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3.6 Conclusion
I began this chapter by addressing the question of facework in discourse
(3.1). Here I considered extant approaches to the study of facework in discourse,
from those focusing on specific linguistic units of analysis, through to this
suggesting a more heuristic approach. Following this, I reviewed work addressing
sociable conversation (3.2). The aim of this section was to characterise the nature
of sociable conversation, focusing specifically on the underlying dynamics of
sociable talk itself. Next, I moved on to consider the possibility of sociable
conversation as facework. Specifically, I sought to link the dynamics of sociable
conversational with the fundamental propositions of extant approaches to facework,
specifically those of Goffman and Brown and Levinson. Based upon these linkages,
I set out a model of facework as alignment. I also suggested how this approach
might allow us to understand more English German differences in communicative
style as instances of facework as alignment. Finally, I provided a brief summary of
the propositions set out in this chapter (3.4)
In the following chapter I shall briefly discuss my methodology for the
execution of data collection within sociable settings.
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