Abstract
Pragmatics of institutional interaction is concerned with how utterances acquire their meanings in professional or organizational contexts. Most of the insights on institutional interaction or “talk at work” come from ethnomethodological and conversation analytic studies. A majority of research in this area focuses on the interaction between the providers of institutional services (institutional agents such as doctors, psychiatrists, therapists, store clerks, teachers) and the receivers of those services (laypersons such as patients, clients, customers, students). Less research has been on “backstage” interaction among members of the institutions themselves. The sections below will first introduce publications on overall theoretical and methodological approaches, then summarize selected studies in two main domains of institutional discourses, professional-layperson interaction and professional-professional interaction.