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies, Aalborg
University, Havrevangen 1, DK-9100 Aalborg, Denmark
Fredin, E. Department of Communication Studies, Linkoping University,
S-581 83, Linkoping, Sweden
Huisman, M. Department of Dutch Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Free
University of Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Jones, K. Department of East Asian Studies, The University of Arizona,
Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A.
Linell, P. Department of Communication Studies, Linkoping University,
S-581 83, Linkoping, Sweden
Marriott, H. E. Department of Japanese Studies, Monash University, Clayton,
Victoria 3168, Australia
Mazeland, H. Department of Language and Communication, Rijkuniversiteit
Groningen, P.O. Box 716, 9700 AS Groningen, The
Netherlands
Schasfoort, M. Department of Dutch Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Free
University of Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Sharrock, W. Department of Sociology, Faculty of Economics and Social
Studies, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester
M13 9PL, U.K.
xi
xii List of Contributors
ten Have, P. Department of Sociology, Faculty of Political and
Socio-cultural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Oude
Hoogstraat 24, NL 1012 CE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Torode, B. Department of Sociology, University of Dublin, Trinity
College, Dublin 2, Ireland
Wagner, J. Institute of Language and Communication, Odense University,
Campusvej 55, DK-5230, Odense M, Denmark
Walker, E. Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling
FK9 4LA, Scotland, U.K.
Wheatley, J. Secçâo Autonoma de Communicaçâo e Arte, Universidade de
Aveiro, 3800 Aveiro, Portugal
TRANSCRIPT NOTATION
The audio- and video-recorded materials analysed in this book are transcribed according
to the following notations, developed mainly by Gail Jefferson (for a more detailed
account of the notations, see Atkinson and Heritage 1984:ix-xvi). The notations, widely
used by Conversation Analysts, are a continually evolving set of symbols designed to
capture the interactional qualities and nuances of speech delivered in real-time.
Symbol Represents
yes ( 1.5) me too Figures in rounded brackets represent inter- and mid-turn silences,
hand-timed in lOth's of seconds.
yes (.) me too Period in rounded brackets are 'micro-pauses' of less than 0.2
seconds.
yes (**) Unrecoverable speech; the number of asterisks represent the
number of unrecovered syllables uttered.
yes ((clap)) me too Double rounded brackets contain relevant contextual information,
added by the transcriber.
ye::s: me too Colons represent lengthened vowel or consonant sounds; the
number of colons show the relative stretch of sound.
yes .hh me too Lower-case h's preceded by period indicates audible inhalations.
These are inserted into the turns where they occur.
yes me too hh:: Colons following h's show audible exhalations; these symbols
are also inserted into turns where they occur.
xiii
xiv Transcript Notation
ye(hh)s me too H's encased in rounded brackets indicate aspirated sounds,
it's very odd Underlined letters indicate emphasis.
it's VERY ODD Capitalized letters indicate that the utterance/word is enunciated
louder than surrounding speech.
not ALL (.) no Underlined, capitalized utterance/word shows emphatic stress,
enunciated louder than surrounding speech.
I think so. A period indicates falling tone.
I think so, do you Comma denotes tone group boundary
do you think so? A question mark indicates rising intonation; this symbol is not
necessarily coterminous with a question.
do you îthink soi Particularly animated rising and falling shifts in intonation are
indicated by, respectively, upward and downward pointing
arrows.
I think so °yes° Degree signs encapsulate talk that is quieter than surrounding
talk.
she said >who me< 'Greater than' and 'less than' symbols encapsulate speech that is
delivered at a markedly quicker pace, relative to surrounding
talk.
I think-1 think so A single dash following a word or letter(s) indicates an abrupt
cut-off in the flow of speech.
