“Yes…er…ok…”: Linguistic and Turn-Taking Strategiesin Negotiation

This study investigates how unacquainted interlocutors negotiate meaning, which is realized via turn-taking,and contributes to the sequence and organization of the entire negotiation process in the context of the sale and purchase of second-hand property. The study argues that even though interlocutors are unacquainted with no set agenda as in business meetings, they demonstrated the negotiation of organized turns and that negotiation is an ordered activity. The theoretical approach adopted for this study is based on Conversational Analysis (CA) as provided by Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson (1974), where the turn-taking features that determine people’s use of language are explored. Two out of twelve audio recordings gathered are used for this study.The interlocutors are non-native speakers of English who use English as their lingua franca and are involved in the context of sales and purchase of property. Data analysis is focused on the sequential emergence of turns,while the use of a standardized transcription notation system, adapted from Jefferson’s conventions (1978), is used to capture the details of the conversational production. The findings of this study show that organized,sequential turn-taking strategies are used in negotiations.