Verbal and bodily practices for addressing trouble associated
with embodied moves in game play
We provide a first systematic account of how interactants manage trouble that is not localizable in
talk but rather in embodied conduct in table-top game play. Interventions targeting embodied problems have been termed
“remedial actions” (Lerner and Raymond 2021) or “remedies” (Arminen and
Auvinen 2013: 19). Focusing on game-playing interactions in German and English, we show that remedial actions addressing a coparticipant’s prior embodied move, or
the absence of a move, as troublesome can take one of three different forms: they can be embodied, verbal, or a
combination thereof. We show a systematic link between the form of remedial action and the type of trouble addressed: Remedial actions that
are exclusively embodied address deviations from shared
playing practices, typically involving problems with game piece placement. Exclusively verbal remedial actions address
violations of codified game rules such as premature moves. Remedial actions that combine verbal and embodied resources
target established practices or formal rules but accomplish additional actions, for example doing teaching or
reproaching. By highlighting the systematic interplay between talk and embodiment, our study contributes to a new, multimodal perspective in
Interactional Linguistics.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Literature review
- 2.1Embodied actions as repair initiators
- 2.2Problematic embodied actions addressed via embodied actions
- 2.3Problematic embodied actions addressed verbally
- 2.4Problematic embodied actions addressed with embodiment and talk
- 2.5Game-playing interactions
- 2.6Our focus
- 3.Data
- 4.Analysis
- 4.1Addressing a coparticipant’s problematic move through ERAs
- 4.2Orienting to problematic embodied moves with VRAs
- 4.3Complex remedial actions
- 5.Concluding discussion
-
Acknowledgements
-
Notes
-
References