UC San Diego

This article explores the recognitionality of references to time as a participants’ category and resource in social interaction. In short, we ask: How does referring to time in more vs. less recognitional ways contribute to the formation and ascription of action in context, and how can analysts of social interaction approach this dimension of reference in ways that remain grounded in the details of participant joint-conduct? After considering some of the complexities of recognitionality as an analytic category, we turn our focus to formulations built with when (e.g., “when I was in the Marine Corps”). Our aim in examining whenformulations in a range of different sequential and action environments is to use this exploration as a means to further develop the concept of recognitionality, namely as a phenomenon that is best understood as scalar and multidimensional in nature. We then probe what implications this has for our understanding of the preference organization of references to time (and other ontological categories), and conclude by presenting some possible avenues for future research.