Syntactical constructions and tactile orientations: Procedural utterances and procedures in massage therapy

• I analyzed 84 fragments containing procedural utterances.
• I examined three syntactical forms of procedural utterances.
• The syntactical forms and the concurrent body movements inform each other.
• The forms and movements are normatively related.
• The normative relationship is available for negotiation regarding procedures.

This study draws on video recordings of 12 massage therapy sessions that took place in Japan. During massage therapy sessions, therapists produce utterances regarding massaging procedures. This study investigates the ways such procedural utterances are syntactically constructed in different sequential contexts and bodily configurations. The procedural utterances take three forms: the request form, the proposal form, and the announcement form. Two observations have been made. First, various movements, including the movements that are mentioned in the procedural utterances, are initiated during the utterances. Second, the placement of the different syntactic forms of procedural utterances varies relative to the stage of the ongoing therapy session and the concurrent body movement. I argue that procedural utterances are constructed normatively sensitively to the tactile orientations that accompany bodily manipulations and that this normative sensitivity can be a resource for the negotiation between the therapist and the client regarding the incipient procedure.