Boundary and alignment in multiparty conflict talk

This paper examines multiparty conflict talk in a pharmacy patient consultation involving a patient, a novice pharmacist, and later, an experienced pharmacist. Using conversation analysis (Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson, 1974) and Goffman's (1981) notion of participation framework, I describe conflict emergence and resolution while also paying attention to issues of alignment (Maynard, 1986). I show that conflict talk initiation is incipient and gradual, and the participants continue to orient to the conflict long after it is resolved. During this multiparty conflict talk episode, participants performed alignment in delicate ways: they may align with one participant without simultaneously distancing from the other directly, and they may invoke the authority of a non-present party in order to avoid contesting a present party explicitly.