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I’m sorry (to interrupt): The use of explicit apology in turn-taking

Abstract Contributing to research on workplace interactions and turn-taking practices, this conversation analytic study examines how people take turns during multi-party workplace meetings. In particular, we analyze 12 hours of video-recordings of faculty meetings at a U.S. school district, and show how meeting participants use explicit apology (e.g. I’m sorry; I’m sorry to interrupt) for turn-taking. The apology carries out interactional work in two ways: 1) it acknowledges that a (possible) offense (i.e. interruption) has occurred, and 2) it indicates that the current speaker will self-select to take and keep the turn. The self-selector produces the apology mid-turn after the turn-initial overlap is resolved and before continuing with her turn. We first analyze cases in which the self-selector uses explicit apology after having begun her turn during the current speaker’s ongoing turn. In most of these cases, the self-selected turn is sequentially disjunctive in that it is not directly responsive to the immediately preceding turn. We then show how the self-selector uses explicit apology when she needs to compete with another self-selector to take the turn. The study findings have implications for the turn-taking organization in meeting interactions.