Laughter in interaction

About this book

Laughter in Interaction is an illuminating and lively account of how and why people laugh during conversation. Bringing together 25 years of research on the sequential organization of laughter in everyday talk, Glenn analyzes recordings and transcripts to show the finely-detailed coordination of human laughter. He demonstrates that its production and placement, relative to talk and other activities, reveals much about its emergent meaning and accomplishments. The book shows how participants in a conversation move from a single laugh to laughing together, how the matter of 'who laughs first' implicates orientation to social activities, and how interactants work out whether laughs are more affiliative or hostile. The final chapters examine the contribution of laughter to sequences of conversational intimacy and play, and to the invocation of gender. Engaging and original, the book shows how laughter plays a significant role in how people display, respond to, and revise identities and relationships.